So go on… take a wild guess?

The main reason is that we are more intentional about getting up for work than we are about winding down at the end of the day and the consequences of being late, minimises the need for willpower or determination to get up at when we need to.

Getting up also feels like it is much more within our control; we can set an alarm (or several) to go off at say 06:00 and when it goes off (assuming we actually set the alarm to “loud” and not on “silent”) we will wake up. We don’t have to decide whether we need to wake up at that time, we have already decided that’s what we need to do and thus we just work on auto-pilot from waking up to getting to work.

Jeff Haden has this to say in his book “The Motivation Myth”:

“Sure, some people may be more self-disciplined than you. But it’s unlikely they were born with some certain special something inside them—instead, they’ve found ways to make decisions that don’t require willpower and determination.” 

So how can you remove the willpower and determination from the process of getting to sleep?

You can’t just set a timer and when it goes off you just fall asleep at that exact time BUT… here are some simple things you can do to set you on the right track.

1. Work backwards from the time you wake up and find the time you’d ideally like to get to sleep
   1. Say you need to be up at 06:00 and you work best on 8hrs of sleep so you need to be getting to sleep around 22:00
2. Determine how long you need to get ready for bed and wind down
   1. For me this is about 60 mins to shut off electrical devices, get ready for bed and get between 30 to 45 mins of light reading in before I need to go to sleep
3. Set your alarm!
   1. So to wake up at 06:00, having had 8hrs of sleep and accounting for a further hour to wind down and read, means you should set your alarm for…. 21:00!
4. Stick to a routine.
   1. By getting in to the habit of going to bed and waking at the same time, your body will get in to a better sleep routine, making it easier to get to sleep at the time you need

The great thing about this method is that you remove all decision-making from the process and you just work on auto-pilot from the time the alarm goes off, to the time you get in to bed and then to sleep.

An article by Danielle Pacheco for The Sleep Foundation² says that a lack of sleep has been linked to a higher risk for certain diseases and medical conditions (Including obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, poor mental health, and early death) as well as reducing cognition, increasing attention lapses, delayed reactions and mood shifts.

References:

1. The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win by Jeff Haden – P.31
2. Article by Danielle Pacheco – https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/why-do-we-need-sleep – cited on 13/1/22