How not to procrastinate bedtime

One way to get to bed on time

It’s a truism of time management that everything takes longer than you think it will. This is doubly true with things that occur when you’re tired — such as getting ready for bed. And sadly, the more tired you are, the easier it is to delay what will actually solve the problem: namely, going to sleep.

This problem became clear to me several years ago when my husband was traveling a lot, and my then toddler-aged fourth child was popping up shortly after 5 a.m. every morning. I made sure that my eldest child was in bed with the lights out around 9:45 p.m.

Theoretically, this meant that I could be in bed at 10 p.m. But night after night I would find it almost impossible to be asleep before 10:30 p.m. Somehow, taking out my contacts, brushing my teeth, washing my face, and getting my pajamas on would stretch out, probably because I’d look at my phone while setting my alarm, look at the mess in my bedroom and start picking it up, and so forth. It’s hard to do anything in a focused and efficient manner when you’re tired, and this includes getting ready for bed.

Then I discovered a way to solve this problem: