Does your brain love to dwell on worries just as you’re falling asleep? Or maybe when you wake up from a dream in the middle of the night? Instead of enjoying restful sleep, we sometimes start processing our anxieties—but without actually solving or dealing with them productively. Below are five suggestions to try the next time this happens.
Three Wins
In his book, The Gap and the Gain, Dan Sullivan talks about establishing an evening habit of looking at your day with an eye toward your successes, what he calls “three wins.” You can record these in any sort of journal or notebook, or even on a scrap of paper. The trick is to do it consistently. It helps you cultivate an attitude of gratitude and helps you end the day on a positive note. What’s more, thinking about what you want the next day to bring, your “projected wins,” gives your brain something to chew on during sleep.
If you find yourself struggling to get back to sleep, recap your day with your three wins, three things that you’re proud of, or things that went well so that you can drift off to sleep on a positive note rather than worrying about what’s to come.