Sleep and How to Get More of It

Early morning planning session. We're giving it a shot!

I’m just going to start by saying this blog post stems from a great need of mine, and is not necessarily something I am good at. I’m talking about sleep.

I guess I should correct myself and say I am actually pretty good at sleeping. I’d challenge just about anyone in a race to fall asleep, especially if Erik is talking about something he learned on one of his favorite finance or economics podcasts... but I am not good at getting enough sleep nor going to bed early.

We can probably all agree that research shows getting enough quality sleep does wonders for our emotions, mental capacity, productivity, physical health, stress levels... you name it, getting enough sleep probably helps with it. 

I’m not going to go into that, but I wanted to share a podcast I listened to recently that changed my perspective on sleep.

Rachel Hollis is an entrepreneur, blogger, author, and motivational speaker. She has a podcast called RISE, and in episode 125, she talks about “How to Supercharge Your Morning Routine.”

Now, we all have our challenges when it comes to getting sleep and having a “supercharged” morning routine. 

Maybe you’re a new mama and Baby is waking up every hour (If that’s you - girl, do whatever you want. I am praying for you!). Perhaps you have a job that requires a lot of time, are a full-time student, are heavily involved in your community, or have any combination of all of these... or something completely different!

Point is - we all have challenges, things that take up time, and demands that make it hard to care for ourselves the way we should and (let’s be honest) the way we would like to.

So, if you’re like me, whenever you hear about the need to get sleep, you long to be able to create a life in which you get all the sleep you need, but it just doesn’t pan out as reality. 

It seems that sleep can sometimes be that thing that is easy to give up in the name of productivity or having fun with others, but eventually it catches up with us… and then we are no longer productive. Or fun. 

Rachel presented something that gave me a new perspective on this, though. She talks about how most of us have “me-time” in the last hours of the day. However these hours are often when we are exhausted, and so it’s hard to motivate ourselves to do much other than watch Netflix or scroll on Instagram. 

Been there. Doing that.

She says that rather than giving ourselves the “crumbs” of our day, why not give ourselves the morning hours when we are fresh and energized and can make our “me-time” meaningful?

That made me pause.

Recently, Erik and I have been putting the girls down around 8, and then working on Total Bodi or some other random thing until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. As Rachel says, it takes about 1-2 hours to wind down and get to bed. That makes getting up to record workout videos rough (represented by all those bonus reps you guys get when I can’t keep track!).  ;)

She suggests going to bed early and waking up really early so that our “me-time” is a priority and happens during some of our most productive hours of the day.

While it will take some adjusting and won’t be an overnight game changer (pun intended), I believe this kind of schedule will make us more productive, efficient, and energized during our day.

Rachel also suggests having a morning routine that is sacred to us. It should involve planning, being intentional about our goals and how to bring it for that day, and include some physical activity.

I want to be this awesome. We all have to start somewhere. For me, I gotta start with some sleep.

Like I said, we all know the desire to get more sleep. We’ve likely all made efforts to get more sleep. But maybe seeing it as enabling yourself to give yourself your best time (rather than the crumbs) of your day will motivate you to make the changes as it has for me. 

So, the short answer? To get more sleep, go to bed early. Then get up early and be productive so you can keep going to bed early. :)

Let's do this together! Check out the podcast with these links, and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

P.S. I wrote this last week and Erik and I made the goal of going to bed earlier and using our mornings more during this week. At 9:30 p.m. last night, and after a wonderful Mother’s Day, talking to family and spending time with the girls, we were finally planning out our week and starting to work those random side tasks we always have on our lists.  

Then Erik turned to me and said, “Let’s just go to bed. We can plan in the morning.” It seemed weird to me at first, but we did it and I can honestly say I’m digging this morning thing! I got nearly 7 hours of sleep, which is an improvement for me, and I’m feeling good!

Links to the podcast:
Spotify
Stitcher

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