The Confessions of a Hardcore Slacker

I am currently in the process of trying to kick myself in the butt and do Good. Being laid off this winter, my goal was to do Super Good and make up for my slacker ways over the last year or so. After meeting with my school counselor, I'm not sure that even being SUPER AWESOMELY GOOD will be enough to get me where I wanted to be. I am trying to figure out the best plan for fixing some summer mistakes (those mistake being taking too many classes over a short period of time!!), as well as getting other some things on track before the end of winter.

First off, one of the important things to know about me and my current situation is that I don't sleep like I should. I LOVE being up all hours of the night, and with Hubs sleeping like a rock, I can do so without fear of bothering anyone. Because of my night owl ways, I tend to start my day no sooner than 11 am. With my class schedule, most days I have to be at school by 4 p.m. That means I have 4 hours of daylight to make something happen at home. Usually, those four hours are spent on the homework due for class that night.
Once I get home from school, even if it is a late night, I can be home by 9:30 p.m. Normally, I will stay up until at least 1 a.m. All in all, I'm still getting 8 hours in which to be productive.
I like to think that coffee makes me focused and productive, but in reality, it makes me more half-assed than usually. I drink coffee and the brain wheels get moving every which way. I start the laundry. I run water for the dishes. I get my school books and spread them all over the kitchen table. I'm going to be PRODUCTIVE!! (This is very similar to "Clean All the Things!" syndrome, but without the cute cartoons - and induced by copious amounts of caffeine.) I start looking at Raverly and plotting out projects in my queue. I also realize I have too many things on the needles, so I want to work on them while doing the dishes and the laundry. Some where along this line of thinking, I end up in my craft/study room, looking through my books/yarn/fabric, and trying to think of the thing to craft that will FIX my steadily snowballing slackerness.

Usually about this time, it is time to leave for school. So I leave with the sink filled with dirty dishes and soapy water. The laundry is in the washer done, but not moved to the dryer. Yarn is all over my school books and kitchen table. I feel like I wasted all day - but I SWEAR I will finish my endeavors when I get home from school!!!!

Once I get home from school, all I have the energy to do is watch South Park or King of the Hill on Netflix until 2 am. If it is a good day, I will at least bother to clear the table of the yarn I left. Maybe.

I seem to vaguely recall once upon a time in my office life, 8 hours of productivity was not a myth. Even though I might have felt I was spinning my wheels and getting no where, I knew that I had worked during those 8 hours, damn it!

Somewhere along the way though, I began to feel that 6 hours of work would give me the same (lack of) results 8 hours was getting me. Then 5 hours. Then 4. And then I would work from 10am until lunch and surf the 'net the rest of the day. No one really noticed a difference in my levels of getting shit done, so no one complained. And just like any bad behavior, if the behavior isn't punished, it isn't going to change.

So here I am, 8 years of bad behavior run a muck, and no way to fix it.

What do you do when Motivation to be SUPER AWESOME comes a-calling, but  lack of organization gets in the way of getting anything done?  Does anyone out there have those time management skills we hear so much about?  Share your thoughts in the comments!!