Too Tired to Work

In this blog post, I answer a question about being too tired to work.

Here’s the question I received:

I’m so tired in the mornings that I hate everyone and everything from 5am-8am. At night, I’m too tired to go out with my friends. How can I convince my employer to let me come in at 9:00 instead of 6:30?

And my response:

Dear Tired,

Most of my friends and family know that I’m a queen when it comes to tiredness. I almost always feel like I need a nap. So I empathize with your situation!

Before I respond from a coaching perspective, I want to make sure to encourage you to find out if your tiredness has any physical causes. If you haven’t already, talk it over with your family doctor just to make sure there’s nothing physical going on that’s causing your tiredness.

From an emotional perspective, I’ll share something a therapist once told me: she said that sleep was a great avoidance mechanism, and got curious about what I might be avoiding by going to sleep at every opportunity. She encouraged me to notice what exactly was happening in the moments before I thought, “I’m exhausted,” and to notice if there was a pattern–a tiredness trigger, if you will.

Now, from a coaching perspective:

From a coaching perspective, I’ll invite you to look at how you’ve described the situation:

I’m tired in the mornings and the evenings, therefore I need to convince my employer to change my work hours.

Another way to look at this situation is to say that you are trying to meet three needs: your need for gainful employment, for friendship, and for rest.

As you wrote the question, your solution to all three was to convince your employer to change your work hours.

What other solutions could meet your needs?

Lunch dates with your friends? An post-work workout to boost your energy in the evenings? A change to a new job with different hours?

Before settling on one solution, I invite you to brainstorm ways you could meet each of your needs. Come up with as many ideas as you can, and then consider which might combine well in your situation.

If you do end up deciding that speaking with your employer about your work hours is the best way to go, consider making the case that it will be better off for your employer if you are alert and energetic when you’re at work, and that you can bring that alertness and energy to a 9am shift, but not a 630am shift.

Warmly,

Laura 
*
Like what you’re reading? There’s more where that came from!
I’d love to have you join me by signing up for Ready for Change news. 
Sign up here.