Getting It All Done

Getting It All Done
By David Stoddard

“I’ll never be able to get through all of this. Don’t these instructors understand that we have other classes, other homework, other reading to do? Not to mention a life outside of this place?”

Oh, the things one hears working in a university computer lab. I hear it probably two or three times a year. Last night was the first, so it’s a bit ahead of schedule.

Each time I hear it, I’m brought back to my own days in school with instructors whom I thought had no idea that I had other things going on.

There were group projects that had to be scheduled at agreeable times, thousands of pages to be read during those waking hours, the occasional research paper, other writing assignments which seemed to never end, not to mention having a job which was at a set time. Sleep? Yeah. That was pretty optional.

Looking back, it’s important to see that yes, the work got done in time. (Well, almost all of it. Don’t tell anyone I mentioned it). The quality of what was turned in was fairly high in my estimations. The instructors agreed with me most of the time. In the end, each semester was a successful period of time.

Jump ahead to today. There are countless things we all need to do. We may have a job to go to, assignments around the house to take care of, group projects with others such as grocery shopping (it’s a stretch, but others are involved with that), occasional writing assignments involving bills to pay, emails and other letters to friends to send. And yes, sleep… but not as optional these days.

There are things we know must be done today while other things can wait until tomorrow. Some things that need to be done don’t have to be perfect to be successful. And there are some other things we feel we “have” to do just because we have always done them. Are they really necessary?

Today, I see how much work the students seem to have ahead of them each semester and I wonder how in the world they manage to get it all done. But they always seem to.

They seem to understand the differences between what must be done at this moment, what is important to do next, and what can just wait until another time.

I guess the same could hold true for us with our day to day stuff as well. Being able to classify things, prioritize things and put things in proper perspective with regard to what we feel would make us feel “successful,” not perfect, is probably a better way of accomplishing things.

So if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my own list of things that still need to be done today. Who knows, maybe sleep might be the best use of my time for the moment.

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(c) David Stoddard - All Rights Reserved

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