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Last week I watched my professor drone on for seven hours about |
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computer circuitry. As my eyes struggled to stay open as he babbled |
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about SR-latches, I wondered: what sequence of dreadful mistakes did I |
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make to land myself in this situation. I got through my entire college |
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career without pulling a single all-nighter, yet that night changed it |
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all. |
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Although I could have followed along with the lecture material during |
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the regular class time, remote learning made a tantalizing temptation |
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to procrastinate and binge two and a half weeks of lecture material in |
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one night --two nights before the exam. Ironically, I ended up doing |
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remarkably well on that exam and felt prepared for every question; |
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nerveless, it still begs the question... Why? After asking around, I |
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found that all eight of my friends taking the class also binged the |
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lecture videos before the exam. |
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After two weeks of remote work, I started feeling something that I |
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haven't felt in a very long time-- occasional boredom. This takes me |
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back to grade school summers when I had nothing to do. Well, there is |
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never "nothing to do." The problem really boils down to not being |
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motivated to do anything. |
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Working remotely is actually great for things that I am already |
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motivated about because I can work on them uninterrupted for hours on |
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end. I am getting more work done at my job as a research assistant, |
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and I am putting more time into classes that I find interesting, like |
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computer vision. However, dedicating time towards mundane tasks like |
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learning about an esoteric computer architecture or writing essays for |
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my professional communication task takes more effort than they used |
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to. |
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When we are isolated from others and don't have to physically go |
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places to get work done, we have fewer motivators for action. At |
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college, my most productive times were either in the library or at my |
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office. Physically not going into class every day, or not being able |
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to physically work around other people removes some of the motivators |
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that help us get stuff done. When I was at the library or my office, I |
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got a ton of work done because I felt like I was obligated to get |
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things done in this space. Or I was motivated by other people working |
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to also get work done -- no matter how trivial the task. |
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To make up for these differences of working at home, I have made some |
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helpful adjustments to my schedule to make myself more productive as a |
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remote worker: |
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Creating and updating physical lists Changing environments every few |
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hours Maintaining a regular sleep schedule Creating artificial rewards |
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like watching youtube after I finish an essay Reading before bed |
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Following an exercise routine |
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Although this advice won't work for everyone, I suggest that you try |
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some of these things if you are struggling at remote work. A lot of |
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friends that I talk to are facing challenges when it comes to remote |
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work and learning. It is different and will take some time for us to |
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adjust to and get better at. |
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I recently became very conscientious about my working space. In the |
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past, I have decorated my office with pictures or thingamajigs. |
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Recently I doubled down and did this a lot more for my current office. |
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Making your work environment more personalized helps morale-- at least |
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it has for me. |
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Although it may be tempting, if you want to excel in remote work, now |
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is not the time to get funky. |
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