Should you break down your reasons? It depends.

If you find yourself mentioning to Emile the same reason over and over again and aren't seeing much progress, Emile might ask if breaking that reason down into smaller subcategories would make sense. Not sure if a reason is a good candidate for a breakdown? Let's walk through a few examples:

"Procrastination"

This is a fairly commonly cited reason for a missed bedtime, but it doesn't offer too much insight. For a more actionable reflection, try naming the specific activity you do to procrastinate (e.g: Instagram) so that you can take steps to eliminate that activity in the future.

"Netflix"

For some users, "Netflix" might already feel actionable enough. In that case, maybe they just have to recruit the help of a website blocker like Freedom or move the TV out of their bedroom.

On the other hand, breaking Netflix into subcategories might highlight a particular show that's tanking your bedtime habits. In that case, the path to bedtime bliss might be as simple as a Saturday binge session or (heaven forbid) spoiling the show by reading its Wikipedia page.

"Work"

For some, there are plenty of ways to break "Work" down into telling categories. You might choose to list the name of the project you're working on. Maybe you'll choose to log "Personal Work" separately from work on your day job. When you take the time to break a broad reason like "Work" into more descriptive parts, you give yourself a better chance to dive into the trends holding you back from your bedtime goals.

For others, "Work" might be as specific as you need to get. In that case, you'll probably be more focused on understanding the dynamics of what's causing your work to slip past your bedtime on such a regular basis.

Not all reasons need to be broken down

You might also find that there are some reasons that come up frequently, but breaking them down further doesn't make much sense. For example, I miss my bedtime on Sundays due to basketball practice. I'm not willing to give up basketball though, so I just conclude that there isn't much I can change around this particular reason for missing my bedtime. Realizing this makes me more intentional about hitting the sack on time on other days so that I can keep making progress week over week.