#748 Sleep, Work, and Boiling Water

Medium vs. High Heat (You?)

Today we will officially wrap up our Science of Sleep series. (Before moving on to some Food Rules for some micro wins on another core fundamental: Nutrition!!)

So…

A lot of people say that they’re just too busy to sleep more.

But…

Research shows that sleep-deprived people have to work way harder than they would if they had a full sleep tank to power them through their days.

It’s like they’re trying to boil water on medium heat, not realizing it takes twice as long to boil that water on medium heat than it would on high heat!

It’s a vicious cycle that Matthew Walker brilliantly captures.

Here’s how he puts it: “Under-slept employees are not, therefore, going to drive your business forward with productive innovation. Like a group of people riding stationary exercise bikes, everyone looks like they’re peddling, but the scenery never changes. The irony that employees miss is that when you are not getting enough sleep, you work less productively and thus need to work longer to accomplish a goal. This means you often must work longer and later into the evening, arrive home later, go to bed later, and need to wake up earlier, creating a negative feedback loop. Why try to boil a pot of water on medium heat when you could do so in half the time on high? People often tell me that they do not have enough time to sleep because they have so much work to do. Without wanting to be combative in any way whatsoever, I respond by informing them that perhaps the reason they still have so much to do at the end of the day is precisely because they do not get enough sleep at night.

LOVE this “Why try to boil a pot of water on medium heat when you could do so in half the time on high?

(And this: “… perhaps the reason they still have so much to do at the end of the day is precisely because they do not get enough sleep at night.”)

Reminds me of Cal Newport’s Deep Work equation.

Cal tells us: High Quality Work Produced = Time Spent x Intensity of Focus

That equation is very simple.

Basically, you can get a LOT of high quality work done in a shorter period of time with a super-intense focus.

Stated differently in the context of sleep, if you’re tired and can only get your heat up to “medium,” it’s going to take you longer to do whatever it is you need to do. (And, the quality of your work STILL won’t match what you could do with the “high” heat.)

btw: Research also shows that tired workers do less challenging things (like check voicemails) rather than creatively demanding (/more important, higher value) things so…

Today’s +1.

Are you trying to boil water on Medium heat?

How can you turn that heat up to High a little more tomorrow via a little better sleep tonight?!

One (!) more time: What’s one thing you ALREADY know you could be doing to Optimize your sleep?

Tonight the night to move from Theory to Practice?

+1z +1z +1z!!!

Remember THIS equation: 😴 = 🔥 = 🍲

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