The Habit That Changed More Than My Sleep

Many of us trade sleep off to get more done.



I did. For many years, while working full-time and raising children, I took sleep for granted and gave it little thought. This habit of not valuing sleep became deeply ingrained in me.

Sleep was something I had to do so I could get up and do more things again the next day.

Then along came Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, a dedicated counter-terrorist agent in the TV series 24. He would go for 24 hours or more with no sleep and still win the war he was fighting at the time. My delusional mind said to me, “Well, if he can do it, surely I can win on just four or five hours’ sleep a night.”

It took me a couple more decades to accept how wrong I was.

“Some people spend their entire lives waiting for the time to be right to make an improvement”. James Clear

The Power of Sleep

The information available on sleep, its benefits and how to develop great habits around it is ubiquitous.

We can rest when we are dead; however, for now, we need to sleep to live well. One of the key aspects I have now embraced is that sleeping well is about having great habits.

Great habits develop into strong rituals that support you as a leader in business and life.

The Role of Habits

One of the best books on habits is Atomic Habits by James Clear. The reason it is so good is because of the focus on atomic. The word atomic means microscopic, minute, or granular.

In other words, creating great habits involves making small changes one by one until a clear shift happens. Then, you add another tiny adjustment to that habit, again and again. This stacking process allows small changes to add up, with results that compound over time and form great habits.

It is that simple. Well, simple in terms of knowing what to do. For many of us, it’s more complex to learn how to create the change we want or to be inspired to make it. It takes discipline.

Read more here, starting with The Difference Discipline Makes