Zombieland
May 25, 2022I've been talking to a lot of bookkeepers lately who've been staying up late to catch up on work.
I know that it's a busy time of year. I get it. And whilst I don't encourage it, I also understand your reasons for doing so - no phone calls, emails or other disruptions so you get uninterrupted, focused time and a heck of a lot of work done.
But if you're making a habit of this at the expense of sleep, here's why that's not a good idea.
In my previous blog "Growth Is Not Always Comfortable", I told you why I got up at 3am for 3 days last week.
What I didn't tell you is what happened after that.
In what turned out to be phenomenally bad timing, there was another event 3 days later that would also require me to be up at 3am for another 2 days.
I'd survived the first one, I thought, I'd totally be OK!
But what I didn't factor in, and should have, was that I was already in sleep debt.
And it wasn't the weekend. I had a full schedule as well so there was no time for napping.
By mid-afternoon of Day 1, I felt like a zombie and I had to stop everything and get some sleep and I did not get up at 3am again the next day.
Turns out that it takes a long time for our bodies to recover from being in sleep deficit.
"...research has shown that it can take up to four days to recover from one hour of lost sleep and up to nine days to eliminate sleep debt." - SleepFoundation.org
So while it may seem like a good idea to burn the midnight oil so that you can get your clients' bookkeeping done, it's probably not a sustainable solution, right?
Aside from the health issues this can cause, it's also likely that mistakes will be made.
If you simply have too much work to get through without doing this on the regular then you probably need to delegate some of the load on your plate by bringing on team, improving your systems, or firing some clients.
If you need some help to scale your bookkeeping business before burnout, then let's talk.
😴 Please get a good night's sleep tonight.
😃Stephanie
PS: Interested in working with me as your bookkeeping business coach? Send me an email or Message me to start the conversation.