Time pressures...

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totalburnout

Well-Known Member
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How do you cope?

I know America is a society where its peoples tend to brag about how much more work they have over the average person, but I understand many people have many commitments and obligations in their lifetime.

How do you deal with time constraints?

I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed with a ton of stuff on my plate for the fourth week in a row now. I thought it would end after week one and it just keeps coming. Coping with the stress is becoming pretty difficult and all the work and obligations seems unmanageable.

I'll precurse this by saying I manage my time poorly because I'm a procrastinator. Clearly I shouldn't be online right now.
 
i'm a huge procrastinator, and frankly, i'm a slacker UNTIL i have a deadline.

all of my best papers were written the night before on an all-nighter.
my best work in programming is when i've been at it for 12-16 hours already and half way done.

College was cake in terms of work load compared to the real world.

I have a client rollout (complete shopping cart, skin dev, and so on) for a thursday beta demo.

this is what i have done so far:


EDIT: Whoops, can't post it, as i have HTML on for me. lol



come thurs at 2pm, this is going to be a full-fleds e-commerce solution. and I won't be sleeping on wednesday, and here i am, clearly online right now :)

people work different.

If that was due in august, i wouldn't have a line done of it until the week before as well.
 
i do things as they come. this way i am able to make time. im not really a procrastinator.
 
I guess I feel a lack of control over the situation when I procrastinate and I hate that feeling.

The girl I'm dating has all her shit together and its clear to me, when she's interviewing with Fortune 100 companies that her hard work has paid dividends over the course of her life. I guess its an eye opener when I thought all that school work and long time commitment wouldn't pay out, so I neglected to work so hard and be so committed and just got by, albeit into a great school with a promising future, on my natural abilities.

I have a huge interview tomorrow with a huge company and I'm nervous as hell, but I have such a workload that I don't even really have time to worry about it or do anything.
 
i'm a huge procrastinator, and frankly, i'm a slacker UNTIL i have a deadline.

all of my best papers were written the night before on an all-nighter.
my best work in programming is when i've been at it for 12-16 hours already and half way done.

College was cake in terms of work load compared to the real world.

I have a client rollout (complete shopping cart, skin dev, and so on) for a thursday beta demo.

this is what i have done so far:


EDIT: Whoops, can't post it, as i have HTML on for me. lol



come thurs at 2pm, this is going to be a full-fleds e-commerce solution. and I won't be sleeping on wednesday, and here i am, clearly online right now :)

people work different.

If that was due in august, i wouldn't have a line done of it until the week before as well.


I am the same way. I work better with a deadline. In college I used to bang out 2 month projects in a week or less. Now I am a yearbook adviser and I do my best work under pressure. It kinda funny I get better and the whole time I am watching my students crack - some to tears. In the end it all comes down to being able to handle it - then when its over saying to yourself "wow I survived that whats next?"

My key in college was caffine, nicotene, and GNR use your illusion two.
 
believe me it is tough. i wanted to advance my career fucking fast so i can have more time later on - but i became a mega workaholic instead, and applied that to pretty much everything i do :)
 
I guess I feel a lack of control over the situation when I procrastinate and I hate that feeling.

you can't always drive :)

The girl I'm dating has all her shit together and its clear to me, when she's interviewing with Fortune 100 companies that her hard work has paid dividends over the course of her life. I guess its an eye opener when I thought all that school work and long time commitment wouldn't pay out, so I neglected to work so hard and be so committed and just got by, albeit into a great school with a promising future, on my natural abilities.

interviewing with fortune 100 companies doesn't mean shit.

you and i are a lot a like. we've been through this before though....

I pretty much just skated by in highschool because i was "smart" and never really had to try to get decent grades.
college, pretty much the same thing until i got stuck taking shit i didin't remotely care about but HAD to take.
which, eventually pushed me to drop out.

Stupid, sure.... but it felt right at the time and i was fucking miserable. it was the right thing to do for my sanity.

as the years after went on, i went to a tech school for 9 months, got a job on 3rd shift, and eventually worked my way to where i am today.

My dad has been in IT for nearly 30 years working systems analysis and works for one of the largest insurance companies in the world (Aetna)

I've been in it for 5 years give or take, and work for a company with 11 total employees 8 of which are active.

Last year, I made considerable more money than my dad.


Where you work and who you work for does NOT and should not be a mark of your success.
Along the same lines, neither should money/income level.

IMO, working for fortune 500 companies is a corporate nightmare. I'd MUCH rather work in a small firm... where i call my boss an asshole, and he calls me a dipshit, then buys the whole company lunch while we wear our jeans and t-shirts.

Try that with "Mr. Boss man".

you can have your tie, your train ride to NYC, and your company's 'name'. i don't want it. I much prefer smaller firms that do something in a niche market. its much more lax, and the red tape is nearly non-existant.

I have a huge interview tomorrow with a huge company and I'm nervous as hell, but I have such a workload that I don't even really have time to worry about it or do anything.

i don't understand why people get nervous for/at interviews.
Do you get nervous when you meet a new friend?
you're not even done with school yet. you still have about a month to find another place to send your resume over to.

Just fucking be your self, shake hands and shoot the shit. As being someone who's interviewed several people in my life.... If you're a nervous uptight bastard, i won't hire you. I don't want you on my team. I want someone i think i can get along with most of all, and has some skill -- or at least seems "teachable".

They obviously are interested in you already, else you wouldn't have the interview. Be yourself. if the guy is a dick and seems up tight, get the F out of dodge while you still can, or you're going to hate working there for as long as you do because "your boss is an asshole".

There's millions of jobs out there. Hell, we have an ad out, and can't even get resumes in for it. We are having trouble FINDING someone who wants a job. So long as you're not a communications major (sorry, you're fucked) you shouldn't have a hard time finding multiple jobs.

My key in college was caffine, nicotene, and GNR use your illusion two.
My key in life is caffeine, nicotine, Jim Bean, and several select hard drives of music. :)

I wish I could get my shit together and do that.

sometimes, getting your shit together is not the thing to do.

When i'm organized, i'm lost.

I have a PILE of papers at home on my office floor, ranging from credit card recipts to bills, to insurance paper work. But you know what?> I know EXACTLY where everything is in it.
My filing drawer is a fucking nightmare, and I have no idea if i put my old insurance under I for insurance, P for Progressive, A for Auto ins, C for Car stuff, B for BMW or whatever... i don't have a system like that, and could never remember where i put it.

Sometimes, lack of organization is your best friend.
 
As far as the new girlfriend, she's just opening my eyes left and right because she honestly amazes me. Statistics and numbers usually don't impress me, but this girl is as good on paper as she is in person, its truly amazing.

The reason why she was interviewing with the Fortune 100 company was because it was in a field that she's interested in a first year reps make $85k. Although, there's another company that I want to work for that she interviewed with, that has a much better corporate atmosphere and more potential for growth (it was the job that I was talking about, awhile ago, 6 figures in 3 years and management in 2years if thats the path you chose to take) but a starting salary that is virtually half of the first company. Thats her call, but personally like you said, I rather work for a company that I can see eye-to-eye with and a that pushes a product that I support and will stand behind when I sell it.

Me, I'm not nervous about the actual interview itself - I'm a people person as hard as that is to tell online sometimes and I can bullshit with the best of them - I'm nervous about whether I'll get the job or not. I'm still a junior in college, so I have time but this is an internship that will run right into a job opening should I land it. Also its huge for me, because some intern pulled down $35k in the past 6 months that he's been working for the company. School is killing my bank account and having a good financial backing once again would ease my stresses so much more.

I just want to get my foot in the door with a good company is considering its Fortune 1000 status, #4 internship in the Northeast, and consistently being #1 in its industry for the past 10 years as rated by Fortune, and just a warm company culture and people.

Like I said, its not the interview its actually getting the job offer that worries me. Typically people have to sit through a seminar before they can even meet and interview, but the woman set up a "private meeting" with me and said I didn't have to take the seminar. So I have a good idea that I'm in good standings but its all coming at a time where I'm at a loss for time.

I need to figure out a way to manage my time and organize my priorities, which is why I started this thread. That and to think of ways other than the usual sex, drugs, and rock n roll to cope with stress because clearly those haven't helped my stress levels lately.
 
How do you cope?

I know America is a society where its peoples tend to brag about how much more work they have over the average person, but I understand many people have many commitments and obligations in their lifetime.

How do you deal with time constraints?

I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed with a ton of stuff on my plate for the fourth week in a row now. I thought it would end after week one and it just keeps coming. Coping with the stress is becoming pretty difficult and all the work and obligations seems unmanageable.

I'll precurse this by saying I manage my time poorly because I'm a procrastinator. Clearly I shouldn't be online right now.

If your schedule is chaotic, use a day planner. Check off everything when its done.




Just get in a routine if your schedule is pretty stagnant.


I go to work, hit the gym, watch TV, bed, repeat.

Sounds like a shit schedule (kinda is), but when you work like a m0f0 there is not much room in your life for fun (during the week).
 
I procratinate and then bang shit out at the last minute. Depends on the situation. I need to replace two burned out tail light bulbs on my Civic.It's been 3 months now. I've tackled much bigger projects, but the tiny things always linger. Like my excise tax. I owe $17.80 to my town, its almost due - but I still haven't wrote a check. I have plenty of money, its just that I'm a lazy person.

Work is different, I usually get the hard stuff done first and leave the easier shit for later.
 
Hey I know how you feel man. Fall recruiting season was extremly busy for me. For about 4 weeks I had some sort of recruiting event every week night and interviews 3 days out of the week, let alone classes and extracurriculars.

I think Cashizslick gave you a good suggestion of a day planner. It keeps you organized and feels damn good to cross stuff off.


As for the job interviews, best of luck. Just be confident and don't make it a bigger deal than it is. A lot of its personality, a smile and friendly conversation go a long way. Regardless of the company size, interviewers are just people who are looking for other people they'd like to work with. Although I agree with everything Brian is saying about working for a small company, there are also good things about larger firms. I decided to at least start out at a large company (would be like 20 in the F500 if it was registered in the US) because its always easier to go from big to small than small to big. However, a few years down the line, I could very easily see myself at a small company for the reasons B mentioned. If you get it great, but if not, just remember that you probably won't give a shit a few months later, let alone a few years.
 
I know where you're coming from.

I'm freaking out myself. I'm in a very similar situation, but for a program, and I haven't even gotten into the school yet for the program I interviewed. for.

It's frustrating because you can't drive shit the way you want andto the money isn't always there. but. who gives a fuck. Hence. Why I can't buy those wheels I was looking at, cuz paying my mom's rent is more important.

I just workout to cope. That's all I do to get by during teh week. On the weekend. I get drunk.
 
I do more in a day than most people do in a week. You can call me in the morning, and find me in boston and I'll be in NYC by lunch. I have to do the carpentry and plumbing around the house, work two jobs (Luckily one sets my own hours), work in the garage, I.T. consult and still manage to spend time with my girlfriend or go on rides.

Every minute of my day is taken up. If not for my job (Where I can talk on the phone and post) I wouldn't be on line at all.

The secret to staying thin and active - over-book yourself with a ton of shit that HAS to get done.
 
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