Yesterday my hubby came home at 4:30pm and I was passed out on the bed, hooked up to my iPod, with an eye mask enjoying a late afternoon snooze.  

“I thought you were working!” he said.  

“But I was!” I replied. 

As a creative person I can tell you sometimes complete disconnect is the only way to stoke those innovative fires. A nap can be the best thing you do to increase your creativity and productivity. Sounds crazy, I know.  

But I’m not alone here. Winston Churchill was a napper. So were Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, Leonardo Da Vinci, John Rockefeller, Gene Autry, and Thomas Edison, to name a few. Those are some powerhouse names. I say if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. 

Let’s say it’s 2:45pm and you’re staring at your computer screen with a laundry list of TO DO items. Your mental energy just isn’t locked in, and your mind is jello. How productive do you think you’re going to be? Even if you buckle down and focus, whatever you turn out isn’t likely to be your top-shelf best. Time to recharge with a power nap.  

For me, whenever I close my eyes in the afternoon away from email, the phone, the fax, the Internet, Facebook . . .let’s just call them “THE DISTRACTIONS” . . . my mind is finally able to put together marketing campaigns, clever copy, and ideas with COMPLETE FOCUS. In fact, the less I try to come up with a solution and relax my brain, the easier it seems to come. Sometimes it just requires a nap to reboot creativity. 

A NASA study showed a 26-minute nap can boost performance by 34%. The fact is most people are naturally tired in the afternoon anyway (about 8 hours after waking). Our biological clocks are built that way. Research is very clear that naps reduce stress, increase productivity, perk up patience, and improve brain function. That’s a lot of bang for your buck. I know I wouldn’t get nearly as much done without them personally. 

So how do you incorporate naps into your workday? 

RULE NUMBER ONE: Let go of the guilt. You are NOT being lazy. You are doing your mind (and your work) a great service by coming back to it refreshed with new ideas.  

RULE NUMBER TWO: Decide how long you’ll nap for and set an alarm. There are great restorative benefits in a 5 minute nap but the longer your nap is, the more revived you’ll feel. (Note that napping over 60 minutes isn’t recommended because your body could go into deeper sleep cycles and make it harder to sleep later.)  

RULE NUMBER THREE: Explore a method of relaxing that works for you. I recommend investing in Wendi Friesen’s “Power Nap” CDs and downloading them on your iPod. She walks you through a deep nap at 5, 10, 20, and 30 minute intervals. She’s my preferred napping coach. www.wendi.com/html/power_nap.html  

RULE NUMBER FOUR: Be sure to turn off phones and other distractions that could interrupt your time for you. Life can carry on without you for 30 minutes (or whatever time you decide to rest for). 

RULE NUMBER FIVE:  Block out light and sound. The fewer distractions that can pull you back into the thinking world, the better. As I mentioned, I use a hypnosis recording on my iPod usually. Otherwise, I grab foam earplugs. My favorite light-zilching mask is made by Bucky. (Be sure to get the “Shades” and NOT the “40 Blinks” eye mask. http://bucky.com/catalog/controller.php?pg=product&cat=SLE&product=S800) 

Listen, naps aren’t anything new. Many cultures have siesta time built into the day. And not just our Latin friends – many European towns close shop at midday for lunch and some afternoon rest. Practically every other animal on the planet naps (except for maybe sharks but who wants to be like them anyway?) 

So, you may think they’re being lazy but science is confirming more and more that ignoring our natural biorhythms and by forcing ourselves awake reduces our effectiveness. I say, go forth and nap. Return and be creative! 

Happy snoozing!  

I’m sitting here watching Oprah’s Big Give and every segment has me in tears. The premise is about taking 10 contestants and seeing who can be the biggest giver…i.e., make the biggest difference in the life of their assigned challenge. The “loser” is voted off by not being as grandiose as everyone else.

This week’s challenge was about changing the life of a perfect stranger.  

I have to say each and every one of these contestants did a remarkable job…raising thousands of dollars to change people’s lives.

 http://www.oprah.com/about/about_oprahsbiggive.jhtml

 Fantastic job, Oprah!

I’m a little embarrassed at my naivete sometimes. See, I studied journalism in college. I was such an idealist, believing that the media simply unbiasedly reported the news. HA. I sadly subscribe to one of the most slanted newspapers in the country…The Los Angeles Times. What a piece of crap that rag is. We only subscribe because our kids are required to be tested on the ‘news’ daily and the other local paper blows even more.

It’s pretty predictable actually that the media would jump on how horrible the economy is. I mean it’s an election year so there has to be some finger pointing, right? Here’s my thought to you. Don’t believe everything you hear. Are you living in squalor? Unable to drive to work or run errands because of the high price of gas? Can’t afford a new lipstick if you want it? Let’s be honest. Our lives are pretty darn good. The hysteria the media would have you believe is completely unfounded. Don’t buy into it. Conduct your life as if you’re running a million dollar business. And guess what…pretty soon you WILL be!!

You know, I just woke up from a beautiful dream gone horribly wrong.

Basically it was a happy, frolicking dream with my husband. Just the two of us deeply connected and in love. Suddenly it turned into a fast nightmare when he began to have a vivid seizure. (Mind you, I’ve never witnessed a seizure in anyone, much less John. And this was more realistic than anything on TV.) He began convulsing in my dream, turning purple and clenching his jaw. In my dream, I thought back to all the rescue tips I’d heard through the years and realized I had no idea what to REALLY do.

I startled awake and went right to the Internet to figure out what to do. What I learned is there are many myths out there about handling seizures…myths that I believed too.

MYTH #1

Put something in their mouth so they don’t ’swallow their tongue.’

TRUTH #1

Don’t ever do that…they could choke on the object.

MYTH #2

Restrain the person.

TRUTH #2

Don’t restrain them…this could cause serious injury to you and the victim. But do remove harmful objects nearby.

MYTH #3

Give the person something to drink.

TRUTH #3

Don’t give them food or water until they are fully recovered (whatever that means) as they could still choke.

Anyway, I know it’s an odd post for a marketing blog but you’ll always find snippets of what’s banging around in my personal mind too. And it just might help save a life down the road. Maybe I had that dream for a reason.