The Sleep

Hello Beautiful Human,

It doesn’t matter how smart or tough you are. (And this newsletter attracts the high achievers, the smarty pants, and those who have grit like no other.)

But here’s the truth: Your brain and body NEED sleep.

I grew up hearing the phrase, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”. You too?

I’m not sure where it came from, maybe from the ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality of my Mexican-American family. A generational legacy of survival. And reinforced by a productivity crazed society.

But that belief was actually holding me back as I worked late into the night forcing myself to work on empty, struggling to create the results I wanted.

Our brain needs time resting to process.

It literally organizes and cleans up while we are sleeping. This is proven in all the performance research, but I know it’s still hard to let go of old narratives and simply follow what we know we ‘should’ do.

So, this is your permission to embody the belief that getting sufficient sleep is a strategic leadership move.

I know it is easier said than done. It’s a practice.

START HERE TO IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP & BUILD A FOUNDATION OF REST.

1.What are your thoughts and belief about sleep?!

This matters because I can give you all the tips in the world, but if you don’t think you deserve rest or if you believe you will always have sleep issues, nothing with change. Become aware of your internal narrative about sleep.

Change your thinking, change your reality.

2. What would be the impact on your life if you were well rested?

Dial in WHY you would even try the following tips and recommendations.

If you don’t have a strong reason for changing your habits you will lose motivation before you find your specific solution and feel the results.

3. Pick 2-3 Ideas from the list below.

– Lose the phone. Keep it outside the bedroom & use an old fashioned alarm if necessary.

– Turn down the lights. Avoid blue screens before bed, use candle light or other soft light. I use this one and love that I don’t have to turn the light off it just fades to red and off. And I can read a fun light book until I fade to sleep.

– Stretch or shower/bath with candle light. Get out of your head and into your body.

– Write out the worries and soak in the gratitude. Direct your mind, use your hand to write it out.

– Breathe. Take a big inhale and then work on extending your exhale to double the length of your inhale. Like inhale 3 exhale 6. Inhale peace. Exhale worry.

– Be kind to yourself. Even if you are laying in bed awake, speak nice to yourself – shaming yourself or fighting with yourself will not active a state of calm.

4. Track how much better your day and week is when you get the rest you need.

This is the positive data you need to keep in mind when you are craving the cheap dopamine of scrolling that cuts into your precious hours for sleep.

Here’s the CRITICAL point and important truth to remember: Refusing to give yourself the rest it needs, will shorten your life.

When I begun to unsubscribe to ‘sleep when you’re dead’ mentality I changed my thinking to, “work hard, play hard, rest hard.” It helped me prioritize what I knew I needed.

Now, I am working on integrating a whole new framework, “work with ease, play with ease, rest with ease”. The results are pretty radical, but that is for another Leadership Inside Out issue.

Until then, remember… You are worthy of rest.