It will hurt your productivity? Here are four items to consider.
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- Snoozing is a Failure to a Commitment- And this is likely your first task of the day. Call me dramatic, but an alarm is a deadline to stop sleeping.When you hit the snooze button, you are failing on that obligation. Perhaps you never expected to follow through. Perhaps you built in a buffer so you can snooze 15 minutes and still be ‘on time.’Still, this first act of willful or passive disregard to your commitment does damage psychologically to your ability to plan, commit, and follow through on other tasks. And the small things add up.
- Give Emphasis to Planning – 1/3rd of us don’t get enough sleep and that costs Americans $411 billion in lost productivity. To get optimal sleep, we need to plan our bedtime with as much emphasis as our wake time.Use a sleep timer to figure out how to get optimal sleep. It will make a difference.
- Finish REM cycles – If you interrupt a sleep cycle, you’ll wake feeling groggy and that is hard to shake off. The sleep timer makes a difference. Even if you have a short night of sleep, plan to wake after a complete REM cycle that lasts approximately 90 minutes plus time to fall asleep. Remember 6 hours of sleep (4 REM cycles) will feel more restful than 8 hours (5 REM cycles plus an interruption).
- Start with Determination – Figuratively, jump into your day by waking with purpose and vigor. I literally ‘throw my covers off.’This might feel odd at first, but beginning without looking back will propel you into a day of productivity. This may require a mindset change.I also put my alarm on the other side of the room, and I plan a morning drink I look forward to. This ‘waking with determination’ will certainly require trial and effort, but it will make a difference. Let me know how it goes.
Is any of this insightful? Have you had results, either positively or negatively?
