Hope Santa was good to all of you celebrating Christmas over the past few days! The holidays are such a whirlwind of visiting with family, eating lots of good food and opening gifts! When you need to buy and wrap last minute gifts or have lots of cooking to do, you just focus on getting it all done which means sacrificing sleep to do it. To get it all done, you may be running on adrenaline and not even realize it. This is what used to happen to me. I always used to get sick on Christmas vacation, because I was trying to do so much and my body was telling me to slow down.
I have always been a night owl and work really well when most people are asleep. It may be because it is quieter, but I get a surge of energy about 11:00pm that lasts a good couple of hours. This is great until it comes time to get up in the morning, when I would rather sleep in a bit. That was not possible when the kids were little and when I had to be at the office. Now that I have a more flexible schedule, I am trying to look at my energy levels throughout the day and night to see what is the best schedule for me.
I came across this article called How To Design Your Ideal Workday Based On Your Sleep Habits by sleep expert Michael Breus. His premise is that people have natural sleep and energy patterns called chronotypes. Taking advantage of those natural energy patterns can help you accomplish more when you have the highest energy levels. He offers a work and sleep schedule that aligns with each of the four types which he describes using animal types.
When I look at the descriptions of each of them, I would say that I identify with a bit of a “Bear” and a “Wolf.” I find it really interesting because I have always recognized that I don’t require a lot of sleep or maybe it is that I just want to sleep at different times. My ideal day would be to work at peak times and then take short naps. This isn’t always possible when it comes to everyone else’s schedules or a structured work schedule.
What animal do you most identify with from the list? Have you figured out a way to work with your energy levels instead of against them? There are some famous people throughout history that had some strange sleep habits. Here is an article by David Hollerith that talks about them. Who would have thought that Leonardo Da Vinci and I would have something in common?
There are only 24 hours in each day, so you have to work within that constraint to get everything done. However, there is no one size fits all approach and you have to pay attention to what works best for you. There is no one pattern that is viewed as the best option. Just like we all have unique strengths, we also have unique energy and sleep patterns. Leverage what works best for you to accomplish all that you can.
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