You’re Not Alone If Work Impacts Your Ability To Sleep
Have you ever experienced the inability to fall asleep and stay asleep? Are you thinking about work and are there “things” bothering you? Or could it be you’re excited about a new venture and your mind is racing with thoughts, ideas, or questions? You’re not alone in either case.
A University of Michigan study shared that there is a “global sleep crisis” and equates working while sleep deprived to working while drunk. Not exactly at one’s best!
There are many suggestions to improve sleep patterns such as establishing a relaxing bedtime routine, removing electronics from the bedroom, avoiding caffeine after noon, exercising, meditating, and more. These are all helpful but we’ll approach it from another perspective.
Whether there are issues/concerns, or something new and exciting, do a deep dive and assess how they impact or support your vision, mission, and goals. This will help prioritize any actions you may want to take and the following may help with making your “to do” list by categorizing what’s:
IMPORTANT – items that contribute heavily to your goals and objectives and have high value.
URGENT – items that require immediate attention but may or may not contribute to the success of meeting your goals and objectives.
You can also break-down tasks into 4 categories:
CRISIS – Important and Urgent
WORK TO DO – Important but not urgent
TRIVIAL WORK – Urgent but not important
TIME WASTING WORK – Neither important nor urgent
A last suggestion is to keep a notepad by your bedside. When a wonderful idea or solution comes to mind during the night, capture your thoughts. This will help you go back to sleep and ensure you won’t forget your brilliant idea.
Work stress is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to get in the way of a good night’s sleep.
—Rebecca Zucker
