Go to bed early

I’ve noticed a pattern in my life that might sound familiar: I want to go to bed early, but I keep working late into the night. It’s not always out of necessity. Sometimes, I’m riding a second wind of focus that didn’t show up all day. Other times, I’m just trying to make up for hours I feel I lost to distractions, interruptions, or mental fog. Either way, the result is the same. Sleep gets sacrificed for productivity. I wake up tired the next day. I repeat the cycle.

So, what’s a small improvement I could make?

Learning how to stop

There’s something deceptively difficult about ending the workday. Many of us think we need to earn rest by completing everything. But the truth is, the work will never be done. There’s always one more email to send, one more idea to polish, one more thing to tweak. And if we don’t set boundaries, we let the day stretch endlessly into the night.

Here’s what I’ve been trying instead:

Wind-down alarm

First, I set a “wind-down alarm” about an hour before I want to go to bed. It’s not a bedtime, but a signal to start closing things. I take a moment to write down anything unfinished, so it’s not bouncing around in my head. I call this my “tomorrow list.” It’s surprisingly calming to know that I don’t have to hold everything in memory overnight.

That’s enough

Then, I create a ritual to end the day: closing my laptop, dimming the lights, or even just saying “That’s enough.” It might sound trivial, but small gestures carry symbolic weight. They tell my mind, you can rest now.

Sometimes, I still slip. But more often, I feel a quiet satisfaction in choosing rest over relentless doing. It’s not laziness—it’s strategy. A well-rested mind works better, creates better, lives better.

So if you’re looking for a small improvement in your life, maybe it’s not about doing more. Maybe it’s about doing less—but doing it with intention. Learn how to stop. Give yourself permission to end the day. You might be surprised how powerful that can be.