What a great response I have had to my previous post about my upcoming transformation programme and the journey it has taken to get there.
I have to be honest, when I originally started becoming more active on LinkedIn, I considered it as a super professional space where feelings weren’t really on the agenda, but rather a showcase for achievements and success. But it certainly feels much more than that. So, thank you for the encouraging reactions and comments.
Continuing on with my reflections that have emerged during the process of building my programme, I came across this wonderful lesson from a professor teaching a class of students. He filled a jar with rocks and asked his students if they thought the jar was full, which clearly, it wasn’t. He then added pebbles, filling in some gaps, but there was still room in the jar. Pouring sand into the jar, he asked the same question, and this time, the students said it was full. He explained that the rocks represented the big and important things in life, the pebbles were the smaller yet still significant aspects, and the sand filled in the remaining space with the little things. I like to think of this jar as the Wellbeing Jar.
One of his key points was that if you start trying to fill the jar with the sand there won’t be enough room left for all the rocks and pebbles. In essence, he emphasised the importance of prioritising the significant aspects of life—the rocks and pebbles—before attending to the smaller details.
This got me thinking to how this relates to sleep and what the Sleep Jar would look like.
Just as the professor stressed the importance of prioritising the big things in life, so too is it essential to prioritise our sleep. Think of the rocks as the foundations of our sleep – working in sync with our body’s natural body clock,
enabling a sense of calm before bedtime, and building a positive association and mindset around sleep.
The pebbles represent the smaller yet still important aspects of sleep – avoiding caffeine and electronics before bed, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and optimising our sleep space.
And then there’s the sand, representing all the little extras we can do to enhance our sleep – journaling, keeping the bedroom cool, ensuring our and pillow and bedding are comfortable etc.
In reality, our Sleep Jar may not be filled in the same order of rocks, then pebbles, then sand. Some of the smaller grains of sand or pebbles might actually provide enough to necessitate fewer rocks.
The question then arises: How do you know what you need of each of these things?
With my new signature 1:1 programme, I’ll be working closely with my clients to determine the right balance of rocks, pebbles, and sand to fill their jar and more importantly, support and motivate them to keep filling their jar to the top.
Let me know what you do to fill your Wellbeing or Sleep Jar.