Today, I got a mail from a startup incubator. Its subject line prophesized – “Dare not Sleep Well … till whats in your dreams alone comes to life. ” I was so pissed off with the context that I immediately clicked ” Unsubscribe” from the mailing list. My sense of chagrin started raging high. How can such ridiculous advise can be passed on to youth when you claiming to be a startup incubator. This in my belief is one of the most horrible piece of guidance one can give to entrepreneurs. I have experienced that when we I have not slept well this is my experience during the work day.
- My brain feels like a zombie, I yawn every 4 or five minutes
- I take 3x to 5x times more time to do the same work. I just cant focus.
- I am not able to do any work which requires deep thinking. // At startup , invariably, I need to address very complex issues
- Actually, its loss of one productive day for me as an entrepreneur .
A sleep starved employee
[Pic courtesy( http://thefrontblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/morning-cram-sleepy-worker-edition/ )]
Que1 : What do other successful entrepreneurs think about sleeping well ?
Somedays back, Dharmesh Shah ,a leading entrepreneur in Silicon valley had tweeted – ” The biggest ROI on time for an entrepreneur is : 1 extra hour of sleep”. Also ,there is blog by Terence Chang which tells you about the effect not sleeping well has on your productivity Here you have a mythical advise coming your way. If such idiosyncracies are to be promoted we may have to think loud about the efficacy of icubators. There already is a clamor saying there are too many incubators producing too few results. http://www.xconomy.com/national/2011/08/12/theres-an-incubator-bubble-and-it-will-pop/ . I am worried if this misinformation continues, we may soon feel the need to have UGC or CII or Nasscom regulating or licensing, who can open a startup incubator, mentorship program etc. The myth of not sleeping well is very similar to advise given by quacks to adolescents – “ Dont jack off, it makes your organs go weak ” . As an exception, if you are working in a chopshop or a SWITCH* company on a SHIT ( Stupid n horrible idiotic translation ) project, probably it may work.
We at WiC, encourage all team members to sleep well every night. If you are feeling drowsy, immediately catch a nap on a Bean bag or well laid out mattresses. Do not have droopy eyes in front of a machine.
Que 2 : There are many people with eyes on wall unable to sleep though lying on the bed. How can they sleep faster and better ?
Terence Chang’s blog recommends the following simple steps :
- Write down 5 most important things I have to finished the next day in the order of priority. Don’t list more than 5. You will end with a long list of things that you don’t even be able to do the next day.
- Turn off your computer an hour before you go to bed. So you don’t have excuse to check e-mail after brushing your teeth or putting on your pajama.
- Set alarm 10 minutes before your normal waking up time. So you don’t worry about getting up late.
- Don’t watch TV news. There are too many negative news that will keep you awake.
- Don’t count the sheep! You may lost count and start over again.
- Do stretch exercise to relax your brain.
What is your experience of doing great work when you are heavily deprived and are sleep starved ?
*SWITCH – A term supposedly coined by our friend Faisal Farooqui to collectively define glorified labor arbitragers comprising Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognijhunt and HCL.
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i always believed in sleeping adequately no matter what your profession is. This blog proves me right
Good discussion !!
If we can meditate and do some exercises for 1 hr, we give rest to our brain n body equivalent to at least 4hrs. Simply put your ROI for meditation n exercise is is too high to miss and solves the above problem too !
Thanks..
I think you should, give more time for other things that are more important
you dont have to sleep all the time to have energy
At the risk of being misinterpreted, I think what the mail wanted to emphasize is that one can sleep all he wants when one is dead.
While everything you say about sleep is inarguably correct, entrepreneurs do put in a lot more time than most people (excepting the SWITCH folks who do it as a part of servitude).
Looking at the bigger picture, us Indians have always advocated working hard as opposed to working smart.And it is even more true in the case of an Entrepreneur, because as it is, the society is punishing you with its dirty looks for having taken up Business as your principal occupation. Hence, we end up doing a lot on our own. And that, equates to losing sleep.
I guess it is more to do with the chain reaction that is caused by all elements of society, than the cycle of ill-luck that one manifests upon himself.
Good post though. Some errors in grammar here and there
(Sorry – force of habit)
Good point! We think spending more time to the work will give more results but actually focused work will give you results but if you don’t sleep well then it takes longer than usual time. So, its always about quality time than quantity, I believe!
sleep is imortant and if you are able to have a peaceful sleep being a enterprenure.
Trust me you are eighter have reached your destination or you like to keep your goals low.
Ask yourself where you stand…..
Human needs more sleep than food. One can’t take sleep for granted just because you being entrepreneur.
In spiritual terms, Sleep is a process to relaxing your brain, it’s rebirth of human, it’s reformation of a person, it rejuvenate a person. It is the most essential thing.
Have a sound sleep tonight
I liked the term – ‘SWITCH’
There are defenses and then,there are bad defenses. For example, victory in UP elections would have got every CongreSucker ranting Rahul Gandhi won it.. Now in defeat, they will find some other sacrificial lamb ( Email, (probably) will not take the blame in that case. We are witnessing a spurt in count of sore losers.
That’s the trouble with email. People take everything either literally or dont understand the intent.
Good Information
I think what those experts are trying to say is “”extra efforts that have to be put in” or “burning midnight oil” or something equivalent to training your mind to be ready to exert more than usual.
Not sleeping and being on Wii or X-box is wrong indeed
but every individual should always be good at maths and ROI calculation: If I am giving up 1 hour of sleep what am I getting is return. Is it worth the trouble ?
If it is watching Katrina Kaif on big screen of course is (just giving an example)
Cheers