We’ve all heard the ingredients to massive success. They often include hard work, dedication and persistence. However, according to research the word “sleeping” is just as significant of an ingredient. Researchers have found that sleeping too little — defined as less than six hours each night — was one of the best predictors of on-the-job burn-out. A Harvard study estimated that sleep deprivation costs American companies $63.2 billion a year in lost productivity. It seems that most millionaires have figured this sleeping thing out. These are the two sleeping habits that contribute to their massive success.
1. Sleep for an average of 6.5 hours a day
Using a sample of 6 millionaires namely Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and Tim Cook, their total average amount of sleep per day is 6.5 hours a day. This is just a notch above the 6 hours sleeping limit. Warren Buffett- the 2nd richest in the sample- is known to be a big advocate of sleep. He has often been quoted saying “when forced to choose, I will not trade even a night’s sleep for the chance of extra profits”.
Another notable millionaire, Arianna Huffington (founder of The Huffington Post) wrote a whole book on why it is important that we do sleep in order to be successful. According to her book titled The Sleep Revolution “Scientists are resoundingly confirming what our ancestors knew instinctively: that our sleep is not empty time. Sleep is a time of intense neurological activity—a rich time of renewal, memory consolidation, brain and neurochemical cleansing, and cognitive maintenance. Properly appraised, our sleeping time is as valuable a commodity as the time we are awake…” So even though “Time is Money”, the time we use to sleep is just as important in becoming successful. Steven Covey points out in his renowned book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, good sleep is part of the restorative process he describes as Sharpening the Saw.
2. Being an early riser
The one habit that is commonly tied to most millionaires is that they wake up early. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to most. There are countless articles, reports and studies that prove that most millionaires are early risers. According to 5amwakeupcall, the proven science behind waking up early is in the training of the mind to adjust to new environments. This in turn can measurably change both the physical structure of your brain, by increasing its size, and quality by increasing its speed and efficiency. And a better quality brain leads to improved performance in the work one does, therefore resulting to in increased ability to earn more. Furthermore, waking up earlier also means your body is more in tune with the circadian rhythms of the earth (i.e. sunset and sunrise), which leads to deeper restorative sleep.
So there’s more we need towards achieving great success besides hard work. Some good sleep and an array of early mornings.