Posted on 12/04/2024 2:44:02 PM PST by nickcarraway
If you find it hard to get to sleep, then a solution might be at hand – a pen and paper.
If you ever struggle to get to sleep, you might find that one of the things that keeps you awake is worrying about just how much you have to do the following day, especially if there are tasks that you've started, but not yet completed.
In a study of employees at a German IT company, those who had unfinished tasks left over at the end of the working week were more likely to think about their work problems over the weekend compared with those who were more or less on top of their workload. The researcher Christine Syrek from the University of Trier wrote that their results indicated that "the perception of not having completed the week's tasks furthers employee perseverative cognitions and impairs sleep on the weekend, even above and beyond the impact of time pressure". Those with unfinished tasks were also more likely to find their sleep was disturbed over the weekend.
"Perseverative cognitions" are continuous thoughts about negative things that have happened in the past or might happen in the future. And they were also more likely to find their sleep was disturbed over the weekend. can be particularly difficult. If you've had a lie-in that morning, you might not be as sleepy at bedtime as usual. Tomorrow it will be back to work and time to face all those undone tasks, along with some new ones, no doubt. So, what can you do to stop these whirring worries from keeping you awake?
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Ha! My wife has at least 20 lists laying around here all the time and starts another 3 or 4 every day. I’m not real sure it works for some people. It’s a habit, nothing more.
I take it the FBI has only now infected everyone’s device with the appropriate spyware, hence the article.
Pencil and paper is becoming a lost art, stick to that.
Then again, those smart appliances...
This is nothing new.
I’ve heard this advice for YEARS.
It’s pathetic that people are treating it as if it’s some kind of new revelation.
I always keep a to do list. If I think of something at night, I put a note in my phone. People have used similar tactics for years. About 30 years ago I worked with a woman with young children. If she thought of something while home, she left herself a voice mail message.
You could also just go outside and feed the Cardinals, lol.
I put some seed in the feeder this morning. I called them with my voice as I’ve always done. They were there within seconds. They still remembered from the spring. Turns out they live for around three years in the wild.
Cathy Ryan, Jack Ryan’s wife, always says “If you don’t write it down, it never happen.”
Worst idea I’ve ever heard. We can’t get to sleep because there is too much on our minds and it surely won’t help to get up and make a TO DO LIST! We need cutoff switches to our brains. I try to remember the good times/memories to crowd out all the things that are bugging me that keep me awake. Reading will put me to sleep better.
Or watching a Braves baseball game taking place on the west coast during MLB season. THAT will do it for us in the Eastern time zone...I don’t think I made it through 9 innings last season for games on the west coast - especially if it went extra innings. Figured I could wait until morning to get the final score.
And yes, we women do keep lists - it helps to organize our DAYS - not our nights!
If I made a written list of things I need to do I’d be so stressed out from seeing it in print and knowing I’ll never get it done before I die.
It’s always kumbaya and a festival until the Starlings show up...
A friend at Intel (45 yrs ago) suggested to write a prioritized list, tear it in half and pitch the bottom.
He also said that the third time a panicked boss asked for immediate action on a particular task, it was probably time to consider it. Called managing up.
1) Panic
2) Curl into a fetal ball
3)...
pencil and paper matter not when Your smart devices are watching what you write. remember friends...HAL5000 could read lips. just fyi.
That’s a poor way to keep track of what you gotta do.
You should have only one list, written in any order which you then prioritize.
My wife does the same thing, and she’s constantly looking for her to do lists.
Here’s my “To Do” list when I’m stressed:
1. Shoot whoever suggests I do a “To Do” list.
There. I feel so much better!
It DOES help. I can easily see what I didn’t do...
POST IT NOTE PADS ARE THE BEST THING EVER INVENTED-—
AND THEY WERE A ‘MISTAKE’ BY A 3-M ENGINEER
POST IT PADS
Two comments on this:
The key to a To Do List is crossing off the items when completed.
I have written To Do Lists that include things such as: go to bed, wake up, and make new To Do List.
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