It is one of the most common concerns that come up in coaching. For some, hours seem like minutes, and vice versa. A faulty awareness of time passing or the inability to gauge how long something might take results in late arrivals and missed deadlines. Those left waiting interpret this behavior as rude and unreliable.
Here are 4 ways for the COREageous to improve time awareness:
Maintain a regular sleep schedule that aligns as close as possible to the sun setting and rising. A farmer’s schedule (early to bed and early to rise) has been shown to regulate circadian rhythms and optimize one’s sense of time.
Keep an analog clock, an hourglass or a device called a Time Timer within your field of vision. This way, as you work on a task, you can see time passing in a more tangible or pictorial way.
This exercise is a way to pace yourself and build a sense of what a 20-minute chunk of time feels like. Choose a task or a list of things you want to get done within a 4-hour period of time. Set a gentle alarm to sound off every 20 minutes. Marking time in this way serves another purpose. If you get distracted, the alarm will remind you to get back to the task. With practice, you’ll begin to anticipate the 20-minute alarm.
Past experiences, a closer assessment and asking clarifying questions before scheduling a task may give you a more realistic estimate of how much time you need to set aside for it. Add another 15–30-minute cushion, just in case your time estimate falls short.
Need help getting things done, done well and on time? That’s executive functioning in a nutshell. CoreCoaching can help. Contact me at Rebecca@MindfulCommunication.com
Entrepreneurs are famous for crazy sleep schedules. You know the drill. You stay up late working two or more jobs, do chores, and as the clock strikes midnight you start work on your venture. With barely 5 hours of sleep, the hardest thing to do is to GET UP. This quick intermediary step helps get you moving while you’re still in bed making it easier to “rise and shine.”
Lying on your back, inhale deeply and exhale as if you’re blowing out about 10 candles on a cake. Repeat. Follow with 2-3 repetitions of each stretch:
• Make fists and flick open your hands. • Squeeze your toes and flick them open. Point and flex your feet. • Breathe in and squeeze your shoulder blades together arching your back as you exhale. • Inhale and as you exhale slowly, stretch out your arms and legs as if someone is pulling on each limb. • Finally, inhale and bring your knees into your chest and squeeze your knees into your chest releasing your lower back on a slow exhale.
See if these stretches spark enough energy to get you up and out of bed!
If it’s a lack of structure and motivation that keeps you in bed, CoreCoaching could be the wakeup call you need. Contact me at Rebecca@MindfulCommunication.com
So much attention is paid to diet and exercise, but what about sleep? Sleep has a greater effect on mood, energy and productivity. Diet and exercise regimens take time, planning, shopping, gear or travel to the gym. Better sleep can be tweaked with just a little awareness.
I’ve been reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker PhD. It’s an easy and informative guide to help understand how sleep works and why it deserves equal attention.
Like a balanced diet or an exercise routine (“interval training” for example), you need enough sleep to get the right balance; 7-9 hours for most of us. Throughout the night, while asleep, your brain produces alternating rhythms − slow wave or Non-REM sleep and fast wave or REM dreaming sleep. Walker uses a sculpting as an analogy for how these two kinds of sleep are necessary and work together. Think of your brain being a mass of clay at day’s end. During the first part of the night, the slow wave sleep (NREM) works long and hard to chip away at irrelevant data from the day, exposing a contour of the “new you” for the fast wave (REM) detail work to begin. The 2nd half of the night the master sculptor (REM) becomes more dominant; it integrates and consolidates the learning and insights (neural connections) from the previous day. By the morning both (NREM) and REM have done their jobs − Voila! You wake up ready to take on new learning and ideas.
Like an unbalanced diet or a lop-sided workout, shorting on sleep deprives you of the equalizing kind of restoration you need to be creative and productive.
Being the CEO in charge of your sleep is just one of our CoreFour strategies. Learn more about CoreFour Coaching at www.MindfulCommunication.com.
Entrepreneurs need their sleep, but they often don’t get enough of the quality sleep needed to think straight, execute and perform. When I meet a client for the first time, I’ll ask about their sleep: Do you go to sleep at about the same time every night? Do you fall asleep within 20 minutes or so? Stay asleep (except for the occasional bathroom break? Wake up refreshed? Only 2/10 will say “yes” to the last question — the most important one. There are lots of helpful ways to get better sleep, as I will mention in future blogs. But, because it’s highly likely that you are sleep deprived right now, knowing the right kind of nap is a good business strategy.
The question often arises: What length of nap and what is the best time of the day to nap? Sleep experts tell us (and I have put myself through these nap rigors, so I can speak from experience), that the best time to take a nap is early in the day. This helps fill the sleep debt from the previous night. Naps taken after 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon may interfere in your evening sleep. The best nap is one that refreshes and restores and doesn’t take a lot of time from work. It’s the 10-20 minute nap, called “the power nap” that boosts alertness and energy. It’s essential that you set a timer or something to keep it short. 30-60 minute naps can leave you groggy and grumpy. It can take you several minutes to get back to any kind of productive work. Interestingly, even if you don’t think you fell asleep during that short time, you probably did. But, remember, just lying down with your eyes closed and letting your body relax is more helpful than not resting at all. Give it a try and share your experience!
Rebecca’s CoreFour Coaching
"It takes more than courage to be an Entrepreneur, it takes CORE." Find out more.
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Entrepreneurs are famous for crazy sleep schedules. You know the drill. You stay up late working two or more jobs, do chores, and as the clock strikes midnight you start work on your venture. With barely 5 hours of sleep, the hardest thing to do is to GET UP. This quick intermediary step helps get you moving while you’re still in bed making it easier to “rise and shine.”
So much attention is paid to diet and exercise, but what about sleep? Sleep has a greater effect on mood, energy and productivity. Diet and exercise regimens take time, planning, shopping, gear or travel to the gym. Better sleep can be tweaked with just a little awareness.
Entrepreneurs need their sleep, but they often don’t get enough of the quality sleep needed to think straight, execute and perform. When I meet a client for the first time, I’ll ask about their sleep: Do you go to sleep at about the same time every night? Do you fall asleep within 20 minutes or so? Stay asleep (except for the occasional bathroom break? Wake up refreshed? Only 2/10 will say “yes” to the last question — the most important one. There are lots of helpful ways to get better sleep, as I will mention in future blogs. But, because it’s highly likely that you are sleep deprived right now, knowing the right kind of nap is a good business strategy.
"It takes more than courage to be an Entrepreneur, it takes CORE."