When a leader's sleep is negatively impacted, they are
more likely - the next day - to exhibit behaviour
which results in lower engagement levels amongst their team members,
damaged relationships and poor decision making. When a leader doesn't feel rested
the whole team pays the price. Poor sleep impacts so
many female leaders, particularly at the moment as you're navigating your way
through these personal and professional challenges
that we just have not experienced before. It's tough. And if it's not keeping you
awake at night then the balance of probability is that when you do get to
sleep, you're waking up feeling tired. So today
I've got the three must-do's for you to get a better
quality, restful sleep that will help you feel
more energetic, be more patient with yourself and those
around you, and make better decisions as a leader.
Sound good? Hi and welcome. My name is Jo and this video is for professional women
like you that want to reconnect with their confidence and energy
and to gain clarity to step back in charge of your leadership
and life. Are you sick of waking up tired? Isn't that a song? I promise
I am not going to sing. Look, you are important and you need to put yourself
towards the top of your to-do list and before you say,
"but i have responsibilities, I can't possibly put
everybody else down the bottom of the list, I have an important job, I'm a
leader in a firm, I'm a partner, I'm a mother...". Yes you are.
Putting yourself towards the top of your to-do list does not mean that
everybody else needs to go all the way to the bottom.
What it does mean is that you will finally start to prioritise yourself
the way you prioritise others - your career, your family,
even your dog. So here are three must- do's to help you get a better quality
rest when you do get to sleep, and it will help you also
be a stronger, better leader every day. The number one tip for getting better
quality sleep: have a bedtime routine. Plan to get to bed as
much as you can at a reasonable time that works for you.
Now recent studies show that we all have individual needs as far
as the sleep that we require that's usually between about seven to nine
hours per night for most people. And the data also shows
that nobody is effective after four to five hours sleep
despite what the likes of Trump says about not needing sleep to be successful.
I guess it really depends on what your definition of success is, doesn't it?
Develop a simple evening ritual to help you settle down.
Maybe it will include something like a screen-free bath,
meditation, a bit of stretching or yoga. At a minimum
allow it to have screens off about an hour before bedtime
and caffeine about seven hours before bedtime. For me a rule of thumb is I
don't have any caffeine after lunch time and it doesn't need to
be super strict or super complicated, just keep in mind your lifestyle and
life stages and make sure that it feels relaxing and good for you.
My evening routine is super simple at this age that I'm at at the moment.
My son is 10 years old so he's in bed by about eight o'clock.
For me it's screens off at eight, a bit of yoga stretching,
a book in bed - and what I mean by that is a manual book with pages
and maybe a nice talk with my boyfriend, then it's lights out.
Simple, achievable and it feels great for me. The number two
tip for getting better quality sleep: develop a gratitude practice. Studies
show that gratitude helps you feel more optimistic
and reduces the stress and anxiety, and adding this to your bedtime routine can
help you reset your brain from the stress and
pressure that it has been carrying around
all day. Taking a few minutes to write down or even just bring into your mind
what you're grateful for before going to bed can help you focus your brain
to like more positive thoughts and it makes it harder to get stuck in the
long list of things that stress you out cycle. I keep gratitude
super simple. I come up with three things that I'm grateful for.
I bring each one of those items into my mind and allow myself to feel
the gratitude. Gratitude is not a logical practice - it's a feeling practice - so
don't just allow this to become something you tick off your list.
Allow yourself to 'feel' the gratitude to get the full benefits and set you up for
a deep night of restful sleep. Number three
tip for getting better quality sleep: positive vibes before your feet hit the
ground in the morning. Look this is something I started a few months ago and
it has worked an absolute treat for me to start the day well.
Brene Brown says that we live in a
culture of strong sense of scarcity. We wake up in the
morning and we say, "I didn't get enough sleep"
and we hit the pillow at night saying, "I didn't get enough done".
Sound familiar? So to flip this for me, I started to ensure that I
start my day right. Set the intention by starting off with the positive
and it's amazing how that can sometimes last all the way until bedtime. Whatever
thought I have waking up, I do not allow myself
to get out of bed and have my feet touch the ground until I've said
three positive things to myself for me. This morning this was
I am productive, I'm going for a wonderful walk with a friend, and I
am inspiring. Now this served me well today because I'm coaching clients for
most of the day. Look the other thing about this
is a few months into lockdown, I started waking up in the middle of the night
sort of in the middle of this spiral of negativity where
by the time I was even aware that I was awake, I was in the middle of this
thought process about something just really yuck.
It started to develop into a habit you know ...
4:30 every morning and it would sort of keep me awake for hours
and crazily it could be anything from the things I didn't get done on my to-do
list that day to some weird error that I'd made like
10 years ago. You know what I mean? So I brought this
positive vibe through the night concept into that idea too so when I'd wake up
with this negative spiral i would start saying
three positive things about myself and after a little bit of practice that
really helped me flip back to get back to sleep faster and to sleep
more soundly when i was there - so give it a go!
Look, I know how easy it is to take screens to bed to let the negative vibes
take hold as you drift off to sleep but you know what -
you are an incredibly valuable person that adds value to others
every single day. Take a moment to recognise that
and prioritise yourself and your evening routine and allow yourself to feel
better and be better for you and those that you
lead. And a bonus tip: get some exercise wherever possible. I'm
just back from a walk with a friend - hence the activewear, and I can't
tell you how helpful these walks are. You know of course we solved the
problems of the world. We talked a heap of our crap out so when we do go to bed
at night, we're not needing to think about that as
we go to sleep, and we even brainstormed some good ideas
today as well. Now if you've made it this far
in this video then you will love my online community where we dig deeper
into the challenges facing professional women
to help you strengthen your self-confidence, to realign your energy,
and to find clarity to make better decisions at work,
accelerate your leadership and step back in charge of your work and life. So join
my online community in the link below now. I'd love you to watch my next video
where i teach you how to flip your self-talk now, where I take you
through exactly what you need to do to stay focused and
stop yourself from giving yourself such a hard time.
That's exactly what you need isn't it? So click on the video and I'll see you over there