You Can't Afford to Neglect This
Hey friends, It’s MJ here! Let’s talk.
How are things? How are YOU feeling today? Take a second to just check in with yourself... How does your body feel? How sharp is your mind? Where’s your energy level at?
I’ve been talking to a lot of you for quite some time now and the prognosis remains the same: You’re exhausted, out of balance, and overwhelmed.
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. There is one common thing every single person I’ve talked to on social media, within my programs, as well as here, has done to get to this place. They’ve failed to prioritize and master the one thing that cannot be neglected: Sleep.
Now before you roll your eyes... hear me out. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute states that “Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting ENOUGH quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety.” It goes on to elaborate on how sleep greatly impacts your brain function, emotional well being, your overall health, and daily performance.
The trust is my friend, people are not getting enough sleep. And it’s happening more and more. SleepAdvisor.org discloses a number of shocking sleep statistics such as: 30% percent of the U.S. population suffers from insomnia and about 38% percent have reported unintentionally falling asleep or nodding off in the middle of the day, within the last 30 days.
What’s more, is in my own personal experience as a health coach, over the last 15 years I’ve seen burn-out effect our younger population more and more. SleepAdvisor.org reports over 37% percent of people between the ages of 20-39 report the shortest sleep durations even though it’s recommended that they get a bit more sleep compared to their older peers.
I know our society glorifies hustle and grind, we hear it all the time: You have to work like you’ve never worked before, in order to live like you’ve never lived before... or some form of that adage. And while I respect you for your dreams, goals, and motivation (I’m rooting you on!) I have to again repeat this quote from my fellow friend Brendon Burchard “You simply can’t beat the norms, if you’ve driven yourself into the ground.”
It might work in the beginning and you might even last a while... but soon enough it will catch up to you, and you will crash. Because burn-out is a real thing. And no, you’re not too young to sleep more and to relax more. In fact, it’s exactly what you need to get your fire started again.
So what’s it take to get good sleep?
The first, which is stated in my Room Design video, but less obvious to the average go-getter... Wind Up before jumping to your day. If you look at anything high performance; professional athletes, race car drivers, stage performers.. They all warm up before gunning through the start. Neglecting this could put them at risk for serious injury. Similarly, your mind has a palpable period when you wake up, which is open to the subconscious, so in essence the way you wake up is how you’re setting the tone for your day. Do you wake up stressed, in a hurry, late? Or are you waking up intentional, taking time for clarity and to envision your day?
This creates a domino effect through, and to, the end of your day; where you start winding down to sleep. We’re only revving the engines if we rush to one last email or to-do before we hit the lights. The quality of our sleep depends on how we setup for sleep and is also greatly effect by the state of mind we’re in throughout the day. So if our heart is racing and our minds are running, we’ve been tense and anxious, it doesn’t matter if you hit the lights out early, it’s going to be tough to settle down.
The next step is to be intentional with your sleep routine. I know some of you already implement a lot of the good sleep hygiene practices… But if you’re still not getting good quality sleep, it’s likely you’re not implementing the ones practical for you, or you don’t have a good before-bed routine. Likewise, if you have a good routine but are not implementing good sleep hygiene, you’re likely to experience some difficulty getting to sleep and staying asleep.
So let’s say you have both… You have a great sleep routine and your sleep hygiene practices are thorough. But you still wake up feeling groggy and tired, and under slept. *With the exception of an actual medical issue, most of the time I find this is because your bedtime is set too late. So, I can hear it now, “But MJ... I get to sleep before midnight, EVERY night!” The quality of sleep prior to 10pm is exponentially better than the quality of sleep prior to midnight.
Getting to bed before midnight is a huge accomplishment. Trust me, that’s hard for most. But for those of you that are working on an energy deficit or looking to create more momentum in your daily performance, you absolutely - 100% percent, need to have an earlier bedtime... at least temporarily. Unfortunately, you will not be an exception to that rule until you are out of that deficit and getting out of that deficit takes a lot more effort than just sleeping in a few nights in a row.
This is why sleep is such a priority for high performers. All high performers I’ve know that have longevity and no issues of crash and burn, protect and honor their morning and evening routines, as well as the quality of their sleep. It’s non-negotiable.
A couple tips in addition to these thoughts are to: Use a sleep app - I like apps not to obsess over sleep, but to train my awareness for what constitutes as better quality sleep. I now can accurately guess the quality of my sleep based on how restless I felt, the number of times I wake at night, and how I feel upon rising. It also highlights some key indicators or common factors that promote better rest. For example, When I fall asleep before 10pm I consistently have 98-100% percent sleep quality ratings, versus getting to bed between 11-12, I might get that type of quality 20% percent of the time. It’s reflected in my readiness and the way that I feel as well.
If you share a bed with a partner, think about ways to customize your individual comfort levels. Sleep number beds, specifically ones where both sides can be adjusted separately, or use separate blankets. The latter is my personal approach.
Last but not least, if you’re having a hard time getting settled, your mind might be running at a never ending pace. And I understand how it is, when you’re busy all day, and this time before bed - is the only space you have to take a moment and think. This is where I like to apply the principles of minimalism: Take inventory of what you’re thinking about and start removing all the things that don’t matter.
Now, some of these things truly need attended to, but not right now, when you’re trying to get to sleep. Scheduling regular, intentional time to actively think and plan is important, but doing this before bedtime just creates more clutter in our minds and will need to be addressed again later on. It also reduces our quality of sleep, then reducing our clarity and productivity during the day. So there’s really no benefit in doing this now.
Everything effects one another. So to make an overly simplified, dramatized point: You can’t have a crappy mindset, or crappy friends, and expect a good quality life perspective. Similarly, you can’t have crappy sleep, and expect exceptional energy and performance. Life doesn’t work that way.
This is not to say sleep it the most important, above of all else. Your mental wellbeing, physical health, relationships, quality of life, etc… it’s all important for energy. However, in our current situation, sleep is the most overlooked and undervalued factor when it comes to feeling your best and living your best. It also cannot be ignored.
Since I’ve been on a roll quoting Brendon Burchard lately, here’s another one: “Energy is critical to high performance. You can have all the other habits up and running in your life, but without mastering this one, you won’t feel good.” And I’ll add to that: “Sleep is critical to high energy. You can perfect everything else in your life, but without masking this one, you won’t have energy.”