adjust my sleep schedule

I knew it couldn’t be that easy!

While I’m getting more rest, I haven’t felt rested for about a week. In fact, I feel like I’m approaching a physical breakdown. This may just be mood and stress but I thought getting “better” rest would help improve matters but for whatever reason at present I’m seeing the opposite effect.

To be honest, I’ve deviated from the 6AM wake-up time, especially last weekend when I felt totally exhausted. Saturday I slept nearly until 11AM!

I tend to be passionate about my interests and I often find myself working late into the night while pursuing them; ignoring fatigue… I will have to work very hard to reverse this trend but I will have to convince myself that it is “OK” to be somewhat less passionate so that I can set things aside to be picked up again later.

So, the plan is back to strict 6AM wake ups. Power naps when needed and pay better attention to my concentration levels after 9PM at night.

Well, here I am two weeks later and I’m very tempted to mark this challenge completed. With two very minor bumps and one morning where my wife hid my cellphone (which, for those who haven’t been keeping up, is acting as my alarm clock) in honor of our anniversary, I’ve found it extremely easy to stick with my current regimen:

1. Up at a constant time (6AM in my case).
2. 20 minute power naps when needed.
3. Straight to bed when my concentration begins to fade.

Bada BING!

After yesterday’s poor performance I woke at 6AM this morning while my wife and daughter where out of town. This is a big accomplishment for me. I felt great all day and took a power nap from 2:40PM to 3PM.

Then again, my mood may have nothing to do with my altered sleep patterns but the fact that I finally got to play hockey again last night after an extended layoff due to problems with my vision. That’s another story for another time…

OK, three days into this thing and I’m not totally disenchanted. I don’t expect to see results over night and I feel like I’m heading in the right direction but…

I’ve got to remember to keep track of my cellphone which serves as my alarm clock. Last night I forgot to set it because I couldn’t find it and I decided at nearly 3AM that it wasn’t worth the hunt and I probably wouldn’t be getting up on time anyway. Guess what…

I got up 45 minutes later than planned! This weekend will be a big challenge. My wife and daughter will be out of town. Wish me luck.

I was up at 6AM today which was tough since my wife had the day off and got to sleep in a bit. I hatched this plot thanks to a posting on Guy Kawasaki’s blog which referenced an entry on LifeRemix entitled How To Works Like the Masters which in turn referenced a posting about Sleep Adjustment .

I describe myself as “an Epicurean, night owl”. I’ll need all the help I can get on this one!