In the insanely fast paced lives that most of us lead the mere suggestion that you should add time into your day for reflection, stillness, meditation, or quiet time would trigger a literal attack of virtual (or physical) stones being thrown at me. But, taking this time is an essential quality for leaders. 

While Tim Ferris was doing research for his book “Tribe of Mentors” he found that of the 140 leaders that he interviewed, approximately 90% of them practiced meditation regularly. Additionally, Michael Hyatt has written about his daily stillness regimen, including 7 steps that he recommends and follows himself.

While I don’t have a stillness or meditation routine, I do have a routine for calming my body so that I’m able to achieve maximum sleep. Here are my 4 tips to winding down properly:

1. Schedule time: Though some nights will fluctuate, you need to develop a regular routine to begin your wind down at the end of the night. Many people will watch TV up to the last-minute, brush their teeth, and go to sleep. You have to be much more thoughtful of what your routine will be. Document all of the steps so that you’re able to identify where you can improve.

2. Do not look at your devices: One major fault that people makes and that disrupts their sleep is watching TV or being on their phone while in bed right before falling asleep. As WebMD explains: “Exposure to all colors of light helps control your natural sleep and wake cycle, or circadian rhythm. More so than any other color, blue light messes with your body’s ability to prepare for sleep because it blocks a hormone called melatonin that makes you sleepy.” TV, phones, tablets, and other similar devices display blue light even though we don’t realize it.

3. No alcohol: Alcohol can, not surprisingly, affect the quality of our sleep. Anyone that has been drinking right before falling asleep whether it’s beer, wine, or mixed drinks, can attest to how they feel when they wake up in the morning. There is, similar to blue light, science behind why this is bad for the quality of your sleep. To summarize these issues, according to SleepFoundation.org:

   • There’s a battle between delta and alpha activity within the brain. Delta activity allows you for more the deeper more restorative sleep while alpha activity doesn’t typically happen during sleep.

   • It can, much like blue light, affect your circadian rhythm.

   • It blocks REM sleep.

   • You wake up throughout the night to use the bathroom thus interrupting your sleep pattern.

4. Read: Every night I read between 30-45 minutes on my Kindle. Kindle does not display any blue light therefore it doesn’t apply to the above warning/tip. The topics that I recommend reading are fiction or biographies only. I don’t read business related books because it keeps your brain active and processing that information as you try to become sleepy.

When traveling I also find time for quietness. In fact, it might be my most quiet time. When possible I don’t conduct work on airplanes unless it is something of utter importance.

That is exactly one of my favorite reasons for flying. I’ll either lose myself in a move, read magazines, listen to a podcast, or reading a book. Depending on how tired I am, I will turn on relaxed music (e.g. Boyz II Men, Usher, or something similar) and just let myself stare out of the window or close my eyes.

I wish I could force meditation or more stillness time into my schedule every day.  But, of course, the demands of work and life takeover and before I know it, there are a few hours left to grab a few hours of sleep before it all starts over again. However, sticking to my reading routine is something that I never allow to falter in my day. I find it that valuable.

Do you have a daily routine of stillness, meditation, or time for reflection?