Get to SleepFor some business owners, sleep is a privilege. Can your business wait 'til morning?
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Has your bedroom become just an extended version of your office,where you do all the work you couldn't fit in during the day?If you're like many entrepreneurs, you've relegated sleepto the bottom of your priority list, preferring instead to burn themidnight oil on your way to success.
History is full of people like you. Inventor Thomas Edisonreportedly slept just three to four hours a night (though he tookdaytime naps); uber-entrepreneur Martha Stewart gets by on four orfive hours; and Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO of online careercenter Monster.com, sleeps anywhere from two to seven hours a night("Anything less than two hours and I don't bother,"he says).
Is forgoing sleep in favor of business-related pursuits thesecret to success? Not according to James B. Maas, CornellUniversity psychology professor and co-author ofPower Sleep(HarperCollins). "There is a way to condition yourself to getless sleep, but not to need less sleep," he contends."[You're simply] becoming habituated to a low level ofalertness." Get enough sleep, says Maas-who contends adultsneed at least 8 hours a night-and you could get your 19 hours ofwork done in 12 hours.
