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In Practice: Sleep Schedule

Using the Controlled Motion framework to fix my sleep schedule!

Brian Do's photo
Brian Do
·Jan 14, 2022·

2 min read

At year's start, I detailed a framework (called Controlled Motion) to help me naturally reach my goals. Starting today, I will put it to the test to see if it works! (Here's the original write-up that this post is based on)

https://hashnode.com/post/philosophy-the-controlled-motion-goal-framework-cky6b0aw709wbees1c28pfbt2#cky6c0pr50ayr5ns1fucqenrr

Let's get started!

Current Situation

  • I'm going to sleep at 1am (or later, it's pretty sporadic).
  • I'm waking up late and repeatedly hitting snooze when I set unrealistic alarms.

Ideal Situation

  • Going to sleep at 10am.
  • Waking up at 6am, no alarm, no snooze/going back to sleep.

Identifying the Impulses

  • Extending the time I go to sleep by X minutes when I'm watching YouTube in bed.
  • Hitting the snooze button

Plan

The purpose of the framework is to, without changing the initial situation, turn impulses into deliberate choices, and to gradually move those choices towards the ideal situation.

Because my two impulses are extending the time at which I sleep and the time at which I wake, I will start by focusing on converting these two to choices.

Now, to pre-meditate! First off, I don't want any last-second realizations - this is a common cause for time extensions. If I want to go to sleep at 1am, then it's necessary to go to bed at 12am at the latest to be prepared. If I want to go to bed at 12am, I need to wrap up what I'm doing at 11:30pm so I can be prepared. So the target time, the one time that the whole revolves around will be 11:30pm.

On the flipside, it's hard to think rationally when waking up. Obviously, I can force myself to get up, and make that a good habit, but that's not a future-proof plan. If a situation arises where sleeping in is encouraged, I will probably fall back into my old ways. It's easier to have a natural wake-up routine. Ideally, I wake up without an alarm, and set one only as an emergency to not miss work.

So, to zoom out, the sleep time is the center of this plan. The goal is to gradually move bedtime earlier until it hits 10pm, and to wake up without an alarm.

Finally...

I'll document my progress and share it in a future post. Once I conquer this goal, the next one will be consistent exercise! Thanks for reading!