HOW PEAK PERFORMERS (AND YOU TOO ) CAN GET THE BEST OUT OF MANAGING STRESS AT WORK THROUGH BETTER SLEEPING HABITS?

Managing stress at work is one of my top priorities in coaching sessions nowadays so to help my clients strike a better work-life adjustment and increase their productivity at work, and in other areas of their lives.

As I truly believe in the investigative cognitive process of my coaching programs, I must begin this by asking you:

• How are you managing stress at work?
• And how about in all of the other main 4 areas of your life (Health, Wealth, Love and Happiness)?

This is major. Most of the reading suggestions from Tai Lopez’s book list and his mentorship programs bring about this topic of the 4 Pillars of the Good Life, remembering us we must treat each area of our lives with the type of respect, care, focus and discipline that we put in all the other areas of our lives, alongside with our career. Think about all of that and now answer this next question for me:

• How could you rate each of the main 5 areas of your life (Career, Health, Wealth, Love and Happiness) in your reality (from 0 to 10, being 0 extremely poor and 10 excellent)?

Most of my clients (past, current and new ones) usually do no make deep connections between stress level at work, all of the other areas of their lives, and their sleeping habits. Do you make this connection?

The reality is that many studies today show that your sleeping time and routine is directly connected with your increase in focus and productivity at work, and responsible for lowering your stress levels as well. For instance, in Tony Schwartz’s article “Why Great Performers Sleep More”, HBR Guide to Managing Stress at Work, 2014, he writes on the importance of himself getting at least eight hours of sleep every night, including when traveling; and if not being able to reach that target, he takes a power nap in the afternoon. This was mostly due after he – himself – gathered research about sufficient sleep and the impact it has on performance at work and also on managing emotions better.

I always reinforce that when it comes to sleeping routines, quality matters (this is actually a new item on my ongoing 5-Pillars-Vision-Board project: “quality matters”! In fact, this motto is attached to a beautiful and inspiring picturesque photograph that I love and which connects me to how important it is to have an evening ritual to sleep better and wake up refreshed next morning. And I take it seriously!). Now, I duplicate below what I have worked with some of my peak performer clients so they have a better quality sleeping schedule and routine. I also share below what some studies have confirmed and mentors worldwide have shared with us. Here it is:

• WELCOME DISCIPLINE INTO YOUR BEDROOM: How often you follow this will set you apart from the crowd. Establishing a routine of no electronics at least 30-40 minutes before you go to bed has been a deal breaker for me and many of my clients. There is no exact formula for this, but bottom line, if you keep reading the news, answering your emails and working from your bedroom, chances are if you sleep at all, this will be a very unsettling night of rest, as your mind is extremely busy with your to-do-lists fresh and running in your mind. So, unwinding your mind and dimming the lights is a powerful way to keep in control of your sleeping time.
• FREE YOUR MIND DEEPLY WITH EXTRA RITUALS AND COACHING TOOLS: Dr. Tara Swart, a neuroscientist, award-winning author and a medical doctor who works with leaders all over the world to help them achieve mental resilience and peak performance shares in her work that good sleeping patterns is one of the 5 key areas to keep your brain healthy, and sleeping 7-9 hours per night is ideal for next day peak performer achiever! On that, I would like to add how journaling could be a powerful way to write down what’s on your mind, brain dumping it all, especially the unresolved issues and all those unsettling working memory of yours. Write it down and free your mind for a good rest at night. Additionally, mindfulness practice, used as a tool in coaching on my programs, come handy when establishing for instance an evening ritual for a great night sleep, working with simple breathing techniques or with a more elaborate mindfulness App of your choice (Headspace is a favorite of my leadership peak performance clients). And to illustrate it better, please join me in for one of my videos on Mindfulness below (subtitles in En; please activate CC icon on your device) that I want to share with (and inspire) you:

Alongside all of that, an additional piece of information from The Unlimited Mind, shares that

“sleep is important for not only resting the brain, but consolidating memories and learning from our experiences the previous day. Brain research as recently as 2012 showed that whilst we sleep our glymphatic system cleans our brains, removing neurotoxins overnight.” What a great information that is, right?

So, whether you choose on a specific evening to practice mindfulness, begin journaling, dimming the lights or perhaps keeping your devices out of your bedroom, you know how work-life habits and patterns matter more than we can think of, and what you can do to keep control of your own work-life experiences, right? Now here I come again and ask you: What is your decision for this evening? And for tomorrow’s? What is this one small new habit of yours that you are willing to adjust to sleep better tonight? And tomorrow? Trust me, one tiny adjustment a day will take you to another level. The big question now is: Are you truly ready? Let’s do this!