Sleep Is Input

I used to think of sleep as recovery. Now I think of it as input.

The other day I slept for eight or nine hours and felt amazing. Clear head, good mood, more patience, better work.

Then I slept five hours and knew it immediately. I didn't even have to check my sleep tracker.

The thing is that sometimes, I can sleep for only 3-4 hours and still feel like a superhero. Days where I wake up, drink coffee, and somehow perform really well. Meetings are good. Work gets done. I feel sharp.

And that can trick you into thinking you don't need sleep.

But the bill usually comes later.

Maybe the next day. Maybe a few days later. Less patience. Worse decisions. More coffee. Simple tasks feel heavier.

That's why I think consistency matters more than heroics.

A founder's job is mostly judgment. What should we build? Who should we hire? What matters and what is noise? If your sleep is bad, those decisions get slightly worse.

You can survive on four hours. You can even perform on four hours.

But that doesn't make it a strategy.

I'd rather be consistently good for years than occasionally brilliant and regularly exhausted.

Sometimes we need the late night. That's fine.

Just don't turn the exception into the operating system.

Sleep isn't time taken away from the work. It's part of the work.

Took me years and some rock bottoms to learn this.