Essentialism by Greg McKeown is a book I often pick up. It’s one of the books I have in my rotation. Have you read it?
In Chapter 8, he goes into what he calls “protecting the asset.” If you are at all familiar with Greg, you may be able to guess what he is inferring–YOU are the asset. He says the best asset we have to make a contribution to the world is ourselves. Since you are a reader of my blog, I would suppose it’s safe to say that you agree….right?
Let’s suppose it’s true. If YOU really are the most important asset you have, when it comes to nutrition, exercise, relationships, and sleep, how are you taking care of you?
Speaking of sleep, why is it one of the first things that gets cut short or replaced with something else when it comes to productivity? High performers will often cut an hour here and there to get more done. Yet, if you consider the many reports about how beneficial a good night’s sleep is, you simply can’t argue that a lack of sleep does not have a health and productivity cost. In fact, the less sleep you get the less focus, creativity, drive, and intuition you have available. It truly is the law of diminishing returns.
Jeff Bezos was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article years ago touting how having adequate sleep each night was a core element to his success as he built Amazon.
So I ask: How are you sleeping? Are you running on fumes? Is how you’re living now sustainable for the next 5 years with no residual health challenges?
The root of not getting enough sleep is deeply mired in the paradigm of lack. Those who own an abunadance mindset with regard to time do not have this problem.
Sleep well. Your future is worth the investment of down time. In fact, you cannot afford not to spend it.