Hi there

As an avid self-developer, I’m a big fan of creating beneficial processes and habits to help me do this.

I especially like to create processes and habits which provide two or more self-development benefits from a single activity or behaviour.

My favourite such multi-purpose habit is that of reading good quality non-fiction books for a short time before I settle down to fall sleep.

Reading a non-fiction book before I sleep works for me for two main reasons:

• I gain valuable self-development information in bite sized chunks.
• Enhanced sleep quality, because of a relaxing read, improves my health and overall mental well-being.

When I don’t get my beauty sleep, I tend to get cranky – not good for anyone.

An insight into my approach to creating such processes

I thought I’d offer you an insight into how and why I set things up as effective habitual processes to give you some potential inspiration.

Whilst I can and do read at any time in the day, the main point to reading just before sleep is that it marks a clear line between awake and sleep.

This sounds obvious but it really isn’t until it is.

Watching devices which emit “blue” light, such as phones or TVs, encourages activity and alertness. Watching or following anything exciting or emotional or even listen to it, can also have an energising effect.

When energised or stimulated in such ways, my brain keeps working non-stop and I can’t relax enough to sleep.

I now always switch my mobile phone off at night and also use a fairly low brightness reading light.

By the way, I do also like to read high-quality fiction books, but I have also forced myself stay away from these at bedtime as I find a really good fiction read creates the massive engagement and alertness which I don’t need.

For me, reading a good informative non-fiction book for about thirty minutes is the clearest signal to my body and mind that they need to wind down, fully relax, and then allow me to drift off into the land of nod.

I absolutely love audio books too, but I only listen to them in the daytime or when I’m driving my car as I found that they also serve to energise me and keep me awake.

For far more information on tall this, consider checking out an excellent non-fiction (great for a bedtime read) book on the subject by Matthew Walker called "Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams."

Another huge benefit I’ve noticed is that I do tend to retain the short sections of the books I read at night far better in my memory. This may be due to something called “spaced repetition” which I’ll cover in another newsletter perhaps. Let me know if this might be of interest to you.

I've learned to keep only one book by the bed at any one time and only read it at bedtime. This reduces distractions. The chosen book takes far longer to read than it normally would but reading it a bit at a time seems to pay huge dividends for me.

One of the best additions I made to my pre-sleep routine was to keep a notebook and pen handy by the bed. I can capture any thoughts or ideas as they emerge so I don’t lose them, and it also means I can safely relax knowing they are safe. I’ve had some of my best ideas this way.



Note that all of this took quite a bit of time and a lot of personal experimentation and research to evolve into the process I have today. It might change as I change. My processes are always a work in progress.

It works for me, and it could work for you.

Over to you

Why not give it a go?

Why not develop some process driven habits of your own to enhance your self-development?

Feel free to share what you create and get up to.

Speaking of giving it a go, here is one of my favourite self-development books: