Sleeping is a superpower.

Real-world superhumans like Kobe Bryant and Elon Musk are known for being highly effective, creative, and high achievers. In addition, they are known for a very particular characteristic: they sleep much less than average people. Although their lack of sleep is NOT one of the attributes related to their remarkable success, we may see it as the key element that contributed to their achievements (Less sleep equals more hours of work, right? It seems to make sense). This misunderstanding has led many of us to consider sacrificing our sleep to achieve our goals and dreams, especially those related to school performance and professional careers. But is it actually true that if we sleep less, we accomplish more?

Sleeping plays a vital role in developing human capabilities and has been one of the subjects of research and study for many decades. There have been many interesting findings regarding the importance of sleep. However, none of them has even gotten close to suggesting that lowering the amount of sleep an individual has will result in any form of success. Furthermore, Dr. Lawrence Epstein, MD, medical director of Sleep Health Centers in Brighton, Mass., and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said, "Recent studies have shown that adequate sleep is essential to feeling awake and alert, maintaining good health, and working at peak performance. After two weeks of sleeping six hours or less a night, students feel as bad and perform as poorly as someone who has gone without sleep for 48 hours." In other words, Dr. Epstein said that there is no correlation between thriving and lacking sleep. Therefore, the fact that Kobe Bryant's sleep habits worked for him does not mean that it's sustainable and it will work for everyone.

Now, let's go back in time to your childhood, even earlier, when you were just a baby. Imagine how nostalgic it would be to see the young version of your parents and to see yourself as a baby. Among the things you would notice, you would see your parents taking such good care of you. You would see them making everything possible for you to grow healthy, strong, and intelligent. You would see your parents treating your sleep schedule as something sacred, something that couldn't be skipped or interrupted. You would see them missing out on parties, sports events, friends' gatherings, movie nights, and other social events. Their reason for those sacrifices was simple and undoubtedly important: "the baby (you) needs to sleep at that time."

Let's pause and consider why your sleep schedule was so important to your parents. Why was it worth so many sacrifices?

Now let's come back to the present. Have you ever heard someone say about their New Year's resolution, "This year, I will prioritize my sleep. I will sleep better. I will plan to sleep"? You probably have never heard someone say that. In contrast, we hear people listing all sorts of other things: "getting an A in all the classes," "doing an internship at the dream company," "going to the gym every day," and the list goes on. Interestingly, most of the resolutions we hear from people are purely outcomes, things we wish to happen.

The message of this article is simple: if you commit to a strict and constant sleep scheduleif you plan to sleepyou'll see improvement in all areas of your life that are important to you. Therefore, let's focus for a moment on things that will make that happen.

First, make your sleep a priority on your list. As an international student and first generation college student in my family, I had to figure this out by myself. During my first four semesters at BYU, I constantly struggled with a lack of energy and fatigue throughout the day. Consequently, my academic performance was very poor, and my self-confidence went down. Every semester I started with new resolutions that I thought would help me thrive. Some of those resolutions were "Planning my week" or "studying every day for one hour for each class." I found out that those goals had such little impact on me because I still lacked energy and was tired throughout my day. I thought that it was because I was waking up too early and working too much; I even tried taking naps during the day; however, I found myself waking up more tired than before.

One day, thinking about people I admire (Im not talking about famous people, but normal

people like me and you), looking for patterns in their lives that could benefit mine, I found

something very interesting. I noticed that people who got the grades I wanted and had the balance I longed for had something in common. They were very responsible with the

number of hours they slept; they didnt let anything get in the way of sleeping. That day was indeed an "Aha" moment in my life. It is empowering to be aware of how important sleep is. Small changes in one's daily routine can have a huge impact. Having sleep as one of my life's priorities has been the driving force for change.

Second, plan to sleep. After I became aware of how important sleep is, I made it a clear priority in my life, and my weekly planning switched to planning everything around my hours of sleep. Knowing that my body needs at least 7 hours of sleep was very relevant in

determining how to organize my week. It was less hard to say no to certain things because

knowing that the outcomes I had written in my beginning-of-the-semester resolutions list

depended on it.

A study directed at students at Auburn Universitys Harrison School of Pharmacy suggests that there is an association between the hours of sleep you have and the score you get on a test. Individuals who sleep for 7 hours or more get better scores compared to those who sleep 6 hours or less. Therefore, this finding proves that cognitive performance is very fragile and can be negatively affected by inadequate sleep duration. Furthermore, Salisa

Westrick, PhD, MS, James E. Foy Hall, Health Outcomes Research and Policy, Auburn University, explained more, "Inadequate sleep decreases general alertness and impairs

attention, resulting in slowed cognitive processing. Lack of adequate sleep also interferes with the function of brain structures critical to cognitive processes." Along with the subject of adequate sleep duration, it is also relevant to mention that there won't be long-lasting results without consistency in the time you go to bed. Yu Chih Chiang and Susan W.

Arendt, two Online Learning Faculty Fellows and professors of hospitality management at

Iowa State University, conducted a study that suggests not being consistent with a sleep

routine is a common problem associated with poor sleep quality. They said, "The results of

our study suggest a high prevalence of both an irregular bedtime schedule and insufficient

sleep among university students in Taiwan. Students with an irregular bedtime schedule

may experience poor sleep quality."

As one becomes more aware of the importance of getting a good night's sleep, making sleeping a priority will come naturally. As you plan to sleep, make sure to focus on two important aspects: sleep duration and a regular bedtime schedule. However, be aware

that neither of these two key aspects will significantly impact your life without consistency. Therefore, as students commit themselves to the strict routine of making time to sleep one of their top priorities, their grades at school and the quality of other aspects of their lives will improve significantly.

Sources:

1. Straten, Tim van. 2021. Kobe Bryant Wound up Regretting the Astonishing Lack of Sleep He Got throughout His Career: why Am I Playing like Crap? - Sportscasting. Sportscasting | Pure Sports. November 14, 2021. https://www.sportscasting.com/kobebryant-wound-up-regretting-astonishing-lack-sleep-throughout-career-why-playing-likecrap/

2. Importance of Sleep & Effects of Sleep Deprivation on College Students. 2007. American Academy of Sleep Medicine Association for Sleep Clinicians and Researchers. November 30, 2007. https://aasm.org/college-students-getting-enough-sleep-is-vital-toacademic-success/

3. Zeek, Megan L., Matthew J. Savoie, Matthew Song, Leanna M. Kennemur, Jingjing Qian,

Paul W. Jungnickel, and Salisa C. Westrick. 2015. Sleep Duration and Academic Performance among Student Pharmacists. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 79 (5): 63. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe79563

4. Zeek, Megan L., Matthew J. Savoie, Matthew Song, Leanna M. Kennemur, Jingjing Qian, Paul W. Jungnickel, and Salisa C. Westrick. 2015. Sleep Duration and Academic Performance among Student Pharmacists. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 79 (5): 63. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe79563

5. Hannah G.Lund B.A. Brian D.Reider B.A. Annie B. Whiting R.N. J. Roxanne Prichard.

2010. Sleep Patterns and Predictors of Disturbed Sleep in a Large Population of College Students. Sciencedirect.Com. February 2010 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X09002389

Use these resources to learn about query creation in DevOps

When assigned to an IT operations team, or any other team that works on tasks from many different focus areas, you may need to create a board and backlog that can handle different work types other than user stories.

This allows the team to track incidents, along with other work types that they are responsible for, on the same board. A feature that the scrum board does not allow since it is configured to track a single focus and prevent interruptive work like incidents.

Here is a walkthrough of how the board and backlog are made in ServiceNow:

Task Board Walkthrough

Balancing work and school life can be a hassle. With a continually decreasing number of classes being offered online, it can be hard to get everywhere you need to be throughout the day. Additionally, having work meetings scheduled at intervals at different places throughout the day can make this almost impossible at times. This requires back and forth from different buildings on campus and leads to large amounts of time spent commuting. Does the PMO team offer anything to help its team members with this problem? Yes we do!

As members of the PMO team, we have access to request and check out service vehicles and parking permits to help us meet the demands of our day. These resources are at the ITB. They come with their own sets of rules and restrictions but are very easy to work with and incredibly helpful at times. Outside of just convenience, it is expected that we resort to these resources when asked to shuttle anyone on any work-related business. Using a personal car is not considered appropriate for this and should be avoided.

How do I utilize these resources? The two different resources we have available are service vehicles and parking permits. Service vehicles are cars available for you to use any time, and the parking permit is a hanging permit that allows you to use a personal vehicle to park in BYU parking lots. To use either, you need to first check availability and reserve them. After doing this, you will go pick up the resource from the front desk on the first floor at the time you reserved it. More detail regarding each check out process below.

To check availability and reserve a service car, head over to your outlook calendar and click New Events to create an event. Update the time to reflect the actual time you will need the car. Go to the invite attendees section and type ITB_IT. You will see a list of all available service cars and their corresponding color. Select a car and then double check that it works with the time you need it. After doing this, you will go to the first-floor reception desk and tell them you are there to get the keys for the *gold* service car (** whichever color car you reserved). They will give you a sheet for you to fill out, recording the time you checked the car out.

The parking pass is very similar. Follow all steps outlined above except type ITB Parking Permit 1. Again, double check the times and make sure it is available for when you need it. IMPORTANT**The parking permit is only allowed to be checked out for a maximum of 30 minutes, if you need to be somewhere longer, check out a service vehicle.** Go pick up the parking pass from the front desk at the time you reserved it.

Upon returning to the ITB, go straight to the front desk and return your resources. (Service vehicles are typically parked on the west side of the ITB, just make sure to park the car where you got it from). They may ask you to check the items in, or they may tell you that they will take care of it. Either way, congratulations! You just successfully utilized resources that are made available to make your life just a little bit easier. An awesome detail to highlight with both these resources is that you can park in service vehicle spots, so you can get some great parking spots during busy hours on campus. So there you have it! Just one more great way to save a little time and make your life easier. Go PMO!

As Agile Coaches, our main responsibility is to strengthen our team and simplify the work that needs to be accomplished. While these things are important, we should recognize the unique opportunity we have of working in a professional environment with skilled leaders and mentors. We are allotted one hour each week to utilize our circumstances by practicing and learning skills in our roles as Agile Coaches and to further our abilities in our future careers.

The main purpose of the Professional Development Hour is to enable each of us to expand on what we are currently able to do and be greater assets for our teams as well as improve ourselves for future opportunities. One of the best ways to make the most of this time is to create an overarching goal for the period of a few weeks or months, then direction your weekly hour toward helping you reach that goal.

For example, if your overarching goal was to be able to automate most, if not all, of your Excel spreadsheets, you might focus your weekly Professional Development Hours on step goals to reach the finish line. Here is how you might format such a plan:

Although a simple example, it demonstrates how you can turn your single hour each week into an opportunity to build upon yourself over a longer time period.

To help you get the most of your hour, the process outlined below can be a great tool to organize your thoughts and create a plan similar to the one above:

1. Set clear goals (SMART goals).

2. Prioritize and plan.

3. Explore diverse learning resources.

4. Network and collaborate.

5. Time management and consistency.

6. Measure progress.

7. Reflect and Apply

1.     Set Clear Goals (SMART Goals)

The best way to start is by envisioning what you want your outcome to be. Do you want to be more proficient at a certain skill? Maybe you simply wish to learn more about a specific topic, or even plan to overcome a trial your team is facing using new techniques or software. Whatever it is, make sure to outline it using SMART goal methodology (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely). SMART goals help keep the goal in scope and something we can actually achieve with a plan.

2.     Prioritize and Plan

Once youve outlined your finish line, decide on a few major points along your path that need the most attention. These will become the focus of each weeks hour so that you can dedicate enough time to the appropriate steps that will help you reach your goal.

3.     Explore Diverse Learning Resources

Either on the PMO website or through your own research, decide what tools will help you throughout each major step. Here are some examples of things you can do to utilize your hour each week:

- Update your resume.

- Apply for internships.

- Read a professional development book.

- Learn new skills on LinkedIn learning and other sites.

- Schedule a meeting with a professional in your field

- Take an aptitude test.

- Read some of the blog posts on the PMO website.

These are but a few of the endless options to help you make the most of your Professional Development Hour.

4.     Network and Collaborate

Who says you must work alone? Start a project with a coworker or another professional. Collaborate amongst other coaches to learn, support, and grow together. You could even collaborate on an article for the PMO website together. Take time to function better as a team and teach each other to reach a greater goal.

5.     Time Management and Consistency

Something that can help is to set aside the same hour each week to add it to your routine, so you dont miss it. For example, you may take your hour every Tuesday at 3:00 PM. Make sure that your Professional Development Hour is just that: one hour. Use your time wisely! It can be easy to get distracted, but with only 60 minutes each week to dedicate to something greater, you need to make sure to get everything you can out of it. Set distractions aside and work somewhere private if needed.

6.     Measure Progress

Make sure to keep track of what you are able to accomplish during each Professional Development hour to ensure that you are truly making the most of your time. This can also help you adjust your goals if things are going quicker or slower than expected, as well as help you set new goals in the future to make sure youre able to reach your overarching goals.

7.     Reflect and Apply

As you reach each finish line, reflect on what went well and how you could have done better. Adjust each week and cycle as needed so that you can make sure to make the most of your hour.

Hopefully this article has helped you understand the real impact that one hour of dedicated time each week can have. Again, this is a special opportunity for real growth that we are lucky enough to have included in our weekly schedule.

Happy growing!