Leah Hadley [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Intentional Divorce Insights. I'm Leah Hadley, certified divorce financial analyst, accredited financial counselor and the founder of Intentional Divorce Solutions. I'll be your guide through the complexities of divorce finance and emotional wellness. Join me as we uncover practical tips and empowering insights to help you navigate your divorce with clarity and intention. Hi there and welcome back to Intentional Divorce Insights. I am so happy that you are here with us today. I have a fabulous guest today who I consider to be a friend. I've known Katie for about a year now or so and I just have to tell you all that she is one of the kindest people that you will meet and she is going to share some really great practical information with you guys today that's going to be super, super helpful.
Leah Hadley [00:00:50]:
So I am so excited to have her on. Let me read her bio so you know a little background on her. Katie Pitts is a leader, mentor and business strategist at Sleepwise Consulting, a nationally recognized company that has helped over 12,000 families achieve healthy, lasting sleep. With a deep passion for both family well being and professional growth, Katie plays a key role in developing and supporting a team of sleep consultants who are changing lives through personalized relationship based care. Known for her grounded, thoughtful leadership style, Katie is passionate about helping women build meaningful, flexible careers that align with their values and season of life. She brings a unique perspective that blends operational excellence, people development and a strong belief that quality sleep has the power to transform not just nights, but entire families. Katie is especially drawn to conversations around leadership, identity and building a body of work rooted in depth and purpose rather than performance. Through her work, she continues to champion connection, growth and the kind of impact that extends far beyond business.
Leah Hadley [00:02:01]:
Welcome Katie. Thank you so much for being here with us today.
Katie Pitts [00:02:05]:
Thank you so much for having me. Your kind words at the beginning are what I could have said just about you as well. So I appreciate being here.
Leah Hadley [00:02:14]:
Thank you. And you know, sleep is one of those things that I am actually talking with clients about all the time because when you're going through a really stressful life change, in all honesty, sleep is one of the first things to go for a lot of people which just compounds everything else going on. So I am so curious Katie, how did you even get into this work to begin with? Talk to us a little bit about how you got interested in sleep consulting and where you're going with it.
Katie Pitts [00:02:43]:
Yeah, absolutely. I feel like sleep is one of those things that nobody thinks about unless you're not getting good sleep and then it's all you can think about. Because it's the foundation of everything, right? It's one of our five basic survival needs, along with shelter and food and oxygen. Like, you need sleep. And so I got started in this, actually a month ago, sleepwise turned 11 years old.
Leah Hadley [00:03:10]:
Congratulations.
Katie Pitts [00:03:12]:
Thank you. Thank you. My oldest son is now 11 and a half years old. And he's really the one that's responsible for Sleepwise consulting. So he was born about seven weeks pre premature. Came home, we were in the NICU a little bit focused on feeding, feeding, feeding, right. He has to gain weight. We have to make sure he's healthy there.
Katie Pitts [00:03:36]:
And after about three weeks in the hospital, we came home and I realized that babies just don't sleep. I thought they just kind of slept when they wanted to sleep, but alas, they do not. And through a very, very hard, long three months, my husband and I kind of lost ourselves. I mean, my little guy Andrew was waking up literally every 45 minutes all night long. I was dreading bedtime. My marriage was on the rocks. He, my, my son was unhappy. I was miserable.
Katie Pitts [00:04:14]:
And after about three months, I will never, ever forget my rock bottom moment. I know exactly where, I can picture exactly where I'm sitting in my house when I was on my computer and I was looking up adoption agencies because I'm like, God made a mistake. I'm not supposed to have this baby. I can't do this. He. He deserves better than me. And so I had a little like a come to Jesus moment, took a deep breath, and I go, you know what? Enough is enough. I am going to fix this problem.
Katie Pitts [00:04:45]:
I'm going to figure it out. And so I started on Google and like anything you search on Google normally, like, the first article is like, do this. This will solve your problem. And then the next article is like, oh my gosh, don't ever do that. That's the worst thing you could ever do. You'll damage your baby. Right? And then the next article is something different. And when you're already exhausted, it's like pulling, pulling my hair out.
Katie Pitts [00:05:09]:
And so I was like, I just want someone to tell me what to do and to know that it will work. And I couldn't find that person. And so luckily, I piecemealed a bunch of things that felt good. I piecemealed them together, implement them that night. And within two nights, our lives had changed. Everyone was sleeping. Yes, everyone was sleeping. My baby was happier.
Katie Pitts [00:05:32]:
We were happier. And it was at that point that I'm like, I need to become that person that I was searching For. And so it was just a couple months later, I went and got certified in sleep consulting.
Leah Hadley [00:05:45]:
That's so amazing. And I think probably that story resonates with a lot of people, because I know a lot of people really struggle, certainly when there's a baby involved, but with sleep in general and then that feeling of overwhelm and trying to search and find something that's going to actually work for you, actually make you feel worse and not better a lot of times. So that's amazing that you were able to piece that together and get those kind of results so quickly.
Katie Pitts [00:06:12]:
Yeah, absolutely.
Leah Hadley [00:06:14]:
So what are some of the common mistakes that you see parents making around sleep and routines? When people are going through a major transition, like a divorce, it's changing your routine and your schedule by far.
Katie Pitts [00:06:28]:
We see this, yes, major transitions, divorce. We see this with moving. We see this with a sickness or like something traumatic that happens in the family thinking like, oh, we have to change everything now to. To create some sort of normalcy, which doesn't really make sense on the surface when you think about it. It's like your
Katie Pitts [00:06:53]:
baby, your child, they need that sense of routine. They need to know what to expect. Like, hey, there might be some other things that change, but this is going to stay the same. We have a bedtime, we have a schedule, we have a routine, and it's sticking to it. And I'm not saying you have to be like a drill sergeant . We always say boundaries with love, compassion, and empathy.
Katie Pitts [00:07:19]:
That really helps create a feeling of safety for children. And so when you stick with that foundation, we see things go a lot better there.
Leah Hadley [00:07:30]:
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I was talking with my oldest son. He just wrapped up his first year of college, and he was talking about insomnia. And one of the things that we started talking about was, let's just cover the basics here. Like, are you going to bed at the same time every night and getting up in the morning, like, how late in the day are you drinking caffeine? Like, just the very basics. Because he was talking about going to see a doctor, and he was like, well, I'm not doing any of those things. And I was like, well, maybe we could start with the basics and just kind of get into that positive routine now that he's out of school for the summertime and looking at that. But I imagine that's pretty common for people in their first years of college.
Leah Hadley [00:08:08]:
When they're out of that routine, they don't have anybody giving them those loving boundaries, right?
Katie Pitts [00:08:14]:
Well, you know what it's really common for? Yes, college, but also adults as well. And entrepreneurs are the worst at this because there's no like set start and stop time. And so it is, it's going to those foundations. And so we've talked about child sleep, but we do adult sleep as well. And what we're finding is that people just aren't prioritizing their sleep. And, and we're fighting a billion dollar sleeping pill industry. And sleeping pills are not meant for a long term use. They're meant for something that is short term, that you're needing to get things on track.
Katie Pitts [00:08:53]:
But you're exactly right, it goes back to the basics. And with our adults it almost always starts with mindset and mindset around sleep. Right. You tell yourself, I don't sleep well, I'm just a bad sleeper. Well, guess what's going to happen? And so I know sometimes people like, it can be so woo woo. And out there, I'm telling you, I'm doing this a long time. We've helped a lot of people. It starts there.
Leah Hadley [00:09:19]:
I hadn't even thought about that. But that makes a lot of sense. If you believe that you're not going to sleep well, you're not going to set yourself up for success. Right?
Katie Pitts [00:09:28]:
Exactly. Exactly. Yes.
Leah Hadley [00:09:31]:
So how can small, consistent habits make a bigger impact rather than trying to control everything at once?
Katie Pitts [00:09:38]:
So I think a lot of times, and I always think about this with dieting because it's the most known, like big drastic changes that adults have. It's like, okay, going on this diet, I'm cutting out all of this, I'm adding this, I'm doing this. And then what happens is it's not sustainable and we fall off the wagon. It's like, forget it, I'm done. And that's why we are all about small sustainable changes that make a difference. Like you were talking about with your son. Like let's start with looking at your schedule. Let's look at what does your bedtime routine look like? Your caffeine curfew.
Katie Pitts [00:10:14]:
Yes. Like what are these things that we can implement week after week? So you're like, okay, that feels okay, that feels sustainable. And then building on top of it, it goes back to that atomic habits book. That's how you make lasting habit changes.
Leah Hadley [00:10:30]:
Yeah. And it's just the same with financial changes as well. Right. We implement little tweaks, you know, bring awareness, make adjustments. It's amazing how quickly we can get into an alignment. But when we try to force ourselves to do things and do it all at once. It's like, yeah, maybe we can kind of stick to that routine for a day, a week, maybe a month or two if you're super, super disciplined, but you're not setting yourself up for future success.
Katie Pitts [00:10:56]:
Right. And then you fall, you fall flat and you feel like a failure and you don't try again. And then all the ill is lost where it's 100%. 100% what you said.
Leah Hadley [00:11:06]:
Yeah. So Katie speaks obviously on sleep. Obviously she has this amazing sleep consulting company, but she also hires and trains sleep consultants as well. And a lot of people who are going through a divorce are often finding themselves in a situation where they're looking at how could they increase their income, what are other opportunities to earn. And so I'm so curious about how you made this transition from sleep consultant to really a business of sleep consultants.
Katie Pitts [00:11:35]:
Yes, absolutely. This is my true passion, is bringing people onto the team and training them to be so successful and really helping them raise the ceiling on what's possible for them. And so I started bringing people onto the team about nine years ago because I was just overloaded. I had too many clients. I needed some help. So I'm like, let's, let's bring some people on. And I also saw a lot of people like that I went to training and certification with. We were all starting our own business.
Katie Pitts [00:12:06]:
We were doing the same thing. We were all recreating the wheel, but people were like falling off. Right. They weren't able to do do it all or they just want to do the sleep consulting. They didn't like the business side of it. And that's when kind of the my brain sort of switched over to, why don't we all work together and build up something really big and meaningful that can make an amazing impact. And since then, in those past nine years, I have brought on over 70 people onto this team. And I have absolutely loved working with them, mentoring them, working on mindset, on mental health, on well being, because that's what it takes to, to do that, to help others, you have to help yourself.
Katie Pitts [00:12:54]:
And so now we run three trainings a year. We bring on people who are interested in spreading helping other people, living out a passion, perhaps that's with helping other people sleep well and really providing them with a safe, nurturing, supportive community that stays true to their core values. I mean, the people at Sleepwise, I just have to brag on them like insanely phenomenal. Best people I've ever met in my life who are finding true, meaningful like friendships and relationships and success and support there. And it's a, it's an honor to really witness and be leading that.
Leah Hadley [00:13:41]:
Oh, that is so beautiful, Katie. And I know there are so many people out there who want to make a difference in the world and haven't found that path and how to do that. And you make it really easy for people. So that is absolutely, absolutely amazing. If somebody's interested in learning more about sleep consulting, where can they learn more about it?
Katie Pitts [00:14:00]:
Yes. So we have monthly virtual open houses. Our next one is, of course, I don't have the date right in front of me, but I will give you that link. You are welcome to attend our virtual open house. It's no pressure. We talk more about what it's like to become a sleep consultant, what it looks like, no fluff, real answers, investment, the time, the, the what's realistically possible for you. So that I would invite you if you are at all considering, like, what would it look like if I was a sleep consultant with Sleepwise? If you're listening here and you're like, whoa, hold the phone, I need your help with my sleep. Well, we work with kids and adults as well and I will make sure that you guys have access to our website so that you can find the help that you need.
Katie Pitts [00:14:48]:
If you are looking for sleep help for you or your child, the best, best place to start is a free 20 minute evaluation call with one of our team members. We can learn more about what's going on with your family sleep and then let you know what it looks like to work with Sleepwise and together decide. Does this make sense?
Leah Hadley [00:15:08]:
Fantastic. And so we'll make sure to include links to those things in the show notes so you can be sure to find Katie, whether it's for yourself or you have interest in the business side of things. We or both. You know, she's a phenomenal resource. So Katie, while we have you here, what are your top sleep tips?
Katie Pitts [00:15:26]:
Yes, absolutely. So tonight, here are some things that you can do. I want you to create a bedtime routine. Okay. It doesn't need to be elaborate. In a perfect world, I'd love you to have one hour of doing something that I call intentional self compassion. Something that's just for you without screenshot. That's my ideal world.
Katie Pitts [00:15:48]:
That's going to move the needle the fastest for you. But if you're like, oh, wait a minute, like I really need my show, that's okay. Try 10, 20, 30 minutes without screens, reading a book, going for a walk, working on a puzzle, Taking a bath, drinking tea, having a conversation, playing a game, something along those lines that's gonna, you're gonna see improvement really quickly with your sleep. The other things you can do is what you were saying about have a bedtime and a wake up time very similar every day, weekdays and weekends, within about 30 minutes of wiggle room, you're going to train your body's natural circadian rhythm to work for you, not against you. So, so those are two good things that you can do right now that will really improve your sleep the fastest.
Leah Hadley [00:16:41]:
Fantastic. You know, I, I used to have trouble falling asleep. This was years ago and somebody recommended to me and I thought it was the strangest recommendation and it totally worked, was for me to do sudoku before I went to sleep to like focus my mind on something else. So that way, like my mind wasn't going all over the place. It's amazing. Like, I think it's so interesting to find what works for you. Right. Like, I think it's like anything else.
Leah Hadley [00:17:08]:
There's like going to be some basic things out there that you kind of want to have. Those like, you know, basic bedtimes and things like that like you talked about. But then it's also about, you know, working with somebody who has experience, like the folks on your team who can really identify what's the challenge. You know, is it falling asleep, is it staying asleep, is it whatever, you know, what are we talking about here? And coming up with solutions that are really going to work for you.
Katie Pitts [00:17:30]:
Yeah, exactly. That feel sustainable and like they will last for you as well. 100%.
Leah Hadley [00:17:36]:
Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, many of the folks in our audience, Katie, are struggling with sleep because they are stressed about this major life transition that they're going through, may not know what things look like on the other side of, of the divorce and they're worried about kind of the future and all of that. Any words of wisdom for them, Katie, that you want to share?
Katie Pitts [00:18:02]:
You deserve to live your best life. I really, truly believe that everyone is worthy and enough just as they are. And you deserve to get a great night of sleep and you deserve to live in a, that feels peaceful to you. And you deserve to make as much money as you want. And so it's all, it just starts. I think at times things can feel so overwhelming. It's one step at a time. That's all we have to do is just one step at a time.
Katie Pitts [00:18:33]:
And don't hesitate to lean into support systems because you don't have to be alone and you aren't alone.
Leah Hadley [00:18:39]:
Absolutely. And, you know, I think for a lot of folks, it's so easy to focus on all the stress and the strain and get kind of sucked into all of that. But when we kind of refocus on our basic needs and making sure that we are taken care of, our foundation is that much stronger to be able to deal with whatever curveballs are thrown your way. And I know any of you who have kids know that just dealing and having patience with your kids when you've had a good night of sleep versus, you know, several nights of limited sleep, night and day difference, normal human, totally human. But also we have to make sure that we're really prioritizing the sleep that our bodies need, right?
Katie Pitts [00:19:19]:
Oh, exactly. Yep. Yes, exactly. Going back, it's a basic survival need. It's not, you know, oh, I'm being selfish if I need nine hours of sleep, eight hours of sleep, whatever it is. No, it's just a need of being a human being. And it does. When you have that foundation, you have the food and the sleep and all of that together, it does make things feel a little bit easier.
Leah Hadley [00:19:42]:
Yeah, absolutely. And if you don't, it definitely makes them feel harder.
Katie Pitts [00:19:47]:
We've all been there. We've all been there. Yes.
Leah Hadley [00:19:50]:
So you all know who are listening that I always ask the person that I'm interviewing about where you can find them online and what they're doing on social media. And I'm going to ask Katie in a second. But I'm going to tell you something, because I follow Katie online, and I know that she doesn't necessarily love performing for social media or being all over social media. And so why I really, really enjoy following Katie is because she truly shows up online authentically. She shows up in a really compassionate way, in a really sincere way. And so I say that to really encourage you if you're frustrated with stuff that you're seeing online, this is like somebody you want to invite into your space. So, Katie, where can people find you?
Katie Pitts [00:20:31]:
Oh, that just gave me full body chills. Like, thank you so much. I really have been sharing a lot of authentic. My authentic journey on Facebook and substack. I started we have a Sleepwise stuff and stack. I started my own Katie Pitts Reflections where I'm just sharing my insights into leadership and life and mental health and wellness. I do also have an Instagram that where I share a lot more about what it looks like to join the team and become a consultant and a little bit more on that journey as well.
Leah Hadley [00:21:05]:
Excellent. So we will be sure to include all of those links in the show notes. Again, I just invite you to allow Katie into that space of social media with you because you're going to just increase the positivity that you're seeing and not that toxic positivity, like true, genuine, grounded positivity, which is so powerful. So, Katie, thank you again for your time for being here with me today. I know that your message is an important one and is going to resonate with a lot of our listeners.
Katie Pitts [00:21:32]:
Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed this conversation and anybody, if you need help, if you need anything, reach out. I'm here to support you.
Leah Hadley [00:21:42]:
Fantastic. And for our audience, thank you for listening and we will see you next week. Thank you for joining me on Intentional Divorce Insights. It's a privilege to share this time with you. I hope each episode offers valuable guidance to navigate your journey. If you find our content helpful, please leave a review to help others discover the benefits of intentional decision making in divorce. Until next time, take care and continue to embrace your path with intention.
