How I Work

I have decided to join the forces of people spreading the news of how they work best.  I don't use crazy applications to organize my time, and some people may disagree with my work ethic/methods, but hey, I have a 4.12 GPA so stop complaining.

The following are in no particular order:

1. Never do projects way ahead of time
Yes this may sound weird, but I don't do projects as soon as they're assigned.  I allow the assigned task sink in for a few days, and then I begin.  I feel that the pressure of time is the greatest motivator.  No, this is not procrastination, but rather a method I employ in order to do a better job.  When I do a project too far ahead of time, I end up doing a lackluster job because I am simply not as motivated to do it yet.  On average, I finish projects about a day before they are due so I can compare with friends and see what I need to fix up.

2. Always take notes...a lot of them
Lectures are boring, and I'll admit to that as somebody who has fallen asleep on numerous occasions in classes.  Falling asleep in class sucks by the way, so make sure to sneak in sleep whenever you can.  If you fall asleep, you don't learn jack shit and it sucks doing the homework.  As I was saying, take LOTS of notes.  You don't necessarily have to understand them as you write them down.  However, I rely more on my notes than reading the textbook because that damn thing is incredibly boring.  The more detailed your notes, the less you have to rely on your textbook.  It doesn't matter if you don't understand them when you're writing them down, but combined with tidbits of the teacher's talks and hints from the homework, you'll quickly understand what the notes are explaining.
    If it's a history or religion class, I usually do notes hierarchically.  If the teacher starts on one topic and then delves deeper into it, I'll indent and write the details underneath the topic.  In Chemistry and Calculus, the teacher usually writes down problems and walkthroughs on the board as well as diagrams and graphs.  COPY THOSE DOWN.  Finally, in English, I don't generally write notes unless the teacher goes over definitions and terms.

3. Multi-task like there's no tomorrow
I'm usually doing at least 2 subjects' worth of homework at the same time.  You spend a couple minutes working out a math problem or reading a few paragraphs and then switch over to answering questions about history or memorizing some details for Chemistry.  This way, your mind keeps fresh.  I have the attention span of a hyperactive squirrel on some hybrid of LSD and coffee so I end up doing more work.  It's tricking my mind!

4. Do as much work as you can as quickly as you can
This sort of contradicts my project thing.  But that's for projects.  This one is talking about busy work that teachers give you.  At my school, we have off periods.  I have 1st and 8th periods off.  During those periods, I do as much work as I can so I don't do anything at home.  At home, there are so many distractions that I end up doing a crappy job at home.  At school there are little to no distractions.  Yes I have friends, but I have the capability to talk and work simultaneously.  If I don't finish all the work, I assess if it's short enough that I can do it at home (reading for example) or something that requires a little more focus so I can offload that to the next off period or the weekend.

5. Time is no object
Time is no limiting barrier if you're talking about one single day.  I don't give a crap if I'm working slowly at home.  If it's work I have to finish, I can stay up as long as I need to: even if it means an all-nighter.  Regardless, I am committed to my work...sort of.  If I'm working at home, I'll admit that I'm very distracted, and that's why it takes longer than normal.  However, I can stay up as long as I need to in order to finish the work.

6. If you start something, don't stop till you're finished
I have a problem, if I start something, I can't stop until I'm completely finished.  Again, I'm really distracted, but if given the right conditions, I will work my ass off until its done.  What's the main goal here?  I just want more free time.

As you can see, my work flow is based around getting more free time because I'm a really lazy person.  I have to trick myself to get things done.  No organization application will motivate me to do my work.  These are workarounds to my life pretty much.  So there you go.

P.S. If I figure out anything else to add, I will.