work habits

Now that I am reading but no longer taking classes, I have started to learn more about what working styles fit me best. No matter how hard I tried to pace myself while reading for coursework, I almost always read and wrote in binges before things were due. Lately I've been working much more in moderation, getting into a routine of reading a short text or substantial section of a larger text a day and writing about 2 pages of notes. It isn't yet too impressive, since I've only been in this routine for about a week, but if I keep it up I should be in pretty good shape for the exams.

I've also, somewhat reluctantly, realized that in terms of work I'm definitely a morning person. Late last night I spent about two hours trying to grade papers but spending most of the time daydreaming or reading e-mail or watching TV. I ended up grading only one (very short) paper. This morning, I forced myself to wake up early and go to a coffeeshop where, voila!, I graded eighteen short papers in an hour and a half. Ah, the power of caffeine and a place with few distractions. (I'm beginning to think spending $1.50 every other day on tea in a coffeeshop wouldn't be too much to spend considering how productive I am there.)

Finally, even though I like not having to take classes for a while, I feel really lucky that I have a friend to meet with once a week who is basically at the same stage of reading as I am. She and I tend to complement each other well - when one of us has a question, the other tends to have some sort of answer. We also feel comfortable venting frustrations with readings to one another, which helps the tendency to feel isolated when reading for exams. Hooray for Emily!