Sleeping is important as working. I used to think sleeping is a waste of time. I was wrong. When I pushed myself too hard, I couldn’t get anything done properly.
Starting from 2015, I calmed myself down and took things slowly. One thing at a time. I spent more time with my family.
At the time of writing this article, my kids are well asleep. It is almost midnight now. I am fully awake. My bedtime is still not yet fixed at the same time every day. It depends on my kids.
Maybe when we move to our own house, things will get better organized.
I need to deal with the current situation. I optimize the time I have to do my work. Nothing to complain. I keep calm and keep working.
On this blog post, I want to share my bedtime routines.
Sleeping is important, but things we do before we sleep are more important than sleeping itself.
Here are the 5 bedtime rituals I am practicing right now:
1. Recap my day and define the one thing for tomorrow
Some people said we should define at least 3 important tasks for each day. Some people said we need to define only a theme for the day. For example, tomorrow is “a writing day” or “a media day”.
The principal here is to define what we need to do tomorrow before we sleep. You can adapt the number to your own preference.
I define only “the one thing”. I look at my current situation and define the one thing for tomorrow that I need to do to move thing go forward, no matter what happen. I might miss it, but it is easy for me to catch back.
2. Do what I missed during the day
When we plan something, we need to complete it. I usually reserve 1 hour of writing after lunch. Sometimes I missed it. Like tonight for example. I need to repair my day by writing this blog post.
This is the most exciting moment for me. You will be proud of your day after we complete the one important thing of the day.
3. Clear up my mind
I might have a lot of new ideas during the day. This is the good time to think about them and write them down somewhere in order to get them out of my mind.
When we sleep with an empty mind, we will sleep well. Trust me.
I use Google Task to note what’s I have in my mind. Some people suggest we should write a private journal like Marcus Aurelius wrote to himself every night.
I tried writing journal a few days, but it didn’t work out for me. Maybe because I didn’t make the time. You can find your own way. The idea is to write all you have in your mind and tell yourself to forget them.
4. Entertain myself
I will read when I have time. I was looking for a good time to read. I found the bedtime is a perfect time. Everything is completed and cleared off. This is the time to enjoy ourselves. You can do your own favorite activity. You might enjoy watching TV. Do whatever that entertain you.
This is your time.
5. Get enough sleep
I used to work late until 1 or 2 AM. I woke up the next morning with a lack of sleep. I didn’t have my full energy to perform the work.
Check out the graph above to get to know how many hours you should sleep. Make the time to sleep enough. Remeber sleeping is important as working.
I use a wonderful app called “SleepyTime: Bedtime Calculator“.
The app will tell you what time you should get up with full energy. Select the one that shows you the duration of sleep between 6 to 7 hours.
Then the alarm will wake you up at the time you select. The inconvenience is that you need to go to delete the alarms manually. But this is a very good app.
I don’t have any issue when I wake up, no matter what time I go to bed.
I hope you enjoy the tips. If you have any good bedtime ritual to share, do not hesitate to comment below!
Here the sumamry of the post in graphic:
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