It appears that some people genetically need only 4 hours of sleep per night. Well, I am not one of them. I also don’t seem to be needing less sleep as I am getting older. Instead, I have come to appreciate how critically important sleep is for me. Looking back, many of my worst decisions, as well as my worst behavior, correlate with periods of insufficient sleep (or excessive jet lag for that matter).
The particular effects of not sleeping enough for me areL I become short tempered and easily irritable. That’s not good as an investor, colleague, friend, father and husband. I have spent a fair bit of time over the last couple of years working on my equanimity. I have made good progress on that generally, but take away my sleep and I will easily revert.
I fully realize that sleeping enough has become a privilege, as many people, especially in the United States, have to hold down multiple jobs and/or are subject to the whims of automated scheduling systems. Others feel that they can only be successful if they work crazy hours (if Michael Moritz’s Financial Times Op Ed was meant as a wake up call about competition, it struck all the wrong notes — and there is also a piece to be written about tech entitlement in the US but that would also be very different).
So bottom line: whatever you can do to get the sleep you need, do it. I used to reply to emails until I was done. Now I go to bed when I need to sleep, emails be damned. Collectively as we work on alternatives to the Industrial Age, let’s make sure we can all get enough sleep. The world will be a better and kinder place.
