Why sleep may be a focus for so many in 2026

January is traditionally a time for New Year’s resolutions.  I recently read an article saying that 73% of the people surveyed are actively trying to improve their sleep in 2026.  That’s a high percentage. 

The survey was commissioned by Avocado Green Mattress and conducted by Talker Research.  It discovered many reasons why so many people aren’t getting enough sleep.  The article mentions “revenge bedtime”, the idea that people stay up past their bedtime to pursue hobbies, scroll down a rabbit hole, or have alone time.  By engaging in revenge bedtime people are getting less sleep than normal, something they know is bad for their health.  You can read the full article here, including the top 10 sleep resolutions of 2026.

The information that I found most interesting was that 1 out of 5 people surveyed (21%) struggle with sleep because they feel too worked up from the day’s events, or what I came to call “genius crushing”.  Let me explain.

For as long as I remember, sleep has been easy for me.  I can pretty much sleep anywhere.  My parents would take me with them everywhere they went knowing that I would easily put myself to sleep on a floor or couch. And while I certainly prefer to sleep in a comfortable bed these days, I can still sleep on a plane, in a car, or even in an airport with those annoying non-movable metal arm rests.

What a gift it has been to be able so sleep so soundly. I didn’t realize what a gift it was until I went through a period in my life where sleep was not so easy.

Actually, sleep was awful.  I found myself riddled with worry about the current day’s events and what may or may not happen the next day.  It was terrible.  1:30am – 3:30am became consistent awake time for me.  It sucked.  And I didn’t know what to do since sleep had never been a problem for me.  It was impacting my health and I needed to get it sorted.

What I began to realize is that I was in a job situation that was not a good fit.  For many years (actually, decades) I loved my job as an educator.  I looked forward to going to school and working with both students and staff.  I could count on one hand the number of times I didn’t look forward to work.  Safe to say I had a great run.  But things change over the years, and I found myself in a new place – worrying about work for the first time ever.  And it was tough. I now understood what people meant by the “Sunday scary’s”.

I had a hard time describing the problem.  Being “stressed out” or saying the job “isn’t a good fit” simply wasn’t enough.  I wanted to “name it to tame it”. Thankfully, I became aware of Patrick Lencioni’s Working Genius model and things began to change.

After a $25 online assessment that took me 10 minutes, I received a report that had names and language for my specific geniuses.  Along with those geniuses came information about what I crave and what crushes me.  And BINGO! There it was.  I realized that I was surrounded by things that crush my geniuses on a regular basis.  No wonder I was having a hard time sleeping!  I was experiencing “genius crushing”.

I already knew deep down that I needed to leave the job, but now I had language to articulate why.   And it was powerful.

Specifically, here was what was crushing me:

Apathy – when my enthusiasm is met with silence.

Ambiguity - I dislike unclear standards and directions, or expectations that suddenly change. 

Is it possible that you are experiencing  “genius crushing”?

Perhaps this could be something worth exploring in the new year.

After all, it’s still January…