Oh the Lessons You Learn

This past week I've been working on project after project, and that has caused me to work long days. But I've learned three things:

1. It's never good to work 10+ hour consecutive days
2. If you want something done right, do it yourself
3. Have a written plan before doing anything

I'm almost done with project 2 of 3 and my mind is already making trivial mistakes. However, this wear and tear does have its benefits. My mind is tired and beat, but just like any other muscle, it rebuilds itself and is stronger than before. I've been craving this strength for a while. When I first got home from my mission (the most exhausting mental event) I was very quick and witty. I'm not sure if it was the mental stress, being among New Yorkers, or a combination that gave me the strength, but it was awesome. After a year or so that quickness started to go away, and I'm finally getting it back.

So mentally I'm stronger, and I can also say that my patience has increased. One group member kept on handing in sub-par material and my roommate and I would look at each other and know that we would have to redo it. Well, as most big projects go, something sprung up last minute and it had to be done. Without saying anything, I stood up and took care of it. Ah, that was easy.

Finally, planning helps sort everything out. We had to write narratives for 20+ diagrams and they were becoming tedious and yet still challenging all at the same time. So I took out a pen and paper and wrote three relevant points to each diagram, sat at my computer, and fired away. Thirty minutes later I had a handful of good drafts. Now, who wants to edit them?