Leaders That Don’t Snooze, Lose!
Read Time: 3 minutes
In this issue, we’re going to highlight a few of the unexpected societal sleep trends, Calm revealed in the Snooze Report they released in Q4 of 2023, and discuss their implications on our leadership effectiveness.
How Rested Are You?
The state of sleep health in America is dismal. 50 - 70 million Americans have a diagnosed sleep disorder. 91% of adults report they are NOT rested! 3 out of 4 people admit to using sleep aids, with 55% turning to medications, marijuana/cannabis, or alcohol.
Take a moment to let this sink in. Before you attempt to disassociate yourself from those statistics, let us remind you that if you’re consistently getting 7 or less hours of sleep a night you’re more likely to be deprived versus rested.
As leaders it’s so tempting to compromise a little sleep in pursuit of our big ambitions. But is that really a trade off we should be willing to make? The answer is NO, but that’s much easier said than done. I mean, we have deals to close, products to build, capital to raise, projects to manage, people to develop, game plans to design, presentations to give, and budgets to chase.
With so much to do, getting more sleep seems counterproductive.
That is until we weigh the cost of NOT being rested.
The Science of Supercompensation
Supercompensation is a positive training effect that occurs after we’ve worked hard and recovered adequately. Both the work and the rest are equally important!
Sleep is the foundation of recovery. If you’re not consistently getting adequate sleep then it is very unlikely that you’re consistently achieving adequate recovery. With that in mind, take another look at the graph above and tell me which trajectory you’re on?
“High performance is NOT what you can do, it’s what you can recover from.”
Our leadership capacity is never stagnant. We’re either in a state of growth or one of depletion. The impact of our recovery on our leadership effectiveness cannot be overstated.
Don’t sleep on your recovery, your leadership depends on it.