When distractions hit you, Time Logs save the day
The free Precourse orientation has a 4-year-old post about time logs, How long will it take? I loved it! It gave me a sense of certainty in an unpredicted world of self-paced content. From the threads, I picked up an expectations model to aid me in “self-pacing”.
I transferred dates and times to my Google Sheets and accessed the exciting information — time. I counted the days and hours it took to complete the curriculum from start to end and labeled the tab “Expected Time”. Now Capstone project doesn’t feel out of reach because 700 hours of study is doable. That’s an hour a day for almost two years. We’re in for a marathon. Although… Who said I can’t sprint a marathon?
If you want, you can use my Google Sheet as a template for your studies. I don’t mind. Hope it serves you as well as it has served me so far. Here is how I log my hours.
Right now I’m about to take a second written assessment for JS110-119 which was split from JS101–109d. To summarize, I am 167 hours and 85 days since the start. I have been slacking and got distracted with life. Within this time, many things come up and yell at us with extreme urgency and importance, taking the attention away from Launch School. More and more often I find out that days flew by unnoticed. “How many days did I miss??? No, my focus is slipping away!” Then I look at my chart of progress:
Do you see it? My distracted slacking time is getting longer while the time I study is getting shorter. Time Logs provide a feedback loop. After three months, I think of this sheet in the back of my mind. When I log my time, I hate (hate!) to realize that I skipped a day. If only I did 5 minutes as soon as I woke up, I wouldn’t have that empty slot in my history of studying! My hero arrived too late at the crime scene. There is no bringing back the day. The day has passed…
After self-blame, I think of excuses why it was “ok” to skip and deal with the careless self. It is not ok! Will you skip work if you need to go to the grocery store? Will you take a field trip when you got a college project due date approaching? Maybe a backpacking field trip is ok, but only if you can work on the project during every bathroom stop you take on the way to the mountains! The due date burns! No due date doesn’t.
With a self-paced course, it’s sooooo much easier to delay, postpone, procrastinate, get distracted, and forget, forget all about it, and move on to another thing. The breaks get longer, and longer, and longer… Studies get shorter, and shorter until the curriculum takes longer than expected and the drive is no longer as potent as it used to be. I’ll share with you what keeps me going — the Time Logs!
You could do many things when you‘re not studying. For example, you be a waiter and get good tips. Or attend a family member’s funeral and bury your dream with their coffin. Or go completely broke that you can’t cover the time you’re unemployed while studying, and go settle for an easy job instead of mastering software development. The latter one is my case. Thanks to terms and conditions, looking for a job in a general Slack channel was illegal, and I was promptly notified. A point “post or transmit any solicitation” applies to job-searching messages. Note this down. It’s illegal to look for a job on Launch School Slack.
Slap! “What are you doing!? Get back to studying JavaScript”, was the implied message. What the horse?! I can’t look for a job in a community of a program that I joined to help me find a job? Really?
“Comrad Dmitriy, get more Samagon, we got a TikTakToe to pseudocode,” I say. Slap worked. I got back to finish JS110 and submit the JS119 written exam. Waiting for the review now and practicing solving Medium and Large challenges.
Seriously, when life punches you in the face, commitments bring you back on track. Time Log is a consistent commitment to the self. Every time you log the time, it is an achievement and a celebration. It’s a commitment from the past, from big dreams, high expectations, and unquestionable faith in your ability to reach the goal.
I can’t let myself down. I am an achiever. I am a winner. I am doing the Capstone at the end of the curriculum.
If you’re going through the LS right now, I hope to see you at the Capstone. Commit and execute. Hit that plateau and get bored. Get distracted and bring your attention back. Review and keep going. Use all the resources LS made available for us. Enjoy the slow process of mastery.
Thank God for the best study buddy ever, thanks to the TA’s running study sessions, live coding sessions, and workshops. You all are a blessing!
