The rule focused on for Week 1 of the Tranquility by Tuesday challenge was Give Yourself a Bedtime. I knew from the start that committing to a bedtime was going to be tough for me. Since the beginning of the new year, I have been going to bed whenever I feel like it, and sometimes it has been 1:00 in the morning by the time I climb into bed for my evening slumber. I no longer have an established morning routine, and I rarely set an alarm since leaving my instructional coaching job, but I manage to get enough sleep.
Laura mentioned (in a recent blog post about Rule #1) that she chose it first “because it’s important to get enough sleep and a regular bedtime gives structure to the day.” I could not agree more and was happy to start with this rule because as I mentioned in my post, “My RESULTS of the 2023 Time Tracking Challenge,” I want a more structured daily routine (M-F), especially in the mornings and throughout the day.
Before the week started, I pondered the planning questions for Rule #1 that Laura sent us on Friday, 20 January and made a plan for the week.
- What time would you like to wake up most mornings? 6:00 AM
- About how many hours of sleep do you need on an average night? 7 hours
- What time do you generally need to be in bed in order to get this amount of sleep? 11:00 PM
- About how much time do you need before your bedtime to relax and get ready? 30 minutes
- What might keep you from going to bed at your bedtime? working on video projects for my YouTube channel
- How do you plan to address these challenges? no idea
RESULTS
I am thrilled that I continued time tracking along with this challenge because I averaged 7.5 hours of sleep not 7 hours. This is huge because I now have to readjust the time I start winding down and going to sleep by a half hour or decide to wake up at 6:30 instead of 6:00 in the morning.
My time tracking log also revealed the reasons for staying up later than 11:00 PM. On Friday night, I showered at 10:30 and from 11:00-11:45, I played on my phone, scrolling through social media. On Monday night, I showered at 10:15 and from 10:35-11:30, I edited a video. On Tuesday night, I showered at 8:45 and from 9:15-11:45, I was either scrolling on social media or watching YouTube videos. On Thursday night, I attended my improv class from 6:00-8:00; showered at 9:25, and from 9:50-11:50, I edited a video.
REFLECTION
On Thursday I received reflection questions from Laura to review how well I did with giving myself a bedtime. I did not go to sleep one single night at 11:00 PM. I missed the mark EVERY single night. Boy, do I have my work cut out for me!
- How did observing a bedtime affect you this week? more conscious of trying to go to bed on time
- What challenges did you face in implementing this week’s strategy? me (only see this after reviewing my time tracking log)
- How did you deal with these challenges? sadly, I didn’t deal with it, but I can from this point on
- If you were not able to observe a bedtime, what prevented you from doing so? getting sucked into playing on my phone (effortless fun) and continuing to work on my videos past my bedtime
- If you needed to modify the rule, how did you do so? n/a
- How likely are you to continue observing a bedtime? very likely; I need to take this rule more seriously
Additionally, I realized that I do NOT have a good winding down routine. I did try to set an alarm to stop working on Monday night; however, when the alarm went off, I was right in the middle of what I was working on and did not want to stop. I still think an alarm is effective; however, I will need to set it for at least 15 minutes earlier than the time I ideally want to stop and start winding down before bedtime. I also think I need some sort of transition to signal my brain that it is time to wind down for the evening. Of course, this will take trial and error over the next few weeks.
Participating in this challenge has been enjoyable, dear reader. I am discovering some interesting information about myself. This is definitely a know yourself better experiment. Going forward with Rule #1, I need to readjust my bedtime if I want to wake up at 6:00 AM, be more intentional with observing a regular bedtime (set a timer), create a transition to wind down before bed, and eliminate phone time prior to winding down. With a bit of practice and the right attitude, I really think I can make giving myself a bedtime a good habit. Happiness!
“If you would like to experience the additional energy and optimism that comes from being well rested, choose a time that you would like to go to sleep more nights than not. Then, commit to getting in bed by that time unless you have a compelling reason not to.” ~ Laura Vanderkam, Tranquility by Tuesday
Note: Photo at the top is by Kristin Vogt on Pexels.com.
The Kat Files 