Do the most important thing first in the morning.

Sleep as much as you need to feel fully rested.

For more, see A Master Plan for Taking Back Control of Your Life...

"Fatigue makes cowards of us all," said Vince Lombardi.

(Originally posted 1:32 AM Oct 16 2011... photo credit...)

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5:15 PM Jul 03 2012

I also enjoyed this: Does your startup pass the sleep test?

Unless your business earns revenue while you are sleeping, it won’t scale.

If you’re an I.T. consultant or lawyer selling your own time, you can’t scale.

If you’re a brick-layer who employs other brick layers and also employs a sales person, driver, accountant and all the other business components so that your business runs while you’re not there, you CAN scale.

If you’re a web developer who writes an application that earns ad revenue or that earns subscription money while you sleep, you CAN scale.

Two types of Web App that often pass the sleep test are:

1. A service that attracts huge numbers of an attractive demographic that can earn you ad revenue or

2. A service that is so valuable to a group of people that they will pay you for it, preferably on a recurring basis

I realize this comment is only loosely connected to the top level comment.

Sometimes the Web is cool like that.

I also enjoyed this: <a href="http://markmaunder.com/2010/03/01/does-your-startup-pass-the-sleep-test/">Does your startup pass the sleep test?</a>

<blockquote>Unless your business earns revenue while you are sleeping, it won’t scale.

If you’re an I.T. consultant or lawyer selling your own time, you can’t scale.

If you’re a brick-layer who employs other brick layers and also employs a sales person, driver, accountant and all the other business components so that your business runs while you’re not there, you CAN scale.

If you’re a web developer who writes an application that earns ad revenue or that earns subscription money while you sleep, you CAN scale.

Two types of Web App that often pass the sleep test are:

1. A service that attracts huge numbers of an attractive demographic that can earn you ad revenue or

2. A service that is so valuable to a group of people that they will pay you for it, preferably on a recurring basis</blockquote>

I realize this comment is only loosely connected to the top level comment.

Sometimes the Web is cool like that.

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11:50 PM Oct 15 2011

"Sleep loss means mind loss." ~ Bakadesuyo, Rules Your Brain Works By

Why do we need sleep? Unknown. ~ Quora

Sleep is important to daily decision making.

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7:18 PM Oct 16 2011

I've posted before on how little sleep you can get away with. The results show you can't cut corners and not pay a price:

...by the end of two weeks, the six-hour sleepers were as impaired as those who, in another Dinges study, had been sleep-deprived for 24 hours straight — the cognitive equivalent of being legally drunk.

The best part was, if you asked them, they felt fine and didn't realize they were impaired (the same way drunk people respond to such questions, minus the slurring.)

Why else is sleep important?

Being tired actually makes it harder to be happy.

Lack of sleep = more likely to get sick.

"Sleeping on it" does improve decision making.

Lack of sleep can make you more likely to behave unethically.

There is such a thing as beauty sleep.

I've posted before on <a href="http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-little-sleep-can-you-get-away-with">how little sleep you can get away with.</a> The results show you can't cut corners and not pay a price:

...by the end of two weeks, the six-hour sleepers were as impaired as those who, in another Dinges study, had been sleep-deprived for 24 hours straight — the cognitive equivalent of being legally drunk.

The best part was, if you asked them, they felt fine and didn't realize they were impaired (the same way drunk people respond to such questions, minus the slurring.)

Why else is sleep important?

<ul><li>Being tired actually makes it <a href="http://www.bakadesuyo.com/does-being-tired-make-it-hard-to-be-happy">harder to be happy</a>.</li>

</ul>

<ul><li>Lack of sleep = <a href="http://www.bakadesuyo.com/nytimescom-lack-of-sleep-increases-the-risk-o">more likely to get sick</a>.</li>

</ul>

<ul><li>"Sleeping on it" does <a href="http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-sleep-on-it-good-advice">improve decision making</a>.</li>

</ul>

<ul><li>Lack of sleep can make you <a href="http://www.bakadesuyo.com/does-lack-of-sleep-make-us-unethical">more likely to behave unethically</a>.</li>

</ul>

<ul><li>There <a href="http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-there-really-such-thing-as-beauty-sleep">is such a thing as beauty sleep</a>.</li></ul>

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12:44 AM Oct 16 2011

Props Given:

Over the last month I lived through this experiment, and anecdotally I completely concur.

Getting more sleep has much higher payoff than doing more work.

Period.

People need downtime.

Thanks for these links, Eric.

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1:05 AM Oct 16 2011

Eric, I have been really inspired by your blog and your posts here lately... and the sleep stuff in particular. I'm TOTALLY a 6-hour sleeper and I know exactly what you mean about thinking you feel fine but actually losing ground. Like I tweeted a couple days ago: with enough sleep, you have a fighting chance of dealing with all other issues.

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8:17 AM Oct 16 2011

Props Given:

What the most successful people do before breakfast is a new e-book from Laura Vanderkam.

I'd embed the video here but it's ooyala so just visit the site if you want to see it.

Watch it now.

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5:13 PM Jul 03 2012