It is a ‘no-brainer’ really.
At age 53 you would have thought that I would have realised this before now. The quality of sleep affects your productivity. Very simple.
I knew this before today but was not very good in practising it. All sorts of things and reasons stood in the way.
In my earlier years, say even up to my 30’s, I was what you would call a morning-person and a night-person. Not a very good mix!
I loved to stay up late and wanted to get up early, particularly if there was a pre-Dawn or Dawn photography shoot on. I would be excited about this and had trouble getting to sleep because I couldn’t wait to go on the shoot.
Other things that impacted my sleep quality were the distance from where I lived to where I worked. When I got married we made a decision to live 100km’s SW of Sydney (there were logical reasons which I won’t go into here), the only trouble was, for most of that time it meant a 2 – 2 1/2 hour journey each way.
When I arrived home I was quite tired but quickly gained ‘a second wind’ which meant I would stay up late to enjoy the things I wanted to enjoy, then get up at 5.30am and on we’d go. This went on for 16 years…
My wife and I now run a Home Office for our business so travel times have obviously reduced, but that doesn’t always mean we get early nights. Anyone who has run their own business knows that to be successful you need to work more than 9-5 in it, plus I have other involvements as well as my ‘About’ page on this blog will attest.
I have a very active mind anyway and sometimes that stops me from getting to sleep straight away as well.
Friday night (after my Life Coaching session), I knew I should have turned in straight away, but became interested in a movie which did not finish till nearly 1am. Unfortunately I woke up at 6.16am. Not a very good sleep and although I did achieve some things yesterday, I did not get done anywhere near what I had planned.
Last night I hit the pillows early (for me) on a Saturday night, 10.15pm in fact and upon waking up this morning at 7.45am, I was ‘full of beans’ as they say.
Upon rising this morning I:
– did a bit of reading from 3 different books, including one on Art
– came up with 4 ideas for blog articles
– one poem
– wrote 6 1/2 pages towards a book that I have been wanting to write for many years
– actively jumped into some exercises recommended from the Life Coach session I had on Friday night
– started some house chores
all by 11am.
The lesson that I need to learn and actively apply to my life is that a good night’s sleep is invaluable.
In comparing how I feel today (to yesterday) maybe finally I will put some things into practice to ensure I get the amount of sleep I need to be as productive as I can be.
Written by David Johnson
17 April 2016
Communicating Creatively 