Most people think sleep is just a night-time problem.

But here’s the truth:

Sleep is a priority problem.

Sleep is a state problem.

Sleep is an alignment problem.

And when you fix those, sleep becomes dramatically easier — without forcing anything.

This month, we’re looking at sleep through the lens of the Integrity Compass:

🧭 Intent → State → Action → Impact

This simple model reveals exactly why sleep feels hard… and what actually changes it.

Let me walk you through it — and share how it changed my life.

⭐ PART 1 — INTENT

Sleep Improves When Your Priorities Improve

Years ago, I believed something that now feels ridiculous:

“I can get by on 4–5 hours of sleep.”

I said things like:

• “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
• “Sleep gets in the way of getting things done.”
• “I’m fine — I’m just tired.”

In reality, I was living out of alignment.

My real priorities were:

• work
• urgency
• numbing
• late-night entertainment

And sleep … was dead last.

I didn’t realize it, but my priorities had drifted.

I wasn’t choosing them — they were choosing me.

It wasn’t until I shifted my Intent — my priorities — that things changed.

I chose:

1. My Health (mental + physical)

2. My Work (deep work + contribution)

3. My Relationships (my wife + daughters)

Once I made health and showing up at my best a real priority, sleep stopped being optional.

It became foundational.

This leads us to the second compass point. 

⭐ PART 2 — STATE

Your Nervous System Determines Your Sleep

This is the part nobody teaches us:

You don’t improve sleep through discipline.

You improve sleep through nervous system regulation.

When your state is dysregulated:

• Body → wired or exhausted
• Mind → looping, worrying, overstimulated
• Heart → stressed, disconnected
• Path → misaligned commitments
• Space → chaotic evenings, no boundaries

(These are the 5 Drift Areas.)

And when you’re in drift…

You can’t wind down.

Even when you want to.

This is why people end their day with:

• Netflix
• YouTube
• wine
• late-night work
• scrolling
• one more game
• one more episode

Not because they’re “bad with habits.”

Because they’re dysregulated.

Regulation is the gateway to better sleep.

And that required me to change how I ended my day.

⭐ PART 3 — ACTION

The Levers That Actually Improve Your Sleep

Once Intent was aligned

and my State was regulated,

the Actions (habits) finally worked.

Here’s the wild part:

I didn’t overhaul my life.

I changed three habits — and everything shifted.

1. Digital Sunset (1–2 hours before bed)

Turning off screens let my nervous system wind down.

Blue light, novelty, and dopamine spikes all delay sleep.

2. AM Exercise

Working out in the morning created energy → made me productive → made me tired at the right time → normalized my circadian rhythm.

3. No Caffeine After Noon

Caffeine has a 6-hour half-life.

My 3pm coffee was still active at 9pm.

Removing it brought my sleep latency way down.

⭐ My Story: The 7-Day Experiment That Changed Everything

Someone once told me:

“Being sleep deprived is like having 2–3 beers in your system.”

That hit hard.

So I tried an experiment:

For 7 days, I went to bed 90 minutes earlier.

(Just adding one extra sleep cycle.)

And the difference was instant:

• My mental clarity skyrocketed
• My health improved
• My emotional reactivity dropped
• My creativity came back
• My performance increased
• I felt human again

Turns out…

Sleep cycles matter

Each cycle (60–90 minutes) performs a different job:

• Early cycles → physical recovery (deep sleep)
• Middle cycles → memory processing
• Later cycles → emotional regulation, creativity, meaning-making

If you cut the night short, you cut off the cycles you need most.

⭐ PART 4 — IMPACT

The Measurements That Reinforce Better Sleep

Here’s the beautiful thing:

What you measure improves.

What you reflect on becomes identity.

When you start noticing:

• your morning energy
• your focus
• your mood
• your readiness
• your deep sleep
• your evening drift patterns

…you start seeing sleep as an alignment practice, not a chore.

Tools like:

• Oura Ring
• Apple Watch
• Sleep logs
• Morning check-ins

…give you the feedback loop you need to stay consistent.

Impact becomes the mirror:

• “That 3pm coffee cost me 45 minutes of sleep.”
• “That late-night TV bumped my deep sleep.”
• “When I meditate at 8:30pm, I fall asleep faster.”
• “My weekends are wrecking my Monday.”

You stop guessing.

You start designing.

⭐ PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

How to Build Your Sleep Integrity Routine

Everyone’s life is different.

Kids, partners, shifts, responsibilities — this is real life.

Be gentle.

But you can design a routine that works for you.

Here’s the blueprint:

1. Define Your Big Blocks

These things take time and must be placed intentionally:

• deep work
• the day job
• exercise
• family time
• eating & prep
• sleep
• hobby/play
• drift activities

When you see these clearly, you can make conscious choices.

2. Define Your Peak Creative Time

Morning = peak creativity for most people.

Evening = peak fatigue for most people.

Protect your deep work window.

Then build your sleep schedule around it.

Lever #1 — Chronotype

Morning person?

Evening person?

This determines everything.

3. Calculate Your Time In Bed

Time In Bed = Required Sleep ÷ Sleep Efficiency

Most adults:

• Need 7–9 total sleep hours
• Have ~80% sleep efficiency

So you may need 8–10 hours in bed to get 7–9 hours of sleep.

4. Define Your Sleep Zone

Wake time backwards → determines bedtime.

For me:

• Wake: 5am
• Needed sleep: ~6.5 hours
• Time in bed: ~8 hours
• Sleep zone: 9pm–5am

Once my priority was “show up at my best,” this became non-negotiable.

5. Adjust the Levers

These matter most:

• Wind-down routine
• Digital sunset
• Max 2 coffees, none after noon
• Exercise in the morning
• No food 2 hours before bed
• Cool, dark room
• Same schedule 7 days/week

My personal stack:

• AM workout
• Max 2 cups coffee before noon
• Work sunset at 5pm
• Eat before 7pm
• Digital sunset at 8pm
• PM meditation
• Kindle reading
• Lights out by 9pm
• Aim for 5/7 nights (flexible integrity)

⭐ Final Reflection

Sleep isn’t just a health habit.

Sleep is the foundation of your Intent, State, Action, and Impact.

When you sleep well, you:

• regulate your nervous system
• improve your state
• express your priorities through action
• get meaningful feedback
• make identity-level change possible

Sleep isn’t the outcome.

Sleep is the beginning.

If you’re feeling off, tired, reactive, unfocused, or overwhelmed …  start with sleep.

It might just be the shift that brings you back into alignment.

⭐ Ready to Practice This With Us?

If this blog post resonated, you’re not alone. Inside the Everyday Heroes Community, we’re walking through this month’s Sleep Alignment Challenge together — one small shift at a time.

It’s a gentle, supportive space where you can:

• get daily nudges
• build simple evening and morning routines
• practice alignment with others
• ask questions
• share wins and learnings
• and feel supported on the journey toward You 2.0

If you want to go deeper — and actually live these ideas instead of just reading them — join us here:

👉 https://www.habits.coach/community

We’d love to have you with us.

One aligned night, one aligned morning, one aligned habit at a time.