I am NEVER doing this again
Microcontrolled
Posts: 2,461
I'll say this again: I am NEVER EVER doing this again.
Sometimes I need to learn when to say no. For the last month, I have postponed advertising for consulting, and wisely, because I now have more projects to complete before the end of the month then could ever be imagined. Let's start:
One of those gadgets I've always wanted was a touchscreen tablet. And what better tablet then the iPad? So, when Schmartboard advertised their contest with an iPad as first prize, I naturally ordered the device and integrated it into a project of mine (back in October) in order to qualify with the contest. I thought for sure that it would be done by now, so much, in fact, that I reserved 2 project numbers, because I had another project that could use the device and I might as well enter it too for 2 chances at winning. Then Parallax and EEtimes came out with the student contest, and let's be honest, with $1500 on the line there's no passing up a contest that only people your age can enter, so I did. Now it's halfway though the month, and I'm up late trying to fix the shorts in my homemade alphanumeric display, cram in some programming on my second edition time clock, and praying that the LCD on my touchscreen clock project starts working again, or I'm toast. Now I've figured out that school won't let out until the 23rd (with it being the last day), so I don't have any free days before Christmas to get all this work done in.
And the crazy part? I'm STILL having fun getting to do all these projects!!!
Don't make my mistake, NEVER take on more then 1 (or 2) projects in a month.
Sometimes I need to learn when to say no. For the last month, I have postponed advertising for consulting, and wisely, because I now have more projects to complete before the end of the month then could ever be imagined. Let's start:
One of those gadgets I've always wanted was a touchscreen tablet. And what better tablet then the iPad? So, when Schmartboard advertised their contest with an iPad as first prize, I naturally ordered the device and integrated it into a project of mine (back in October) in order to qualify with the contest. I thought for sure that it would be done by now, so much, in fact, that I reserved 2 project numbers, because I had another project that could use the device and I might as well enter it too for 2 chances at winning. Then Parallax and EEtimes came out with the student contest, and let's be honest, with $1500 on the line there's no passing up a contest that only people your age can enter, so I did. Now it's halfway though the month, and I'm up late trying to fix the shorts in my homemade alphanumeric display, cram in some programming on my second edition time clock, and praying that the LCD on my touchscreen clock project starts working again, or I'm toast. Now I've figured out that school won't let out until the 23rd (with it being the last day), so I don't have any free days before Christmas to get all this work done in.
And the crazy part? I'm STILL having fun getting to do all these projects!!!
Don't make my mistake, NEVER take on more then 1 (or 2) projects in a month.
Comments
Like Bill Clinton once said; " I feel your pain...oOh"
One of the most important lessons to learn in business is knowing which projects to turn down. Consider yourself lucky that you're figuring it out so early in life. It took me years of saying, "What was I thinking, when I said 'yes' to that job?"
-Phil
It's great you're involved in all these electronic projects, but don't let these projects distract you from getting your school work done and done well. I know there are exceptions to this rule, but, chances are, life will suck if you've got bad grades even if you do know how to make gadgets work.
I remember doing just the same, but foolishly I forgot to reverse the image for my project boards, with the deadline at the other end of a weekend, I ended up having to bend the TTL chips pins round the other way to build the boards as best I could with the short timeframe left over. Fortunately, after some crazy troubleshooting it all eventually worked, and was boxed, who'd know ;-). It's amazing how you can sometimes pull a rabbit out of the hat.
But as Phil has pointed out, learn this lesson when your young, and take heed to start early and prioritize. Otherwise later in life you may be trying to juggle customer obligations, and contracted customers don't care when you can't deliver because you took on too much, normally it's your family life/relationships/health that suffers. Yeah I recall the pains behind the eyes trying to conjur the rabbit....
Work is always demanding, chaotic, and exhausting - but considering the alternative, it ain't so bad. The simple fact is a bit of time management and customer relations may make the burden easier. But if you are successful, you are popular. And that means that you have to learn to live with performing to other people's demands.
It seems like maybe I should hang up my unused white board next to my work bench and actually list the projects I am trying to complete.
A little organization might get a lot done. It is an out of sight, out of mind thing. I found I never practiced guitar if I kept it in the case - it was better if I had it hanging on a wall.