The idea for blog posts come at random times for me. This one came at about 3am this morning. No I wasn’t up working, I was laying in bed awake.
Normally when I go to sleep I crash hard and most of the time I sleep straight through until my alarm t 430 or 500am with the occassional middle of the night restroom pitstop. OK, TMI but it related to the story. Last night sleep eluded me. I went to sleep at 10pm thinking about bifocals after reading my book for a while. Yes, bifocals and the fact that I may need to talk to my eye doctor about a pair – AND I’M NOT EVEN 40!
So that didn’t bode well for me when I happened to wake up for a pitstop at about midnight after 2 solid hours of sleep. As I hopped back into bed my mind screamed “BIFOCALS!” to me and then started racing in all directions. As I pushed bifocals out of my head I was awake enough that my to-do list came into my mind. Now, I already had it written down on my desk and I thought about grabbing the notebook on the side table to write it down again and get it out of my head but I didn’t.
I then tossed and turned and tossed and turned some more. 1am came, 2am came, 3am came and at 3am I almost just got out of bed thinking, “I might as well be productive if I’m awake and QUIT trying to go back to sleep”. Then I thought of my long day ahead and I decided I needed to push my alarm out to 530. There was no way I was getting up at 430 and getting only 3-4 solid hours of sleep for the night then going off to be my best self for the day for myself and my clients.
While I was laying there I tried deep belly breathing, I tried a little meditation, counting sheep, you name it. I tried everything I could think of that I was taught years back when I had chronic insomnia. Finally shortly after 3am I fell back to sleep. Sleep could have been just around the corner at 1am, or 2am, but just a little longer at 3am – there she was. So, this blog post came to mind.
Was there a better use of those three hours laying there drifting in and out of trying to sleep? Should I have just given in (Quit and gotten out of bed?)Possibly.
Now here’s the morale of the story:
Like so many of as Entrepreneurs – we take classes, we learn new techniques, we struggle in our businesses, we keep trying and so many times we want to give in and give up. I want you to remember – if you’re in a “not sure what to do, I’ve tried everything and it isn’t working place”, that maybe your greatest success is right around the corner. You keep going, you shift back and forth on actions. You find some support from a friend or a coach. As I thought of my long day ahead and being on my game for my clients, here in our business, we need to think about our why.
Another long story short, I heard a story recently of a man who struggled in his business for years not achieving what he hoped for. After many years he was ready to throw in the towel but he didn’t give up. At about half a dozen years into it he made a sale that changed his business and changed the direction of his life forever. A simple reminder that what may be elusive in the moment may be just around the corner.
And that my friends is what happens when a blog post comes to mind in the middle of the night. A reminder of what is around the corner.
I’d love to hear your thoughts below. Should I have gotten out of bed? Do you have any sleep techniques I should know about if this happens again?
And yes, I may just have to take a nap this afternoon. Yawn.
Until next time, have a great day!
