Our toolbox on how to balance life and work starts with the tool of sleep.

Many clients have asked me about how important sleep really is.
It is critical to our health, our immune system, our healthy eating choices,
our sex lives and I think, most importantly, to how often we laugh.

It can be a challenge to get 7 - 8 hours of sleep a night...
and there have been many nights when I would just lay in bed thinking this
is never going to work. 
I would just lay there --all the thoughts of the day flooding my brain making sleep elusive. 

So I decided, rather than continue to toss and turn; I would sit up and read some nice
inspirational stories and soon I was fast asleep.  

Now, I have a strict bedtime of 9:30 pm to get right out of bed at 6 am ready
and eager for the day.

Here is a step by step guide for going to sleep and staying asleep.

1-    Make the commitment to add sleep to your life. 
2-    Plan your bedtime right when you wake up in the morning.
3-    Have a comfortable bed, sheets, and goose down pillow!
4-    Wear comfy, warm pajamas… the ones you can’t wait to put on.
5-    Announce your bedtime to your family so everyone understands when your day is done.
6-    Prepare breakfast, empty the dishwasher,  plan your dinner for the next night.
7-    Procede to your bed…wash, and slip into your sheets.
8-    Read 20 minutes of your favorite book or magazine.  This is fun reading only!
No work assignments allowed.
9-    Lights out and breathe and begin the ritual of going to sleep.  
10-    Focus exclusively good things in your life… list the blessings you have
11-    Do not concentrate on falling asleep.  Your task is to relax and chant again
and again how wonderful, amazing you and your life is.
12-    If you do wake up in the middle of the night- do not move, get up or stir. 
Just refocus and revisit your positive thoughts.
 

Sleep... It is the basis of positive psychology and training your brain to filter out negative
thoughts and is critically important to improving productivity.  As with any new tool for the box,
as you learn how to balance life and work, it will take time and commitment to learn
and successfully utilize sleep to help you balance life. 

Pleasant dreams!

The Author Wendy Kaufman, is the founder of Balancing Life’s Issues a national training company
with a network of more than 500 trainers. 

Wendy and staff bring a wide range of work and life balance programs to corporations, not-for-profit
organizations and employee assistance programs. Some of the most popular topics include:
Emotional Intelligence; Managing Stress with Humor and Health and Wellness.  

How To Balance Life and Work programs prepare participants to cope with the stresses of today
and face the challenges of tomorrow. Her seminars encourage participants to think differently.

Wendy is a senior trainer with the American Management Association. She earned a
Master’s Degree in Industrial Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. 
You can contact Wendy at Wendy@BalancingLifesIssues.com or 914-762-9075.