You Don't Snooze, You Lose

By Allison Berman
April 6, 2010

The last few months, work has been coming in, which is great financially, but I have been physically exhausted, and somewhat overwhelmed.

No matter what I do, there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do, let alone what I want to do, and for a "do-er" like me, that is a hard pill to swallow.

I wish I was one of those annoying people like Martha Stewart, who requires three or four hours of sleep - or at least I would love to be like my husband, who can function happily with six or seven hours. I actually can't think clearly with less than eight hours, and I really should have nine if I want to function at my optimal level.

Anything less than eight consecutive hours and I can't function. I learned the hours need to be consecutive when I had my first child, and sleeping in three-hour bursts just didn't do it for me. Forming sentences (either written or verbal) was challenging, which made interacting with people interesting, to say the least.

So much still on my plate

Now my girls need to be driven here, there, and everywhere, so I don't even start my work a lot of days until after they go to sleep - which obviously means I am up late, just to accomplish the bare minimum.

And even if the next day is slower paced, I am too tired to tackle the big projects that require really heavy-duty thinking - like figuring out how to get the people who talk about buying my pieces to actually buy them.

And there are so many other things I want to do. I want to drive more traffic to my Web site. I want to determine which Google AdWords to bid on - and I actually want to bid on them.

I need money to invest in my business to make a lot of these things happen. So, I need to find grants for a small woman-owned business, and then I need to find time to fill out the application.

I could go on and on with the many things I want to do, if only I wasn't so tired. The answer to my problem is I need to sleep more at night. The question is, how do I get more done in an already packed day so I can get more sleep at night?

Choosing priorities

I think I have found a way. I have started taking my laptop with me when I leave my house in the morning. It's like my supersized BlackBerry. I actually wrote this column sitting in the car dealer's waiting room while they did my oil change.

I admit it was hard to ignore the Architectural Digest that was calling out to me. But when I realized my choice was to read the magazine now and write my column at 9 o'clock at night, or write my column now and go to sleep at a reasonable hour, there was no contest.

Allison Berman, an artist and mother of two, works out of her home studio in Warwick. She paints one-of-a-kind home accessories, specializing in kids' decor. See her collection at www.withlovealib.com. She can be reached at info@withlovealib.com. Her column appears Tuesdays.