Di Night Before Something Big: Di Twenty-Minute Close-Out

By ten for night, di work don basically finish. You know di material, di file don ready, di bag don almost pack, and tomorrow na di day wey you don dey aim for since one week. Na dis hour dey decide how much of dat preparation you go actually use, and almost nobody dey plan for am.

Wetin dey usually happen instead na slow drift. One more run of di presentation. One more look for di awkward slide. One idea wey come late wey look brilliant by 11:40pm and e need make you rewrite am to fit am in. By one for morning, di work don change small, but you yourself don weak well well, and dat one na bad trade for any day, e even worse for dis day.

One better way dey for dis evening, and e go take like twenty minutes. E get clear start, clear finish, and one stopping point wey you don agree to before. Make we call am di close-out.

Wetin I suppose do di night before big interview, presentation, or exam?

Do twenty minute close-out den stop. Arrange everything wey you go carry for one place, read your opening one time out loud, write tomorrow three moves for one card, and close di file for di night.

Di shape na di same one whether tomorrow na pitch, final round interview, exam, or audition. Di steps dey inside dat order for reason. Physical things first, because na dem easy well to finish, and to finish something dey settle your mind. Your opening na number two, because na di only content wey worth to touch tonight. Di card na number three, because e dey turn everything wey still dey float for your head to something wey you fit check tomorrow, instead of list wey you go carry hold.

Den di fourth step, na di one wey really pay: stop. No be "wind down small small," no be "check am last time for bed." Close di laptop, put di card for bag with di rest of your things, make tomorrow get di version of you wey sleep well.

Why more preparation dey stop to help at some point?

Because after certain point, you no dey add to wetin you know again, you dey add to wetin you go manage. Work wey come late wey stake high dey usually bring changes instead of improvement, and every change na piece of material wey you never talk before for full speed.

One second cost dey wey easy to miss. Di last hours before big day na di time wey your judgment about your own work no dey reliable at all. Anything wey you look for long time go start to look wrong, so di tenth time wey you read one good paragraph go reliably make you believe say di paragraph bad. To act on dat belief for midnight na how people dey delete their best line.

Notice am too say di sections wey you dey go back to no be di weak ones. Na di ones wey you already know well, because dem sweet to run. Di part wey really hard dey get one more skip, wey be di opposite of wetin rehearsal suppose do. If hard section no really finish, di honest answer tonight na to run dat one section three times, out loud, den still close di file.

Close-out no be to lower ambition. Na wetin dey make di last week of ambition survive when e meet di room.

Bad night sleep dey really ruin di day?

Less pass wetin you fear, and e no even. One review of sleep restriction for people wey their work need high cognitive performance find out say di damage wey clear well well dey land on sustained attention and vigilance, while skills wey well practice and wey important still dey hold, unless di task ask you to think fast and adjust to information wey don change.

Read dat well well, because e really useful for di night. Di part of tomorrow wey you don rehearse, your opening, your material, di thing wey you don run twenty times, na di strongest part of you. Wetin dey suffer na di part wey go need improvise: di question wey hostile, di panelist wey you no expect, di number wey person ask you to recalculate live. So short night fit survive, and e go cost you exactly di capacity wey you hope say you go get spare.

Na dis be di real argument for stop. One hour of sleep wey miss go cost you one slice of flexible thinking. To rewrite for 2am go cost you dat slice plus material wey you no familiar with plus di confidence of knowing wetin you go talk. Choose di cheaper problem.

And if you end up short for sleep, no waste your morning dey tell yourself say di day don already lost. Dat belief dey do more damage pass di hour wey miss.

Wetin if my mind no wan stop dey run for midnight?

Write one very specific to-do list for five minutes, den put am down. No be journal about di day, no be worry list, na real list of things wey you go remember to do, wey you write plain.

Dis na one of di clean findings for sleep research. For one controlled study wey use overnight polysomnography, people wey spend five minutes write to-do list before bed sleep faster well well pass people wey spend five minutes write about wetin dem don already finish. Di more dem write for dat list, di faster dem sleep. To write about things wey don finish show di opposite.

Di mechanism go make sense once you see am. One intention wey no finish go dey ping you because your mind dey hold am open, and to hold things open na exactly di job wey e go continue do all night if you no give am somewhere to put dem. Paper dey do dat job better pass repetition, and e dey do am for five minutes.

So keep pen near your bed instead of your phone. Wen di "no forget to" thought reach for 12:40am, e go go for di list, and di list go dey for table by morning. Na di whole trick be dat, and e dey work because e true: you no go forget again for real.

Wetin suppose dey for di card for tomorrow?

Three moves and one line. Your opening sentence, di three things wey you go do in order, and di one sentence wey you go use come back on track if you lose your place.

Keep am to one card. Na di limit dey make am work, because card wey you fit read for three seconds as you dey waka worth more pass one page wey you go need sidon read. If you no fit make am fit one card, e mean say you never finish decide, and to decide na tonight work, e no be tomorrow morning own.

Write am with hand if you fit. To write with hand dey slow, wey go force you compress am, and na for di compress una go find out which one for your six priorities really be three. Den put di card where you go meet am without to dey find am: for badge holder, suit pocket, front of music folder, phone case.

Tomorrow morning, dat card go do something wey plan wey dey your head no fit do. E go tell you wetin you decide last night, di time wey you calm, so dat di version of you wey dey stand for corridor with ninety seconds remain no go need work am out again.

To stop na part of di work

Di close-out no be permission slip to do less. Na piece of technique, and e belong to people wey plan to get plenty big days instead of just one.

One version of ambition dey wey dey treat di night before like test of how much you wan sacrifice, and e dey produce person wey go arrive empty for one performance wey dem don ready for since one week. Another version dey wey dey treat di night before like di last thing wey you still dey control, and e dey control am. Both people wan am well well. Na only one out of dem go fit bring dia whole preparation enter di room.

Lay am out. Read di opening one time. Write di card. Den close di laptop, because tomorrow na di part wey count.

Sources

• National Library of Medicine, The Effects of Bedtime Writing on Difficulty Falling Asleep: A Polysomnographic Study Comparing To-Do Lists and Completed Activity Lists
• National Library of Medicine, The effect of sleep restriction on cognitive performance in elite cognitive performers: a systematic review
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency