by David Andrew Wiebe | Mar 28, 2023 | Productivity
Conventional wisdom says you need seven to eight hours of sleep per night to feel fully rested.
While I think this is a good place to start, it’s like saying working eight hours per day will make you wealthy. If you have a job, freelancing contracts, or a business lined up, you will make an income working eight hours per day. But the mere act of working a certain number of hours does not guarantee wealth. If it did, we would all be wealthy.
Similarly, sleeping a certain number of hours per night does not guarantee health and optimum performance. If it did, we would all be healthy.
Exploding Topics says, on a global scale, people are spending an average of nearly seven hours at a screen per day.
Let’s keep in mind – this is separate from work. Seven hours per day are spent streaming TV, playing video games, or surfing social media.
If you can afford to be entertained seven hours per day, then you may only need seven to eight hours of sleep per night. It’s a different story entirely if you’re reading this article. You don’t spend seven hours per day on entertainment. You may have, at most, one to three hours at the end of the day to spend as you please.
This may sound controversial, but I am only repeating what was a known quantity to motivational speaker and author Earl Nightingale and marketing expert Dan Kennedy. 95% of people are clueless in almost every facet of life, most of all when it comes to money.
This context is crucial when examining something as broadly applicable as productivity, and in this case, sleep. If you do what everyone else is doing, you will get the same results they got. This can be a rather harrowing realization if you find yourself following the clueless. It’s like the blind leading the blind.
There’s a saying that’s often repeated in network marketing business circles, and that is “98% of people will be dead or broke by 65.” As it turns out, there is plenty of evidence to support this claim.
If you want different results, you must take different actions.
Does this mean we should sleep less? One of my personal heroes, Gene Simmons, says he despises sleep. Co-founder of Quest Nutrition and Impact Theory Tom Bilyeu says he works 18 hours per day. Everywhere we turn, we can find examples of entrepreneurs and marketers boasting about their around the clock hustle. Gary Vaynerchuk. Grant Cardone. Dan Peña.
Maybe it really does work for them. But for most people, adopting the habits of the exceptional would be akin to buying a one-way, express ticket to the hospital.
The effects of sleep deficiency and depravation are well known. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says a lack of sleep can lead to:
- Depression.
- High blood pressure.
- Diabetes.
- Obesity.
- Heart disease.
- Kidney disease.
- Stroke.
- And more.
You do not perform at your best when you aren’t sleeping enough. You will find it harder to think clearly or react quickly. Your mood will be impacted, and you may find yourself more irritable as well.
To be more productive, you must prioritize sleep. Generally, you need more sleep than you think you do. Your level of performance and happiness will be affected greatly by your sleep schedule.
Just like me, you may have heard people say:
“Feeling tired after 10 hours of sleep? You must be sleeping too much.”
Ridiculous. You needed that 10-hour binge, and you probably need several more nights if not several more weeks of the same, especially if you’re still feeling tired.
health.gov says getting enough sleep can help you:
- Stay at a healthy weight.
- Get sick less often.
- Reduce stress and improve your mood.
- Get along better with people.
- Make better decisions (including avoiding car accidents).
- Lower your risk for serious health problems (like diabetes and heart disease).
Sleep is restorative. It’s healing. It’s what keeps you healthy and young.
Importantly, sleep is the top difference maker in productivity. Prioritize sleep, allocate more time to sleep, practice better sleep hygiene, and you will see your performance transform. Everything you layer on top in terms of productivity practices will work with greater efficacy when you’re getting sufficient sleep.
Conversely, if you do not prioritize sleep, you will see your performance suffer.
I can’t tell you how much to sleep. You must listen to your own body. Use seven to eight hours as a starting point. If you don’t feel fully rested, try sleeping for longer. Set yourself up for success by sleeping in a dark, quiet, cool room and try sleep masks, earplugs, fans (white noise), meditation apps, and natural supplements like Somno-Pro as well. But don’t overcomplicate it.
Disclaimer: This post does not constitute health advice.
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by David Andrew Wiebe | Jan 19, 2021 | Personal Development
If there’s something you want to learn, there are few activities as valuable as reading books.
Authors often share their best ideas and tips in their books. And considering you can get most books for about $20; you’d be hard pressed to find a more valuable resource.
Here I share five books that made a difference for me in 2020.
Killing Marketing by Joe Pulizzi & Robert Rose
Joe Pulizzi is the author of Content Inc., one of my favorite business books. And Robert Rose, of course, has a long history with Joe Pulizzi, especially at Content Marketing Institute and with the PNR with This Old Marketing podcast.
And then you have the two teaming up to write a book. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, as I shared in my book notes on Killing Marketing about a year ago, the first few chapters seem to waffle endlessly on what is bound to be a forgone conclusion for forward thinking marketers. Pulizzi and Rose were clearly writing to traditional marketers who have yet to understand or embrace digital best practices.
The middle chapters are where the book delivered a goldmine of proven strategies, tactics, and ideas one could apply to their enterprise, or even their small independent business. From revenue streams to qualities that make an e-newsletter successful, there were multiple gems worth mining for. I just wish the book focused primarily on these, but as they say, the best part of a book is usually about an hour into it.
Killing Marketing (affiliate link) alerted me to aspects of digital monetization and marketing best practices I wasn’t even aware of. And it reminded me of key takeaways I already knew. I experimented with an e-newsletter in 2020, and my discoveries in this book served as the guiding light.
No B.S. Business Success in the New Economy by Dan S. Kennedy
It’s because of No B.S. Business Success in the New Economy that I no longer judge Dan Kennedy books by their title or cover. This book is a veritable goldmine for entrepreneurs and independent creators, even though Kennedy’s target audience is primarily professionals.
What does it take to succeed in business? What is the mindset required? How should you think about relationships and connections as applied to ambition? How do you structure your inner circle? This book will answer every question posed and more.
About the only downside I can think of is that I wish I wrote the book. Because it will leave you feeling empowered and better equipped to handle any challenges that come your way.
No B.S. Business Success in the New Economy (affiliate link) should be on the bookshelf of any ambitious creative or creator and it should be devoured from cover to cover more than once.
Speak to Sell by Dan S. Kennedy
You should only open your mouth when you are ready to sell.
If I were to sum up legendary marketer Dan Kennedy’s Speak to Sell in a sentence, the above would be it.
This is not a how-to book. Kennedy doesn’t tell you how you can turn every presentation, radio interview, podcast interview, webinar, or otherwise into a money-making opportunity. But he tells you why you should approach every engagement that way.
When you understand just how disciplined Kennedy is about his work, and the lengths he will go to protect his personal productivity, it shines light on why Kennedy has always approached the opportunity to speak in this manner. He is always looking to maximize results from every effort, and he puts lesser entrepreneurs to shame with his work ethic and vigilance.
From Speak to Sell (affiliate link), I understood that there must be a purpose behind every public message you share. If there isn’t, you’re just speaking. But when you are clear on your intention, you are speaking to sell.
Sex Money Kiss by Gene Simmons
Kennedy’s Speak to Sell soon led me to Gene Simmons’ Sex Money Kiss. And it wasn’t long before I saw just how philosophically aligned the two are.
I don’t think any musician or creative can come away from Sex Money Kiss uninspired. When you understand that Gene Simmons considers himself lucky that he gets to make money at something he loves, and when he was first getting started, he was happy to be able to do it on evenings and weekends, you see that he’s far more pragmatic than he’s often given credit for.
Sex Money Kiss is not in the voice of a Rockstar who has conquered sexual and musical mountains. It’s in the voice of a caring father who wants to pass on his best advice about life. And there is far more content in the book than most readers would even suspect. Simmons puts some professional authors to complete shame (I read my share of awful books this year too, and one specifically was by a well-known marketer).
Simmons’ relationship and marital advice will be shirked by some readers. But Simmons is about the only figure who will help you understand that every decision you make is a monetary decision and that perspective is as valuable as it is rare.
Sex Money Kiss (affiliate link) reignited my passion. And it helped me see the world from a different perspective. It offered practical advice on how to structure my days and weeks. It helped me to see the financial implications of every decision I make, including relationship decisions.
Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson
Russell Brunson is infamous in the digital marketing world – for good reasons, and for not so good reasons.
But if you had read some of his earlier works, and thought to yourself, as I had, whether this man would ever find his stride as an authority, Traffic Secrets banishes any doubt from your mind.
Brunson makes a bold move here, as he now has in his catalog a book that will need to be updated at least every two to three years, as it specifically mentions platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Google, and so on.
If 2021 so far is any indication, there could be some massive upheaval in the social media space. Though I will withhold any specific comments as to what I see coming.
Regardless, Brunson is smart in clarifying that a) there are many sources of traffic available, b) traffic is platform driven, c) how we use these platforms is based on what’s working now (algorithm dependent), and d) you only need to focus on one channel to make seven-figures in your business. At the end of the book, he notes publishing daily and developing your Dream 100 connections is enough to cross that threshold.
After reading Traffic Secrets, you will get that if you’re engaged in digital marketing, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You can pick a suitable platform (based on your audience and the type of content you’re creating), learn its ins and outs, emulate people who are more successful than you are, and with persistence find traction on your chosen channel.
If you thought it was all upsides, I will say this – I kind of wish Brunson read my writing tips. There are some things about the way he writes that drives me insane. And that’s coming from someone who also doesn’t follow the rules 100% of the time.
With Traffic Secrets (affiliate link), I’ve been able to take my Medium, Twitter, and YouTube game to the next level. And those are the platforms I intend to focus on in 2021. If anything, I’m doing more with Medium and Twitter than YouTube.
Final Thoughts
My reading habit was on the uptick in 2020. But I’m looking forward to reading and discovering many more great books in 2021.
What will you be reading in 2021?
Do you have any recommended books?
Leave a comment and let me know.
Shh… Don’t tell anyone. Only the cool kids are talking about it.
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