Getting Good Sleep Takes Time and Patience

For most of my professional life, I thought that sleep was an inconvenience --just something you had to do --something that got in the way of being productive.

When family and friends encouraged me to get more sleep, my standard response was, “I’ll have plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead.” This usually shut them down.

Guess what? I was wrong. Not just a little wrong, but totally, massively, full-stop wrong.

I know there’s been a ton written about the mental and physical benefits of good sleep. Short lists of good sleep habits include things like:

• Set regular bedtimes and wake up times, even on weekends.

• Don’t drink alcohol near bedtime.

• Create a totally dark space.

• Don’t use electronics in bed.

• Don’t check texts, social media or email before going to sleep.

• And, of course, don’t check the time in the middle of the night. (this is actually a biggie)

While these things are really not that difficult to do, they are, even for the most disciplined people, difficult to sustain. Guess what? Sustaining them can be transformative.

I’ve been working on improving my sleep for the last two years. After a few stops and starts, I forced myself to adhere and eventually, it started to make a difference. I started to sleep through the night (or perhaps, get up once.) I had more energy, mental clarity and creativity.

While I was not surprised at my improved energy levels, I was surprised at how long it took to get there --about 9 months. Yes, it took 9 months of practicing good sleep habits before I started to see real, sustainable results. I think this is where most people get thrown off the rails and revert to poor sleep habits. They start seeing some improvement, have one bad night’s sleep and then slide back into poor sleep habits.

Getting good sleep takes time and patience. Training your mind to sleep is not easy and it will take real consistent effort to see results. It’s similar to training your body through regular and consistent exercise.

Is it worth it? No doubt.

Would I have done it early in my professional career if I knew then what I know now. No doubt.

It’s a gigantic irony that in my quest to be more productive, by sleeping less, I was actually hindering my professional growth. Life is full of ironic things, but this doesn’t need to be one of them.

Sleep tight!