A Handy Tip for Entrepreneurial Insomnia

Leo Lucianis

Do you ever get so excited about the opportunities and ideas that exist in the business world that you can't get a good night's sleep? If you're an entrepreneur, chances are
you've had these types of sleepless nights.

Many a night I will try my best to fall asleep at a decent hour, but eventually, I'll give up, and get back on the computer. It would seem like the logical thing to do (if you can't sleep, might as well work, right?), but it can really affect your health.

Throw into the mix that I'm a biological night owl, and sometimes it's only when the light of dawn breaks through the window do I realize I better get some sleep.

But the body always pays a price in the morning. When you wake up in the morning, many times you feel like you've been hit with a truck. Many times a nap and excessive
amounts of coffee are necessary to feel somewhat normal. It's a vicious cycle.

I was talking to one of my good friends, a wealthy film producer and obsessed entrepreneur, about how he was able to have so many great ideas, and not keep himself up at all hours of the night thinking about them. Here's what he said.

He told me whenever he gets the uncontrollable entrepreneurial fever, and he knows he needs a good night's sleep (which is every night) he simply places a notebook and a pen next to his bed. Then he tries to go to sleep.

As all of those thoughts and ideas rush through his head, he simply turns over, turns on the light, and writes them down. That's it. So why is this helpful?

According to him, the reason why we get so excited is twofold. First, bedtime is probably the first chance in the day that a million things aren't going on all around you.

So for the first time all day, your subconscious mind can relax... and start forcing a tidal wave of ideas into your head! That's why you get so excited, and that's why it's
hard to sleep sometimes.

Second, these ideas are incomplete thoughts, known as "open loops" in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Since the ideas are not able to be acted upon immediately, you are stuck laying in bed just THINKING about all the great ideas
you COULD be acting on. No wonder it's so hard to sleep!

By writing these ideas down on your notebook, you are effectively closing that loop, allowing your mind to say, "okay, jotted it down, and we'll take care of that in the
morning... you can sleep now, dude"

Do this enough times and your mind will begin to come to peace, knowing that all of those great ideas won't go to waste. They're all right beside you in your notebook! Only
then will you be able to get the good, deep sleep you need and deserve.

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