Polyphasic Sleep Journal #3 - What You'll Need

Polyphasic Sleep Journal #3

Things that you will need for polyphasic sleep (that you didn't think of):

While these observations may not apply to everyone, they are things I found useful and they also point to the practice of thinking broadly about a change. This is meant to be both practically useful and thought-provoking.

Have your clothes out the night before – when you take your showers at night or in the morning, have your clothes ready in advance. I know this may be easier for some than others, but even if the clothes that you have ready are only for your "extra" morning phase, and you put your real clothes on later save yourself the time of rifling through your closet in a dark fog. To extend Ben Franklins famous statement, I'll add that a minute saved is a minute created.  Granted, this is only true when saving a minute can be done without haste, but that applies here. I have found that having my clothes out the night before not only saves me time in the morning but it is a signal and reminder to myself and the world that I'm doing things in advance (moving the action upstream) and those are vitally important to me. 

Have a flashlight handy – I use a yellow Eveready model, because it has a broad top and is easy to balance on a table surface without rolling away. Also, the fact that it sits up vertically makes it seem more like something that is waiting for me on purpose like a tool, as opposed to just yet another thing laying on the table. 

Have slip on shoes available – in my polyphasic sleep scenario, I have chosen to go to bed at a regular time and to wake up exceptionally early. This means that I'm walking around the house in the wee hours when my wife and kids are asleep. I'm a "shoe person" that wears shoes pretty much always, even in the house. This is mostly personal preference but as a 40-year-old (is that the reason?) I find that standing barefoot or in sock feet on hard surfaces or for extended periods (I work standing up)... hurts.   so, walking around the house wearing shoes on hardwood floors, and up and down steps is fairly obnoxious. I wear slip on shoes with soles. So when I walk around the house are up and downstairs I slip them off and walk in my socks but when I stand to make my breakfast or work, they are on. 

Have a book ready – I'm currently reading the Monk who sold his Ferrari. A gift from a friend that is very focused on self-improvement. I'm not a very fast reader, and typically make virtually zero time for books other than nonfiction business books, but having time to read alone in the morning has been awesome. Guilt free, because I'm working within time that I literally "made" for myself with my foray into the Everyman 2 sleep project. 

Dirty Dishes – As business owners and parents, and with my wife homeschooling our kids, we don't get a lot of time together and my wife has been tired and frustrated on some days that are particularly trying (you know what I mean, parents). So last night we got pizza and watched a show on TV as a family indulgence and together time. Everybody was tired so we went to bed without cleaning up the kitchen. As it turns I don't mind doing the dishes so much when I'm in the morning zone and I can do it alone and peacefully.  While I didn't plan this in advance, I know that as I type this at 5:24am, that my wife will be very pleasantly surprised when she awakens to a clean kitchen.  Win.

To make this one clearer, the way that I'm actually making this happen is that I'm simply going to be aware that I have this time and I will leverage it, sometimes, to facilitate being spontaneous the prior our next day, or to do something nice for somebody else. Or maybe to write a blog post when I haven't for a long time. 

If you're not sure what polyphasic sleep or Every man 2 is, check out my page on trying Everyman 2.