Why Leaders Need to Sleep
This might sound funny, but I’m passionate about sleep. As I mentioned in one of the very first blog posts I wrote, sleep is really important to me. Sometimes though, it seems like I’m the only one that thinks that way.
The phrase “24/7” has become really popular over the last 10 years. Simply put, it means that a person or a business is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And on the surface, that’s not a bad thing. What parent hasn’t benefited from having a 24-hour pharmacy open when a child gets a cold in the middle of the night? What traveler hasn’t been thankful that a gas station was open all night during a holiday road trip when the fuel tank was getting low?
But the truth is, that as individuals, as people, we weren’t made to maintain a 24/7 life. God in His wisdom didn’t build us to operate in that calendar or clock. Both our body clock and our calendar is such that God refuses to allow us to work or think 24/7. We have to physically let our mind reboot. It needs about 7-9 hours daily to reboot itself.
And that’s exactly what we used to do. Before electricity was invented, people worked from sunup to sundown. As a nation we were getting about 9-10 hours of sleep every night. When electricity came onto the scene we went to 8-9 hours. With the invention of television, that dropped to about 7-8 hours per night. Now, with the Internet we’re at roughly 5-6 hours of sleep every night.
That reduction in sleep impacts every area of our lives, emotionally, physically and mentally. The leading cause of accidents on the job and on the road is related to the lack of sleep. One of the leading causes of obesity is lack of sleep.
Sleep is critical.
I’ll admit, there are some people that can get by with 4 or 5 hours of sleep, but it’s a very small percentage of society. I tried to get down to 5 hours or 6 hours once. To be honest, I thought to myself, “imagine all of the books I can read and articles I can stay on top of.” I was kidding myself. My effectiveness dropped. My ability to perform plummeted.
So, as I wrote about before, in 2008 I did something that seems a little radical in this fast-paced age we’re living in. I came up with a new mantra “8 in 08.” I determined that every night I would try to get 8 hours of sleep. Sounds easy, right? It wasn’t! It was the most difficult physical fitness goal I’ve ever set in my life (and I’ve run marathons). It was so hard to learn how to get 8 hours a night. After measuring it for a year, I was able to get about 150 nights of 8-hour sleep and boy did it feel great.
The reality is, we’re not paid by the hour as leaders. We’re paid for creativity and innovation. It’s not about the amount of hours, it’s about the passion and enthusiasm and quality of our ideas. And that quality is directly impacted by how we take care of ourselves.
I encourage you to look at sleep in a brand new light. Instead of sleep being a hassle or a necessary evil or a hindrance to increased performance, it might actually be the key to a brighter 2010.
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I thoroughly agree! On the weight issue, I have personally witnessed this. When I get more sleep I start losing pounds. It has also been proven, it is better for teens to get a couple extra hours of sleep instead of a couple extra hours of cramming. The test scores were better with sleep. It will help the next generation if they could learn this now instead of later, like we are now doing. Sleep gets my vote!
Dan, thanks! I constantly go back and forth with this. Being a pastor/church planter, I must get time with God, but that must happen before the young boys are up and rolling. That makes my time management the night before even more important.
Then the added “pressure” (even if it is a straw man) of “great leaders don’t get sleep. They just keep going,” doesn’t help.
Thanks for living in a way that God designed and showing it!
This is such a gem as far as pearls of wisdom go! I agree – for a leader to be able to pour himself out to those around him, there must be a time to fill one’s reservoir, with both God and with rest.
Well said!
Now, is there any way you can explain that to my kids??
This is a great perspective on sleep. Something we don’t think about until we don’t get enough. It is a worthy goal to strive for 8 hours a night. Thanks for sharing this insight.
MC in NC
Great post Dan! Do you know of any good resources/studies about the benefits of sleep?
Well, that’s completely convicting!
Being that I have 3 little kids, I tend to lean towards the 5-6 hours of sleep category, which, also puts me in the “grumpy mommy” category.
I think 10 in ‘10 would be overdoing it a bit, but maybe “in bed by 10 in ‘10″ would work. Because every resolution needs a good slogan.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Mr. Cathy,
You are so right. My sister, a high school student, proved how important sleep should be. On average we get 4-5 hrs of sleep each night. Last night she got 7 hrs of sleep. I was shocked to see that today she had so much energy and clear thinking that I had to tell her to stop talking for 5 minutes. Sleep most definitely is crucial to the spirit, soul and body and it’s something I know I need to work on, especially if I want to be a good steward over the body God gave me.
Wish I could sleep that much, I guess for most of society this is true. I am that small group that if I sleep more that 3-4hrs I am dragging and sleepy the next day.