Rest as an Entrepreneur
I have a lot of friends that are entrepreneurs in some way, myself and my husband included. So that got me thinking about how sleep, rest and taking breaks impacts entrepreneurs. This could apply to you if you are a manager, CEO, or someone in general who is in charge in your career space, so stick around if this is you!
According to a recent sleep report some of the most famous entrepreneurs sleep anywhere from 5-8 hours.
Elon Musk - 6 hours
Mark Zuckerberg - 5 hours
Jack Dorsey - 6 hours
Bill Gates - 7 hours
Richard Branson - 6 hours
Jeff Bezos - 8 hours
So it seems there isn’t a one size fits all sort of scenario when it comes to sleep and being a successful business owner/manager. You might be asking “what’s the right amount of sleep for me?” Here are my suggestions when it comes to rest as an entrepreneur.
First, acknowledge that there are some seasons where things are busier and you might find yourself waking up earlier or staying up later to get everything done. With that being said, I strongly encourage you to avoid doing this long-term. This is where burn-out happens! That’s another topic for another day… but it’s not good and usually where entrepreneurs end up wanting to quit.
Second, set limits for yourself. As entrepreneurs there is work that can be done at any moment of any day, every day of the week. Creating boundaries and setting expectations for what you can accomplish in a day is important. Add to this section delegating when able: find help for managing kid’s needs, ask spouse/partner/kids to help manage homestead, assign tasks to others on your team (if you have one).
Third, try to find a stable sleep schedule, waking up and going to bed within an hour. For example, going to bed between 10 & 11pm and waking between 6 & 7am. This means sometimes you might end up with 9 hours of sleep and sometimes it may only be 7. That “window” of time is important to help your body (aka the brain that’s in charge of the sleep-wake cycle) know when it’s time to rest and time to be alert.
Last, pay attention. Keeping a journal of your sleep schedule and noting how you feel each day can uncover a lot. Maybe you think 6 hours is all you need but you find that you’re short-tempered and impatient more on those days than when you get 8 hours! You can decide from there how you want to show up and set your rest times accordingly. Personally, I know that if I sleep less than 7.5 hours I generally feel “off,” like the day is a bit chaotic, and I am more foggy headed and less productive.
Send me a note, how much sleep do you usually get?