Write tomorrow's to-do list tonight
Writing tomorrow's to-do list before bed can help you fall asleep faster. In a 2018 study led by Michael Scullin at Baylor University, people who spent five minutes writing their to-do list before bed fell asleep about nine minutes faster than people who wrote about what they'd already finished. The more specific their list, the faster they fell asleep.
The kids are finally asleep. You've got maybe an hour before you crash. And the second your head hits the pillow, your brain starts reading your to-do list back to you.
Call the bank. Send the invoice. Reply to that email. Did I ever text her back? I hear about this from clients constantly. Lying awake isn't laziness or poor discipline. It's your brain trying to make sure nothing gets dropped.
The good news is there's a five-minute fix.
What the research says
In 2018, Michael Scullin and his team at Baylor brought 57 young adults into a sleep lab. Before lights out, everyone spent five minutes writing. Half of them wrote a to-do list for the next few days. The other half wrote about tasks they'd already completed. The to-do list group fell asleep about nine minutes faster. And within that group, the people who wrote more specific, more detailed lists fell asleep even faster.
Nine minutes might not sound like much. But for someone who lies there wired every night, it's the difference between drifting off and staring at the ceiling.
So why does this work?
Unfinished tasks don't leave your head on their own. Your brain keeps poking you about them until it trusts there's a plan.
Writing the list hands the job off. You're telling your brain, "It's on paper. You can stop holding it." I wrote more about this in Your brain is allowed to forget now.
And notice what didn't help as much: writing about what you already got done. That's a great end-of-workday habit, and I still recommend it. But at bedtime, your brain isn't worried about what's done. It's worried about what's next.
Your five-minute bedtime list
Keep paper by the bed. Not your phone. Opening your phone to "just jot something down" turns into 20 minutes of email.
Write everything that's tugging at you. Work, home, the field trip form, all of it.
Be specific. "Call the pediatrician at 9 to move the checkup" beats "doctor stuff." The study found specific lists worked better.
Circle the top three for tomorrow. That way you wake up knowing where to start.
Close the notebook. That's your signal that the day is done.
If you already do a wind-down at the end of your workday, this is the second half of it. How you end your workday closes out the day. The bedtime list clears out what's left.
One more thing
This study was small, and it was done with healthy young adults, not exhausted parents running a business. So treat it as a cheap experiment, not a cure. Try it for two weeks. If you're still lying awake most nights, talk to your doctor.
But for most of my clients, getting the list out of their head and onto paper is the single easiest win of the week.
If your to-do list is bigger than your week, and you want help deciding what actually belongs on it, let's talk.
Frequently asked questions
Does writing a to-do list before bed help you sleep?
In a 2018 Baylor University study, people who wrote a to-do list for the coming days fell asleep about nine minutes faster than people who wrote about completed tasks.
Why can't I stop thinking about work at night?
Your brain keeps reminding you of unfinished tasks until it trusts they're captured somewhere with a plan. Writing them down can help you let go.
Should I use my phone or paper for a bedtime to-do list?
Paper is usually better. Picking up your phone at bedtime makes it easy to get pulled into email or social media, which can keep you up longer.
Sources: Scullin, M. K., Krueger, M. L., Ballard, H. K., Pruett, N., & Bliwise, D. L. (2018). The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep: A polysomnographic study comparing to-do lists and completed activity lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(1), 139–146.
