Springing Forward To Take a Nap!

Do you miss that hour?  This weekend I had the audacity to go to bed late Saturday night with plans on rising early Sunday morning on the weekend the SPRING FORWARD in Daylight Savings Time went into effect.  So yeah, I missed that hour.

Did you know the Bill Anthony and his wife Camille, authors of two books, The Art of Napping and The Art of Napping at Work, founded Napping Day.  This unofficial (but should be official) holiday was created to help people adjust to DST.  Are you going to participate?  I wish I could, but by the time I found out about this holiday I was already booked to capacity.  Maybe I’ll celebrate belatedly later this week.

And for those who are workaholics and productivity powerhouses, don’t stress!  Napping has been a proven productivity and morale booster at such data-driven places to work Google, Zappos, Nike and Time Warner.

For those not still convinced or not sure how to actually take a power nap (not the 2 hour slumbers some people I know call naps *side eye*). Here are some tips from my colleague and fellow Organizer, Nealey Stapleton of The Organizing Botique:

How To Power Nap: Tips For Successful Naps

Find the right time. Some people like to nap right after lunch, others (like me) prefer the middle of the afternoon. My ideal nap time is 3pm. That is the time that I begin to lose focus, so I'll stop what I'm doing and take a 30-minute power nap. I wake up refreshed and still have time to get work done before I need to start preparing dinner.

Don't oversleep. If you take too long of a nap, you'll have trouble waking up, will feel groggy and probably decrease your productivity. Set an alarm, and keep your nap short and sweet. A great way to wake up happy is to use the Sleep App.

Quiet, dark and covered. Do the best you can with this one; I find it much easier to fall asleep if I'm in a quiet, darker setting with a blanket. If you don't have shades on your office window, then perhaps you could keep an eye mask in your desk drawer. Likewise, you could keep ear plugs to drown out the sounds of a busy workplace.

Get comfortable. Interpret this any way you'd like. For me, getting comfortable means loosening my pony tail and taking off my socks. It could mean loosening your tie, taking off your shoes, changing into sweat pants, taking off your jewelry, whatever you can do to make yourself more comfortable.

Focus on your breathing. This is such a great little trick. Whenever I have trouble quieting my mind (which is often!), I focus on my breath. I literally picture the air filling my stomach as I breath in and then the air leaving my body as I exhale. When I do this, I don't waste any time trying to fall asleep...I just fall asleep. It's lovely!

- See more at: http://www.the-organizing-boutique.com/how-to-power-nap.html#sthash.yFBesZaP.dpuf

Happy Napping!

Andrea Hancock is a professional organizer, blogger, and speaker that assists and empowers busy professionals and business owners create and maintain organizational systems that work for them personally.  Andrea is also founder of Dexterous Organizing, a results-oriented professional organizing company.  To receive free productivity and organizing tools, or to venture into a more organized home, office, and life, click "I'm ready to get started!" at www.DexterousOrganizing.com or by phone at (703) 606-8968.