Music, Sleep, and Productivity = School?

Alright... so my last post was pretty brief compared to a lot of my other ones, and that's largely because I've taken to writing a journal. I actually kinda like it - compared to whenever I used to try and do it and hated it, because like most guys I hate talking or writing my feelings anywhere - as it's a good outlet for stress. Now though, tennis class is starting up and hopefully that'll be the main outlet and my journal can actually become about my feelings instead of all the things that stress me out or stuff I need to work out with myself. Anyway. My post today has three major themes - Music, Sleep and Productivity - which all seem to be determining factors of how I'm doing in school.

Foremost is Music. I don't know about you, but to me Music is a huge indicator of my mood, and has a large influence on how my days go. Almost any day that I go to choir and sing will usually be a great day for me, while the days I don't have choir I usually find it hard to drag myself out of bed and get motivated to go to class in the freezing weather. I've also discovered though, that the music I sing or listen to has an impact on my mood as well. For example, right now I'm switching between Disney and Church music as I work on homework at three am. It's doing a pretty good job of keeping me awake, because I know most of the songs well enough to start singing if I get tired. In addition to that, it's helping keep me focused precisely because I know the songs well enough that I'm not intrigued by the lyrics or music to pay more attention to them than what I'm working on. On a slightly random Music note though - in the CES Devotional that Elder Bendar gave yesterday, the choir there sang alone on the last two verses of "How Firm a Foundation" which reminded me of the song that we're performing as a ward choir soon titled "Fear Not". It was written by the Jordan High School Seminary Faculty and a recording of it can be found here:

Recording!

It's quickly becoming my favorite song I've ever been able to sing in a ward choir - largely because of how uplifting and motivational it is. So seriously. Click the link and listen to it while you read the rest of this lengthy blog post.

My next topic revolves around something I've been having issues with recently - Sleep. As a college kid I've discovered how important sleep is, but I've also discovered how easy it is to not get enough sleep. For example, tonight I'm still awake and it's about  four am. Why? Because I was actually feeling productive, which is far more rare than me feeling tired. So, my thoughts about sleep are as follows:

1. It's really important - unless something more important comes up
2. I really, really, really like my sleep - so if I'm sleeping, don't bother me unless I asked you to previously
3. I don't sleep nearly as much as I used to for a variety of reasons
4. It takes me forever to fall asleep - like an average of an hour - which is really annoying because I'm usually thinking about things during that hour which doesn't help me get to sleep
5. I think too much
6. Nothing really good usually happens after midnight, so it's almost always my goal to get to sleep shortly thereafter
7. Contrary to my Chem Professor's belief, it is pretty common for me to lose sleep thinking about things related to school work
8. In contrast with that, it's slightly more common for me to stay up late thinking about things like girls, music, or church stuff

So those are my main thoughts on sleeping... which somehow leads me to writing about productivity?

I'm still not entirely sure how these things are related... but there is definitely a connection somewhere. It usually involves a mystical perfect amount of sleep where you wake up refreshed, not tired, and ready to be productive. That hasn't happened to me yet since I got to college, but it's something to strive for - which leads me to change how much sleep I get on a regular basis to try and find what works for me. I've discovered how easy it is to get too much sleep and waste away most of the day, but I've also discovered the affect no/little sleep has on my days. Usually, both of those are negative impacts but occasionally I get like no sleep and it becomes a good thing because I actually got stuff done staying up late that I wouldn't have gotten done otherwise. On a random note, I've discovered that facebook doesn't change much at all during the period from about 2am until noon, when people are up and posting stuff again. Anyway, at building meeting last night we talked about ways to improve our time management - which pretty much always seems to be a good thing to talk about and remind people of. We discussed ways to motivate yourself, and I can't seem to figure out a good one that doesn't have much of any negative consequences. My first thought was to reward myself with like Candy or Ice Cream after accomplishing some amount of homework, but the downside to that is I'll end up eating tons of candy. I'm starting to lean towards using baking as a reward... but nobody got time fo dat. Seriously though, if I were to reward myself with baking it'd have to be in like increments of an hour or two, which is a lot of time to take a break from studying for a reward. So if you have suggestions on that, I'd gladly welcome as many as possible!

And somehow or other, this all impacts school right? Well of course. School is kinda sorta my life - at least for the next seventy-two days!

On another random note, I'd like to throw in a plug for one of my mission prep teacher's books - The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox (Deseret book link!). He assigned us to read a chapter every week from it, and I think that is the thing I look forward to most each week as Sunday rolls around. It's a super awesome book, and it's really uplifting and enlightening. So if you get a chance, make sure to check it out and perhaps even read it!

Well, looking at my calendar this week is going to a heck of a week if everything goes according to plan. So, if I'm still alive come the eleventh of the month of so, be glad. For just a brief glimpse into the craziness of this week:

1. I have a bio exam to take sometime between Monday and Wednesday
2. I have a chem exam to take sometime between Wednesday and Friday
3. I need to spend five plus hours working to prepare for invitational which is on Saturday night
4. I'm still working twelve hours this week at my job
5. My birthday is on Wednesday, and I might not have time to celebrate it very much
6. My tennis classes are in full swing for the first time this week, so that's another eight hours of in-class time I haven't had till this week
7. I have a computer programming lab due Friday which could take anywhere from an hour to twelve to finish

So yeah, it's going to be one of those weeks.

I probably won't get a blog post in... or at least don't bet on it. I'll be lucky to remember to write in my journal each day!

Well, it looks like that's all the rambling I have time for at this time of the morning - I have to go finish another week and a half's worth of chem homework, hopefully before 8 this morning.

'Til Next Time,

Jordan Nielson