Getting good sleep is the amongst the top leading indicator of my effectiveness and wellbeing. I prioritize sleeping well and enough in the regular course of things. But disruptions happen and sometimes I will not sleep for as well or as long as would be ideal.

When that happens, I compensate for my sleep deficit with explicit arousal practices and with a longer than usual nap.

Namely,

• Don’t take caffeine, even if it’s a caffeine day. My primary priority for the day will be to make sure to nap later in the day, and caffeine will interfere with that.

• Don’t eat until I’m getting ready to nap. Eating will crash my energy.

• Wake up, and get up, at the usual time. Sleeping in will make it harder to nap later or disrupt my sleep schedule.

• Start the day by amping up with arousal breathing (bellows breathing), and then power walk around the block. I’m wanting to increase my level of arousal, to compensate for the sleep deficit. [Note: add a footnote on the research regarding arousal and sleep deprivation]

• Get momentum.

  • Strength train.
  • Select a task that entail committed engagement, and therefore helps me get into a rhythm, which confers some momentum, but don’t require my peak cognitive performance.
    • Process my email inbox
    • Process my task inboxes
    • Notes review

• I want to raise my energy in the morning. But when I start to feel my energy start to flag any time after 11:00 AM, I lay down and explicitly nap.