A popular myth going back to the nineteen seventies is that if you have less sleep you have more time to get more done. This is a complete falsehood It is true you will have more time but you will not get more done.
Getting up early is part of our entrepreneurial culture which might work for some. However they don’t comment on what time they go to bed. We need an average of seven to eight hours sleep within twenty four best taken when it is dark at night. The true path to success is not the level of your work or the hours you put in but how creative and efficient you are when you are working.
Top athletes are unlikely to train for more than four to five hours a day so why should any other activity be different. This post is however primarily about creativity. When you go to bed and drift off to sleep your brain moves into what is called alpha wave. This is similar to light trance or the daydreamy state experienced when you are very relaxed and uncluttered with thinking and anxiety.
The same occurs when you first wake up. During these periods your brain will develop solutions to the issues you are grappling with during the day. These need to be recorded as soon as possible following their revelation. If you don’t get enough sleep and are over tired and this state is more difficult to access and remember when you are awake. If people want to get up in the morning at 5 am because some on line billionaire says that is what they do I have no problem but for most of us lesser mortals good sleep and efficient alpha wave thinking will get us much further in the long run.
Peter Bull ( Trained hypnotherapist and author of the Get In Touch Series)