I've noticed that on the days when I have an Odwalla or nothing for breakfast I accomplish more in the morning than when I make tea and toast. I love tea and toast days-- I love sitting on the couch in the mornings watching a little TV or reading something for fun with my warm, milky drink and my buttery raisin-cinnamon toast. Precisely because I love this, however, I end up spending twenty or thirty minutes reveling in the making and enjoying of toast and tea. Even if I wake up early, the toast and tea keeps me from being really productive.
On mornings when I have an Odwalla for breakfast, I am in the Reves Center. I get up early, head to the Marketplace a little before 8:00, pick up my Mo' Beta or C-Monster, then head up the stairs to work for four hours. This has little to do with the Odwalla, I suppose, and more to do with circumstance, but the Odwalla keeps me going until 2:00 before I sit down to actually have food, unless I happen to have a bag of Cheez-Its or some Nilla Wafers (both of which I ran out of at my house recently).
On days when I have nothing, like today, I make the most of my mornings. I woke up a little after 8:00, did three loads of laundry by 10:00, cleaned the kitchen, emptied all of the trashcans in the house, organized my study a little, and was at Swem by 10:40 to begin looking for/researching my topic for my class on Spain's Golden Age. I spent until nearly noon at the library and am now at Reves for my apprenticeship, except they have nearly no work for me today. So I've spent more time researching, plus reading book reviews for my discussion with Professor Homza tomorrow. It's been a very productive morning/early afternoon.
And I didn't eat anything until 1:15.
I'm learning that grad school is an epic battle between health and productivity.
Um please err on the side of health. Food is good for you. I want you to eat it!
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