This is a guest post by Maneesh Sethi, Founder of Pavlok and sleep expert…but Dick here with a quick introduction:
Aside from the hundreds of emails I get asking for free fitness coaching, one of the most common questions I get is:
“Dick! You’re so good looking, funny, and full of energy. How do you do it? Do you wake up early? What time do you go to bed?”
The answer: A good night’s sleep. And my ADHD medication…kidding. Mostly.
But in all seriousness, when it comes to sources of energy and productivity, sleep is right up there with diet and strength training. Unfortunately, unlike nutrition and fitness, it’s something that I’m not an expert on–so I invited my friend Maneesh to talk about it.
In today’s post Maneesh shares how sleep and routines can affect your habit change journey.
Why Lack of Sleep Is Causing Your Bad Habits by Maneesh Sethi
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” – Benjamin Franklin
Imagine:
- Having an extra hour in your day to spend however you wanted.
- Exercising, meditating, and having a healthy breakfast, all before you head to work.
- Instead of waking up feeling stressed and rushed out the door, you woke up excited for the day.
It’s not a pipedream, all of the above is entirely possible.
How?
It starts with mastering your evenings and mornings.
Hi I’m Maneesh Sethi, the founder of Pavlok. For those of you who didn’t see me getting yelled at by Mark Cuban on Shark Tank, Pavlok is a wearable device that helps you break bad habits. One of the things that running Pavlok for has allowed me to do is see thousands of data points…what works and what doesn’t when it comes to habit change.
Without a doubt, one of the biggest indicators of successful habit change is the ability to both end your day and start your morning on the right foot.
Today I want to share a few of my findings.
Whether you want to start going to bed at a decent hour, or want to start waking up earlier, understanding habit change and the common roadblocks you will face will help you succeed in the long run.
But first, the elephant in the room.
Most people have “tried” being a morning person before:
They set the alarm for 5 AM.
Maybe the first day they get up no problem.
But after a few days they revert quickly back to their old ways.
Contrary to popular belief, the reason most people fail, isn’t because they lack “willpower” or “motivation.”
The single biggest reason people aren’t able to start their mornings right is due to lack of sleep. The second biggest reason is not having a plan.
The Devastating Costs of Lack of Sleep
It’s no secret that sleep is important, but it’s easy to understate just how important it really is, especially when it comes to affecting your ability to form good habits.
No matter how many “2592 ways to be successful” blog posts you read or courses you buy, if you’re not getting sleep you’ll likely struggle to get results in your life.
According to the CDC “Those experiencing sleep insufficiency are also more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, obesity, cancer, increased mortality, and reduced quality of life and productivity.”
If there was a pill that could instantly make your entire life worse, it would be called “No Sleep.”
Lack of sleep makes it harder to build good habits, be productive, and even makes you grumpy.
Ugh.
A recent study in bettersleeop.org shared nearly 8 in 10 Americans admit they would be better prepared for the day if they had an extra hour of sleep.
Okay.
So not getting high quality sleep is a problem. But how do we fix it? Let’s dive in.
Creatures of Habits
Has your friend ever told you he wanted to start waking up early but that he “can’t” because he’s a night owl?
I know I get that all the time.
But in my experience, night owls (as with most things) are made not born.
The truth is, we’re just creatures of habit.
The time you wake up, the time you go to sleep, and what you eat for breakfast are all habits.
And it’s taken thousands of repeated actions to get you are you are today.
Thousands. Of actions.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to change habits, is they set unrealistic expectations.
They expect things to happen over night.
What often happens is they give it a half hearted effort, and then quit when they don’t see results after just a few days.
So when it comes to making changes in your life, play the long game. Overcoming bad habits, and installing new ones in your life take time.
Should You Wake Up Early?
Look. I’m not going to pretend that you have to be “morning person” to be successful, happy, etc.
Of course you can be crazy successful and sleep in until 1PM in the afternoon.
But if you’re struggling to get where you want to go, becoming a morning person will significantly increase your chances of finding success for most people. Even if you don’t want to wake up at 5 AM, at the very least you can incorporate a powerful 20-30 minute morning ritual which I’ll discuss more later.
One of the best reasons to consider waking up early, is that it gives you the opportunity to work on your habits before all the excuses pile up throughout the day.
Here are just a few things that can have a huge impact on the quality of your life all before most people wake up.
Exercise – I won’t list the hundreds of benefits of exercise here, but making a habit of exercising will help you take care of your body and mind.
Meditation – Waking up early gives you the chance to reflect, meditate, or pray helping you greet the day with a clear head.
Healthy Breakfast – Having the morning to yourself and not being rushed allows you to cook a nice healthy breakfast you might otherwise not get around to. A great meal to start the day will give you a leg up on everyone else.
If you already do all of the above, great! If not, you’re really missing out.
Now that we’ve discussed whether or not you should wake up early, let’s look at how you can go about making that happen.
It Starts With Awareness
If you want to wake up early for example, but haven’t been able to do in the past, chances are, it’s not because you “can’t” but because you’ve been approaching it the wrong way.
Ugh! I slept through my alarm at 5AM!
*Went to bed at 3AM*
When we’re caught up in trying to change our habits, it’s not easy to look at our actions in a deliberate and unbiased manner.
Of course, an outside observer KNOWS going to bed at 3 AM won’t let you get up at 5 AM on a regular basis.
Building awareness of your behavior is key. Which is why when designing Pavlok 2 (and the original Pavlok) we relied heavily on actual peer reviewed studies to ensure Pavlok was actually helping our users through making them aware of their bad habits.
One of the main benefits of our Pavlok wearable, is it helps our users generate awareness around their actions and habits, through a slight shock.
And it’s amazing how many of our users email us back saying something to the effect of “Wow, I had no idea I started smoking the second I left work.”
So if you’re looking to go to bed on time, or wake up early, the first step is to become aware of your current behaviors.
Are you super stressed and unable to go to bed? Do you have a coke later in the evening? Are you drinking too much coffee? Are you glued to your phone until the wee hours of the morning?
Start paying attention to your evening habits. They might unlock the reason why you’re not getting good sleep.
Getting To Bed Earlier
Once you’ve become aware of your bedtime and morning habits, it’s time to start making some changes. Here are a few suggestions to help you get to sleep.
Turn off your electronics an hour before bed.
- Meditate.
- Supplement with some melatonin.
- Listen to some calming music.
- Do some journaling to unwind from the day.
- Use flux or some other coloring software to reduce eye strain.
- Delete your Netflix account. 😉
- Read fiction.
- Go to bed around the same time each night.
- Purchase some light blocking glasses (seriously, they are a game changer.)
Pick one or two from the list and give it a try tonight when you go to bed. Start small and add more as you go along.
While you may not include all over these in your evening ritual, doing just or two will help you build a helpful evening routine.
How To Get Up Earlier
Step 1 – See “Getting To Bed Earlier”
No really. It’s true. If you want to start waking up early, you have to get to bed at a decent hour. There’s no way around it.
You can’t continue your old ways and expect different results.
One of the biggest reasons people fail to get up early, is because they don’t give their body the proper rest it needs. And then they quit before even giving themselves a chance.
Once you start getting to the sleep your body needs, here are a few tips to help you transition into a morning person.
Plan Your Night Before – Planning your night before helps you know exactly what you can accomplish by waking up early. Having a clear picture gives you a reason to get up instead of hitting snooze.
Do Some Exercise As Soon As You Wake Up – One feature of our Pavlok wearable is that is requires you to do some jumping jacks when you wake up — if not you get a nice little zap. One of the best ways to ensure you wake up and stay up, is doing some light exercise the second your alarm goes off.
Track Your Sleep With An App Such As Sleep Cycle or Pavlok:
One of my favorite things about Pavlok, is it tracks your sleep so you know exactly how much you were tossing and turning during the night. Just being aware of how I slept, makes me want to improve my sleep each night, which obviously has some pretty great long term effects.
Build A Morning Routine – Another helpful way to start waking up early is by starting to build a morning routine. Instead of having to think about what you’re going to do, a morning routine allows you to wake up and just do it.
For example, when I wake up, I take a 30 minute bath and do some pushups, and it’s now much harder for me to not do it then it is to actually do it.
Experiment with several positive habits you know will help improve your quality of life. Start meditating. Writing 1000 words. Drinking more water. Doing 7 minutes of exercise. If you start small, these habits will quickly add up.
Changing your sleep behavior can feel pretty overwhelming and like an impossible task. But if approached correctly, it is possible.
Here’s the TLDR of today’s post.
- Lack of quality sleep is bad for your health and habits.
- Change takes time, don’t beat yourself up.
- There are many benefits of waking up early.
- Habit change begins with awareness.
- If you want to get better sleep you should have an evening routine.
- If you want to change your habits, you should have a morning ritual.
Bam.
Develop awareness around your current habits. Wind down the day properly, and give yourself a reason to wake up excited for the day.
As Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.”
Now go forth and have a productive day.
Thanks a ton to Maneesh for writing this. Make sure to check out Pavlok 2’s Campaign on Indiegogo! – Dick
Sources: