Digital Cleanse Day 27:

Sleep Means Fewer Digital Mistakes

Sleep.  If you sleep, you’ll be a better writer and a better business person. When you’re well-rested you communicate your ideas more clearly, get more done time in less time and make fewer digital mistakes.

Personally, I know its time to stop writing when I start mixing up my homonyms. You’ll have to trust me that I know the difference between there, their and they’re. Ditto for its and it’s. But odds are if I’ve goofed, I was sleep-deprived when I wrote it.  To paraphrase Oliver Twist, “sleep/ glorious, sleep/ what wouldn’t we give for/ that extra bit more.”

Do you know your tired-triggered errors? We’ve all done it. Pushed send on an email and only then realizing we’ve quoted the wrong price. Uh oh! Or tweeted an auto-correct blunder. Or tagged the wrong person.  Or posted a personal post on a business page. Oops!

Do you touch-type? I learned to type without looking at the keyboard in Grade 9. To type correctly, I start with my fingers on A S D F and J K L ; – easy if you know how. But it’s also easy to goof and put your fingers on  Q W E R and U I O P, one row about the correct position. If you’ve learned to touch-type you might be a couple paragraphs in before you look at the screen. Yes, I’ve done this. My excuse: I was tired.

If you happened to notice a typo on my website, I welcome your edits. Just pop me and email with the link and the correction. It can happen to anyone. I, for one, will be glad to right the wrong.

This is also a good time to think about how you handle the public’s feedback on your content. Can you handle the criticism? It’s not always easy to accept the feedback with good grace. A well-rested writer can handle criticism more easily. And fewer mistakes happen if they get a solid night’s sleep.

Sometimes there’s a difference of opinion about what’s correct.  That’s why the print edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition) is 1026 pages long. Or 1035 if you include the table of contents. Or 1041 if you include the preface and the acknowledgements. See what I mean?

So, as best you can sleep more and you’ll enjoy the benefits of fewer digital mistakes.

More on the 30 day #digitalcleanse tomorrow. Hope to see you then!

(If you missed yesterday’s installment, take a couple extra minutes to explore Work with Your Security Blankie. For links to the complete Digital Cleanse series, click here.)