How do you balance school and everything?

[sanddrag]

It's very, very difficult. During the years I spent on 968, I was going to college full time for Mechanical Engineering. And I managed to be in three honor societies while doing so. I'd often have classes that started at 8am too. Team 968 was near my university, which was about 35 miles from where I lived. During 2007, I also was heavily involved with Team 696. Team 696 would meet starting at 8am on Saturdays. Team 968 would meet until 10pm or midnight nearly every day, Friday nights being the latest.

During one season (can't remember which, 07 or 08) I had school, robotics, and work on Fridays. On Fridays I'd drive 35 miles to school for class from 8am until 11:30am. Then I'd drive 35 miles for work from 12:30pm to 4:30pm. Then I'd drive 35 miles to 968 where I'd work on the robot until midnight or so, then I'd I'd drive 35 miles back home arriving at about 1:30 AM, eating fast food dinner on the way. It was an exhausting way to live.

There was a time I spent half the day driving all over southern California, a couple hundred miles in total, to pick up parts from various shops, sponsors, or suppliers. There was a time I drove hundreds of miles to exchange parts with our partner team located half way across the state, because shipping was too expensive or too slow. There was a time I went flying out of the shop in a mad dash, and then got stuck in an hour of traffic, and arrived at McMaster 3 minutes after closing and did not get my parts.

It takes a lot of dedication, energy, and focus. It's not for everyone. It's really a question of if you can devote every possible minute of your time to FRC, and put everything else on the side. I don't recommend it. Especially if your grades are slipping. It'll do you far more harm than it will do the team good.

Now, I'm a high school teacher, which is a heck of a job itself. I still have school work. But, instead of my own school work to do, I have 150 people's school work to do. Think about that for a minute. There is no option to not do it, and take a zero credit, like when you are a student. Well over a hundred people rely on me to do my job well each and every day. It's not easy.

Now here's the problem. FRC is engaging. In fact, highly engaging. This is my 10th season, and it's still highly engaging for me. I just can't sit back and say "I am not going to participate." It's too captivating. It's terribly difficult for me to teach a class in computer applications, when all I have on my mind is motors, gear ratios, and power calculations.

What helps you succeed with so many things to do is really optimizing your processes, and eliminating annoyances. Are the path's you walk the shortest distance. Can something in your daily routine be simplified, or made quicker?

I know a few very experienced and well respected machinists and fabricators. When I watch every one of them work, they 'walk' across the shop at about twice the speed of a normal walking pace. They know where every tool is exactly. They remove the part from the machine while the coolant is still dripping and while the machine is still moving (be careful). They waste no time, and their businesses prosper because of it.

Anyhow, this is a little bit of my story, and a little bit of advice. Probably not very helpful, but maybe at least an enjoyable read.

Now, I have about 350 pieces of paper to go through tonight, before the morning. I clearly have not yet optimized this process.