“Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own” - Bruce Lee

Everyone asks you to have a hobby, workout, read, spend time with friends and family along with your 9-5 job. For us working professionals, managing a social life is for the weekend but what about the ‘ME’ time, the small pleasures that relieves your day’s exhaustion? Is it bad to have that time for yourself? Is it actually harming your sleep? And is there any way you can overcome and balance that, so you could get away with the consequences without having to compromise on your ‘ME’ time? Let’s discuss. 

‘Revenge Bedtime Procrastination’ a fairly new addition to sleep research and what does that mean? It’s basically what we do with procrastination by delaying to do the right thing but in here, the keyword is ‘Revenge’. That is, taking revenge on the amount of time you’ve put during the day and taking the time for yourself by staying up to exercise, read or watch netflix or scrolling through instagram, just to get that revenge in the name of ‘ME’ time. This makes sense and most of us have done it which gives us the sense of control over our time and how we spend our time on us. The problem is the ‘sleep deprivation and sometimes, the guilt of spending your time on mindless scrolling or binge watching’. It could have counter-effects on us psychologically. 

Perceived Sense of Control and Freedom:

The whole idea behind most of our decision making is to feel free and more in control of our situation. Especially working in a pre-determined environment and having a predictable working hours and format, can feel extremely monotonous and lead to burnout due to constant lack of variety or change in workplace. The work allows little to no control whatsoever which can be difficult for the brain to work with day in and day out. Therefore, mindless activities, having control, variety, change and basically a dopamine filled activity is exactly what you need. But let me tell you a good news, you don’t need to actually take this revenge on yourself. You can do even at work without having to compromise on your current work schedules. 

Overcoming Revenge Bedtime Procrastination:

I would be taking you along on how to have a sense of control in your work-hours without having to take revenge on your sleep post work-hours. We believe in getting what we want, the right way. Let’s get into it one by one. 

First and foremost, you need to know how your mind works to be able to give your mind what it needs. You must have heard about the ‘Dopamine’ neurotransmitter. It’s basically released when you feel rewarded and mostly associated with a sense of meaning, motivation and pleasure. In simpler terms, the one that gives you joy, makes you feel in control and makes you want to do it more is aided by dopamine. But you can also create instances to make your mind release dopamine by adding components in your work-life. 

Monotony creates boredom and in-turn suppresses dopamine. This can have countereffects by making your mind believe, work is never fun because there is nothing pleasurable for it. Instead add flavour, may be you can chat with your co-workers between tasks or make it fun by taking a coffee break. Or you can watch your favourite show for a short period of time before you resume work again. 

All that you brain needs is to get out of the same old work-routine. How about you spend some time learning something new during work-hours that would really be helpful for your work. Or can have a new project idea that could benefit the company. Basic idea is, do different things and split them accordingly. 

The key is always to start your day right. You can have a pre-work routine which could be your ‘ME’ time and having to have control during the first few hours of a day can be really motivating and then you what happens, your friend ‘dopamine’ would be with you. 

We really undermine how much we can actually manipulate into believing your brain that you are motivation just by creating a conducive environment. Often in offices, we stay in a desk for about 8 to 9 hours and we think it doesn’t matter if my desk look unappealing. Not really. Having to represent who you are is really important. Let the desk show your identity. May be a picture of a trip you intend to take, your family, plants or colorful stationary. Whatever defines you. Do it!

If you could go to your favourite thali place, do it. Or you enjoy a good chat with friends during lunch or having to go an extra mile for that dessert, do it. The more you gain control over your break-time would actually be motivating and be less daunting at the end of the day. 

Hope this article helped you and I would recommend to share it with your friends. For more information.

Please Book a Session with sleep coach to know more about your sleep.

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