Gonnabeadoctor

Last Monday, I began experimenting with a new discipline. I decided that, at work, between the hours of 9:00 and 5:00, I would not spend a single moment on the internet for personal use. For the entire week.

I always feel guilty when I over-indulge in the incidental privilege of immediate and perpetual access to the internet at work. And I privately scold my co-workers for doing the same, although, obviously, I have no right to.

But most importantly, I know that constantly punctuating my work with 5-minute intervals of checking e-Mail, chatting on G-Chat, or doing whatever the hell else, does not exactly amount to a good work ethic. And I’ve begun to worry that it will be the death of me when I go back to school in the fall.

So I gave it a shot. No bullshitting online between the hours of 9:00 and 5:00. I pulled it off, too. Monday through Friday, I kept up the discipline. And WOW. The difference was amazing. I got so much work done, it was ridiculous. And I was far less irritable, which was an unexpected surprise. Needless to say, I’m going to keep this going, especially throughout the post-bacc program.

I would elaborate for a few more paragraphs, believe me I would… but I just ate my fourth grilled Italian sausage for the weekend, and I’m feeling ready for a nap.

Earlier today, my roommate Todd and I talked about using mnemonics to remember things. He told me a hilariously inappropriate mnemonic that helped him remember the twelve cranial nerves in college, and an equally hilarious, but infinitely more clever phrase that helped him remember the difference between sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves (“Point and Shoot!”)

Mind you, this is not a common conversation in our house. As much as I am striving to be a nerd these days, I’m not quite there yet.

Way back in sophomore year, my Human Anatomy professor told us that these little tricks are invaluable when trying to remember copious amounts of information. So now I have to remember to use mnemonics in order to remember information in the post-bacc program.

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It’s after midnight, and I have no intention of falling asleep in the next hour. No need, either. For some reason, all of the things that I wanted to do earlier today (but didn’t) are much easier to do now, when I should be asleep, as opposed to earlier, when I had all the time in the world.

This after-hours productivity has nothing to do with being closer to the “deadline” of the end of the day. Because there’s really no deadline for reading an article from the 1957 issue of Hush-Hush Magazine that I bought in Nashville (“TONY CURTIS AND THAT BLONDE PARIS STRIPPER”). I simply have fewer distractions right now.

This is why I’m looking forward to taking night classes. I’m hoping to become somewhat nocturnal. Maybe falling asleep around 2:00 and waking up around 10:00. It wouldn’t be too big an adjustment, but it would be an important one. I get a lot of things done in these few hours, when there’s pretty much nothing to do and no one to chill with.

My iTunes is on shuffle. When I began writing this post, “Sweet Illusions” by Ryan Adams was playing. I learned how to play that song on acoustic guitar two summers ago. The summer I started my job at the hospital. The job that I’m quitting in less than two months. How bizarre.

(How bizarre! How bizarre.)

(Every tiiiiiime IIIIIIII look around…)

Yep. OMC. Circa 1997. You were there.

For one of my part-time jobs, I transcribe audio recordings of patients for a local neuropsychologist. Since there are no designated “punch in” and “punch out” times, I can do the work whenever I want. Which, of course, is both a blessing and a curse.

I have a tendency to transcribe very little (if at all) for a few weeks, and then do a marathon session of transcribing shortly before I feel a deadline coming on. This is NOT an ideal practice, and I cannot allow myself to continue doing it during my post-bacc program. If there’s one thing I’ve heard about medical school, it’s that when you fall behind, you will never catch up.

A few posts ago, I mentioned discipline. For me, discipline means planning out your activities at least a week in advance. How could I apply that concept to my current transcribing job, for example? Well, by telling myself that I will transcribe for one hour, every day, for the next week. Seven hours spread over seven days is far more manageable than seven hours lumped into one afternoon. In fact, the latter is impossible, because technically, an afternoon is only six hours long.

This kind of discipline is not difficult. The most difficult part is sitting yourself down, chilling yourself out, and using your mind to come up with the most efficient way of achieving your goal.

In one of my first posts, I said it’s helpful to relate to the material when learning something new. Well, in addition to that, I think it’s necessary to make the material fun. To find the overlapping section in the Venn diagram between “work” and “play.” It’s the most effective form of motivation ever.

Here’s an example. Everyone says that the propagation of species can be attributed to the fact that it’s a direct result of sexual intercourse, which feels excellent. So if I can find a way to make Chem, Orgo, Physics, and Bio feel that excellent, I think I’ll do just fine.