What do my tendencies do for me? Why do I have them? Its something that I have not noticed in the past till this class. I had no idea that the woman I love was the biggest distraction of all. I didn't know that curtain music can zone me in and others can zone me out. All in all these tendencies are a good thing, even if it prevents my productivity. Today I will determine what my “habits” or tendencies do for me, what tendencies are good and what tendencies are bad.
First lets get a better grasp on my tendencies. When I sit down to write, I need serval things. I need Music, coffee or alcohol, water, my laptop, something to snack on and my cell phone. When I write, it is a whole ordeal I guess. I have just realized my work table is a controlled chaos of papers and liquids surrounding a valuable piece of technology. I also have another tendency I do when I start writing, but this tendency is uncontrollable, it's my wife she is always close by waiting for a split second break to give me a kiss or to distract me for a second because she is bored, she it the greatest thing in my life. She is there to support me and she is my biggest fan, but when it comes to home work she is the bane of my essays life. but we will get into that later.
So lets narrow down the good and bad for each of these tendencies. Music; music can be good for many reasons. It can relieve stress, it can help you focus by getting rid of all white noise or background noise that can be distracting. I cant tell you how annoying it is to be working hard and concentrating on you paper when, what it sounds like is a highway speed chase going on, Siren after siren rolling by all unbeknownst of the quiet student writer in his apartment. But with the power of headphones and some good jams you can block out all unwanted noise. You just have Bob Marley in your ear constantly telling you to jam on or everything is going to be all right. Unfortunately there is a down side to listening to music, their have been countless times I have broke out into song and dance when one of my favorite tracks come on. As amazing as the song is it still displaces me from my essay. This obviously wastes time and pushes back productivity, there are some was with this tendency that can work so you can have you cake and eat it to. I have found something called “Homework” music on youtube. It has no lyrics its just relaxing sounds hitting you ear drum and it can really make a difference in concentration. Another solution is classical music. Classical music can really block out the outside world and release the creative side of your brain.
Water, coffee, alcohol and snacks all have great benefits to them, mostly they prevent the young writer from getting up to do these things, their all in front of him and hopefully none of them run out till after he is done with the paper. Again, with every positive to my tendencies there is a negative. If I drink to much water I have to got to the bathroom a lot, if I eat to much I run out of snacks,Thats just for starters. Water is something that is essential to any writing because you don't feel the same when you not properly hydrated. Your writing can really suffer if you are not feeling well or at the top of you game. Food is the same way with the many benefits to eating you can find 2 negatives. You can become fat, you can get sleepy or lazy after to much food and god forbid if you get any food or drink on you beautiful Mac Book Pro. Both of these things will make me get up from productive work station and after a while of this it can really start to eat up time and when your a big procrastinator like me time is everything.
Finally to my wife, she is beautiful, kind, supportive and a great help at times. She rubs my shoulders and replaces my food, water, or coffee when I run out. She is definitely more a positive than a negative but she can push her boundaries from extremely helpful to painfully distracting. I don't mind when she distracts me because it lets me take some time to relax and not think about writing but it is the biggest time consumer of all of my tendencies combined. Sometimes she can distract me for days and thats is the definition of counterproductive. A way I have tried to fix this distraction in my writing process or in any homework process for that matter, is to let her know well before things are do that I'm going to be very busy. This gives her time to find to find activities to do while I work on my things. So instead of distracting me she has a good heads up to preoccupy herself. If I don't give her a fair warning that I'm not going to be able to play all day she will automatically assume that if i don't have class then she gets me all to herself. Another way to help is to be stern with her but I do not recommend that to anyone and it really does not go over well. Kindness and understanding go a long way, a lot longer than being stern, that just gets you in trouble.
In conclusion, all the of my tendencies I went over today, music, coffee/water, and my wife have great advantages to them but also have there disadvantages. I have learned a lot about myself through this project and i believe my work will reflect that. I have learned that I love music and it helps me concentrate on my work but it can also distract me. I found that the solution is to listen to classical music or “homework” music. I have learned that water and food are very important to any writer, but can hurt the writer as well. The solution? Its simple everyone who does this just needs to do it in small moderations to prevent bathroom breaks and fatigue. The last thing I learned during my writing adventures in the last couple of weeks is that your loved ones can be your biggest distractions but also your greatest supporters, and to prevent from breaking there plans and hearts, you can be cautious and let them know your writing schedule well in advance.
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