Dreams to Reality: Taking Advantage of Your Sleep to Maximize Productivity
Maybe there are more hours to the day than you thought
Unfortunately, you need sleep. No matter how bad you wish you could stay awake without getting tired, eventually, it catches up to you.
If you’re anything like me, you constantly catch yourself wishing your days had more hours.
There is never enough time!
But, what if you could get more hours than you have now?
Believe it or not, I’ve found a way.
Dare to dream
It’s so easy to forget your dreams. When you do remember them though, it’s exciting!
You know, those dreams so vivid you swear they happened?
Or, the dreams where you were fully in control and you could do whatever you wanted?
Well, it’s the latter I want to talk about.
What did you do with your dreams where you were fully in control?
My guess is you flew around, made friends with an alpaca (I have) or visited a random celebrity.
One night while dreaming, I decided to do something a little different. I decided to work on a project I was working on in the real world.
When I woke up, I didn’t have any more work done, but I did have ideas and solutions to the problems I was facing.
That’s when I started to try and not only remember my dreams but dare to be in control, every single time.
Start by remembering
To be able to control your dreams, you need to be aware you are dreaming. And let me tell you, it is much easier to be aware you are dreaming if you remember your dreams.
Here is my secret…
By making sure I get 8 hours of sleep straight (to allow myself the time to dream) and by writing down my dreams the moment they happen, I’ve been able to gain awareness of my dreams.
Both of these things are a lot easier said than done, but let me give you a few tips.
To get 8 hours of sleep straight:
Workout regularly
Maintain a healthy diet
Use white noise if you must
Exhaust yourself before bed
Don’t eat too close to bedtime
Avoid caffeine 12 hours before bed
Use earplugs if you live in a loud space
Avoid screens for an hour or more before bed
Sleep in a dark space (use a blindfold if needed)
Make sure you are hydrated, but don’t drink too much before sleep (or you’ll need to pee)
I know, I know, some people have real sleep problems where these tips won’t help.
But, for most of you, the reason you aren’t getting an excellent sleep is because you are breaking more than one of these rules.
Now, let’s talk about writing your dreams down.
Most people forget their dreams without minutes of waking up. So, you need to keep a notepad and pen right next to your bedside.
The moment you wake up, DO NOT go to your phone. Go to your notepad, and write exactly what you remember happening and don’t leave out any details.
Each second you distract yourself from doing this, you will forget a little more.
Do this consistently, and you will start to remember more of your dreams.
Awareness is key
As you start to remember your dreams, you will become more aware of when you are dreaming.
You’ll naturally start to pay attention to dreams because you will be constantly thinking about the fact that you need to remember them.
The more this happens, the more vivid your dreams will be and the more in control you will become.
Progress in this domain is nothing short of exhilarating.
This newfound awareness gives you a second life.
Your dream life is now under your control and you can do whatever you want with it.
Making the best of your dream time
Some people rather fly around in their dreams doing nonsense. If that’s you, I won’t blame you because I did that for a while too.
But, if you’ve hopped on the productivity train like I have, then you will want to make better use of this time.
Since you can do things you cannot do in real life, this time is very well spent harnessing your creativity.
You’ll notice you can do special things such as paint, dance or sing which you may not be able to do in real life. If you spend your dream time nurturing your creativity, you may discover a new passion.
Even more excitingly (in my opinion), you can talk to people who’ve died or those you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. I’ve talked to Elon Musk, Sadhguru, Alan Watts and Jesus (I’m not even Christian either).
Keep in mind though that you’re just talking to part of your subconscious mind. But, there is merit in this.
Lately though, when I am in control of my dreams, I spend my time thinking.
I know that sounds lame, but hear me out.
I’m so busy with work that I barely have time to think. Time to think is immensely underrated.
Throughout the day, you take in constant information. So much of this information goes to waste or is forgotten.
You’re listening to podcasts, talking to friends, working out, and reading amongst 100 other things. But, how much time is spent processing the information you took in?
I used to have timeblocks in my normal life where I would spend it thinking, but lately, I don’t. So, I spend my dream time thinking.
This time is priceless.
Conclusion
We spend multiple hours each day sleeping. While sleep is valuable and important, it is time which could be spent being even more productive.
It’s okay if you rather just sleep, but my guess is that if you’ve read this far, you are interested in maximizing your productivity.
So, I recommend you start by working on remembering your dreams, then move to improving your dream awareness, and eventually, you’ll be able to gain control and do as you wish.
It’s a lengthy process though and it requires consistency, so don’t give up too easily.
Thanks for reading