July, 2008

So, today has been another fantastic day! I’ve finally figured out the basics of Final Cut Express (not that I’ve been spending too much time figuring it out I guess) and I’ve been chatting with my girlfriend for a while. Haha, yeah I even teased her for a bit promising her a couple of surprises for tomorrow and the days to come. So, guess I’ve got some work lined up ahead of me. Anyway, I went back to my old apartment and got a couple of books I once bought on movie production and video techniques etc. It is an interesting hobby, made all the more interesting that I know I’ve actually got an audience now!

I talked to my ex for a while as well today, we met for about an hour as she helped me out with something I needed done with my body. Turns out she’s decided she wants the apartments. So yeah, if I’m lucky she’ll be able to take it all, and I’ll have nothing that is really keeping me here if I should decide I wanna move sometime in the future. Also that’ll help out quite a bit on my monthly cash flow, which will be good, at least quite some time into the future.

I’ve been trying to find somewhere to get an organizer, a Filofax or something like it. Seems the entire Norwegian e-market is without a place where you can buy stuff like this. All the bookstores I found had books, and although I know for a fact the chains carry these products, there’s nothing on their websites. Guess I’ll have to actually go somewhere tomorrow to get one. Mental note to self: Selling organizers online in Norway seems like a business idea that can carry itself.

I was supposed to get drunk with my best buddy tonight as well, well he wanted to anyway. I guess having problems with transportation kinda takes the want out of me, he lives about a 10 minute drive from here which is about an hour walk, and let’s face it – buses and taxis aren’t exactly the easiest thing to come across here at night. We’ll get to it some other day I suppose.

Anyway, I just wanted to put down these simple tips for planning ahead, basically these tips are aimed at students I think, they still apply everywhere else in life though, so I kinda like’em.

1. Be honest with yourself

Rule number one is to be honest with yourself, and decide you can and will improve on yourself. Look at your mess and define why you want to clean it.

2. Have a planning day

Remember teachers have planning days? Create your own hourly schedule like you had back in elementary school, and prioritize properly. Planning sounds boring, it will get you more STGC (Spare Time with Good Conscience) when you’ve gotten an overview.

3. Get a Filofax!

This can become the bible of time in your everyday life if you use it wisely. Having all appointments, plans and deadlines physically written down and in front of you, can help you actually getting them done. It is wonderful to cross out those big, heavy assignments when they are done!

4. No heavy workloads the night before deadline.

Know which courses demand the most of you, and devote more time to them. Be careful not to push things ahead of you – not getting any sleep the night before deadline or an important event again and again because of unfinished, heavy workloads, will wear you out.

5. A clean home is a clean mind

Does your flat look like a bomb site? If you sit at home a lot studying, it is really frustrating looking at leftover noodles each time you go get a glass of water or a cup of coffee. Clean the place out properly before sitting down with your books. The smell of washing detergents increase motivation – honestly!

6. Learn some structuring techniques

Borrow a book or two which in detail explains how you can structure your life (making you better able to enjoy the non-structured part of it). The most important thing is to always know what you want and what you need to get there – on time.

I found these tips on a Norwegian website for students, called Studenttorget. I freely translated them into English, and I hope they don’t mind. I liked these tips though, this is basically stuff we all know, and I know I at least am one of those that are really poor at following through on it. Maybe I’m getting better as I’ve taken an interest in it, at least enough to write about the importance of planning in my own blog. As some wise guy once said;

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.