them. This was no way to live. There was no glamour in working
oneself to the bone, trading sleep for an extra conference call or a few
minutes on television or a meeting with an important person.
That’s not success. It’s torture. And no human can endure it for
long. Indeed, your mind and soul are incapable of peace when your
body is battling for survival, when it is drawing on its reserves for
even basic functioning. Happiness? Stillness? Milking the solitude or
beauty out of your surroundings? Out of the question for the
exhausted, overworked fool.
The bloodshot engineer six Red Bulls deep has no chance of
stillness. Nor does the recent grad—or not-so-recent grad—who still
parties like she’s in college. Nor does the writer who plans poorly and
promises himself he’ll finish his book in a sleepless three-day sprint.
A 2017 study actually found that lack of sleep increases negative
repetitive thinking. Abusing the body leads the mind to abuse itself.
Sleep is the other side of the work we’re doing—sleep is the
recharging of the internal batteries whose energy stores we recruit in
order to do our work. It is a meditative practice. It is stillness. It’s the
time when we turn off. It’s built into our biology for a reason.
We have only so much energy for our work, for our relationships,
for ourselves. A smart person understands this and guards it
carefully. The greats—they protect their sleep because it’s where the
best state of mind comes from. They say no to things. They turn in
when they hit their limits. They don’t let the creep of sleep
deprivation undermine their judgment. They know there are some
people who can function without sleep, but they are also smart and
self-aware enough to know that everyone functions better when well-
rested.
Anders Ericsson, of the classic ten-thousand-hours study, found
that master violinists slept eight and a half hours a night on average
and took a nap most days. (A friend said of Churchill, “He made in
Cuba one discovery which was to prove far more important to his
future life than any gain in military experience, the life-giving powers
of the siesta.”) According to Ericsson, great players nap more than
lesser ones.
How did the Zen master Hakuin prepare for his epic lecture, The
Records of Old Sokko? He slept. A lot. He slept so much and so
barry
(Barry)
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