Sunday, March 8, 2009

How To Accomplish Success By Sleeping Less

Proverbs 6:10-11
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest –
And poverty will come on you like a bandit
And scarcity like a beggar.

 I’m always taken aback when I hear someone say their favorite pastime is sleeping. People will put off doing important tasks just to get more sleep, which inevitably never makes them feel well rested anyhow!

I find that I do my best work either in the middle of the night when everyone else is asleep (1am - 4am) and won’t interrupt me or very, very early in the morning (5am ish). I adopted this practice back in high school because there were just too many things that interested me and I had to prove to my parents that I could play sports, participate in student government, join random clubs and keep great grades within the 24 hours we’re all allotted. Even as I went on to college, I worked full-time the entire four years: first during the graveyard shift at a hotel and second very early in the morning at a radio show.
I still found time to have an incredibly great social life and even make the honor roll a few semesters!

My friends often say, “How do you do all of this stuff?” Well, its sure not done by sleeping until 10am! Don’t believe the hype that there are not enough hours in the day. Even if there aren’t, you always have some hours at night to spare! I’d venture to say, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to spend so much time sleeping.

Remember that while you are asleep, someone else in your industry is wide awake. They’re up writing out business plans, doing research and figuring out how to cut you out of the picture!

By all means, I’m not suggesting that anyone run their bodies into the ground! We should all know our limitations and there are times when we really just need rest. But, lets not get carried away with the idea that we can excel in our lives when our favorite activity is sleeping. Simply put, sleep has not, does not and will not ever lead to success.

What’s one thing you’ve wanted to really get accomplished lately? I encourage you to sleep one hour less for the next week and work specifically on that goal. I’ll bet that you get it done in a shorter amount of time than you even thought possible with no change to your daily routine. Just try it! Let me know how it goes!


Seek Wisdom, Find Wealth & Sleep Less!

1 comment:

Naseema said...

I have been so exhuasted lately but have gained little relief from sleep. Imma try ur experiment for the 3 papers due for p
Tuesday I have yet to start.