Can’t sleep? Try lying.
Ever had trouble falling asleep, or waking up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep; because you have a hundred things on your mind that youneed to remember to get done? My first boss, from whom I did learned a lot about management, share
d his technique. Lie to yourself. Tell yourself that first thing in the morning you will jump right on all those things and get them knoc
ked out. Tell yourself that you can now forget about them and fall back asleep. He emphasized that for maximum effect the lie must be quite convincing. He swore by the technique.
I respected my boss and figured there must be some merit to it but, as I’m convinced that lying in general is not good for the soul, I figured there might be a different approach to this age-old issue. It has taken me years to figure it out, but in the end it turned out to be very simple, and didn’t involve lying.
Our brains, while great at processing information and compiling data are not great at holding a lot of assignments in short-term memory. When we try to use it that way we overload that part of our brain. That results in stress, leading to those sleepless nights. My boss’ technique was to lie to himself and temporarily purge the list from his brain so he could go back to sleep. This approach, while it might work, h
as a couple drawbacks. The first is the previously mentioned issue of lying. Do you really want to hone that skill? The second is, that while you may get back to sleep, you may be too good at purging the information and actually forget about some important task that you do need to get done.
A better approach is to free your brain from trying to remember those items by keeping lists of what you need to do. This will give your brain a needed rest, you won’t have to become a compulsive liar, and things won’t slip through the crack.
I know, your first reaction might be, oh no, not the dreaded “to do list.” I also had an aversion to it, as it always tended to get too long; to the point it became overwhelming and ultimately demotivating. This led to inaction, which led to guilt, which led to sleepless nights, and back to lying.
The key to avoiding this vicious cycle is how we create and manage our lists. Below are some simple tips that I found have helped me tame this beast.
Don’t put anything on a list that you’re not really going to do, or you shouldn’t do. This follows the first principle of Effective Focus – SIMPLIFY. We are all well intentioned, but let’s be honest, we can’t do everything. So instead of adding every idea or requests from others to our list, let’s just say no on the front end and not add them. The key here is to know what it is you are best suited and are called to do. Know your FOCUS.
Also, typically don’t put things on your list that you can do in a minute or two. Just do it and save yourself the time of adding it to your list.
Create your list in 3 parts:
Tasks – these are actions that typically have only one or two steps and usually only involve you to complete. Items that you’ve been assigned, you’ve committed to, or must get done to fulfill one or more of your roles (i.e. husband, father, businessperson, volunteer, etc.).
Projects – these are items that involve multiple steps and may involve others to get accomplished. Similar to tasks, these are items that have been assigned to you or you have committed to get done. These usually can’t be completed in one sitting and will involve some scheduling of time and resources.
Ideas – these are things that directly relate to your area of focus and, while they have potential, are not yet critical to fulfilling your FOCUS, but you don’t want to forget them (or lose sleep over trying to remember).
Prioritize your lists considering the following:
Which items have firm due dates
Which items involve long lead actions (e.g. require purchase, other peoples actions, etc.)
Which items, if addressed, will provide immediate benefits
Which items will you just hate to do (go ahead and plan on “eating that frog” as soon as possible – it will make everything else on the list seem easier).
Manage your lists as follows:
Weekly – while I make it a rule to try to not work on weekends, I’ve found it helpful to take a few minutes when not in the work week press to review what items on the lists must get done in the coming week. Leave them where they are on the list, but tag them as this weeks items (big “W” in front of them).
Daily (best to do first thing before the chaos gremlins get you) review your Task and Project lists, select the top priority items and put them on your plate to do (or in the case of projects, to work on) today. Make sure your lists contain those things that must get done this week. I usually dedicate about half my time each day (or week) to tasks and the other half to a project(s). If you don’t, the tasks will eat up every day and the projects won’t get done. Only put on the list what you can reasonably get done in 70% to 80% of the time you have available. Trust me, the day will provide you with plenty to fill in that remaining 20% to 30%. If you didn’t get everything done, then tomorrow reevaluate and start afresh (no guilt).
Quarterly (or sooner if your Task and Projects lists get depleted) review your “Idea” list and see if any of those items warrant being moved to the Task or Projects list.
Repeat steps 1 through 4.
Repeat steps 1 through 4.
Repeat steps 1 through 4.
The key really is steps 5, 6 and 7…. I’ve found this approach only works when I trust the process and am disciplined enough to follow it. Sure there will be days when everything falls apart before you even get started. Don’t panic and don’t loose hope. Just get a good night’s sleep (without having to lie to yourself) and start fresh again in the morning. And if you do wake up, keep a note pad by your bed, write down the item, and fall back asleep.
Now, let’s go make a difference.
August 29, 2017 By DeanWilliams Leave a Comment Filed Under: Blog