In other words, fast-tracking your career with a good night’s sleep!
A few years ago, I landed my dream job – the big break I’d been waiting for – and I wasn’t going to squander it. I may not be the smartest or most talented person at the table but I’ll earn my keep with my Energizer Bunny work ethic. Staying late every night, working weekends and obsessively worrying about what others think are part of my DNA. Sleep? I can do that when I’m dead – right now there’s work to do!
But being a workaholic isn’t sustainable. In fact, it’s not a smart, healthy or attractive long term strategy. If we’re not careful, our passion for our work can sour as energy wanes and stress increases. Working 20 hours a day and not paying attention to sleep, exercise and diet can leave us 20 pounds heavier, exhausted and maybe even divorced because we’ve done nothing but work.
And if you work at Amazon, you know what I’m talking about…
The company I’d landed the dream job with closed its doors before I was blessed with those gifts. But I’ve seen lots of people I look up to and admire suffer that fate – getting exactly what they wished for… I’ve come to learn that while sacrifice and success are siblings, always giving into the first doesn’t necessarily guarantee happiness of the second.
If you’ve traded your bright-eyed and bushy tailed self for someone you no longer recognize, it’s time to get off that crash course to burnout city. Need some help? Check out these articles to help you line up your passion and purpose with life outside of work.
Stop sleep deprivation from killing you AND your career
Pushing late into the night is a health and productivity killer. According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, the short-term productivity gains from skipping sleep to work are quickly washed away by the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on your mood, ability to focus, and access to higher-level brain functions for days to come. The negative effects of sleep deprivation are so great that people who are drunk outperform those lacking sleep.
5 simple ways to improve sleep quality
While you’re sleeping, your brain is preparing for the next day. It’s forming new pathways to help you learn and remember information. If you’re sleep deficient, you may have trouble making decisions, solving problems, controlling your emotions and behavior, and coping with change. Sleep deficiency also has been linked to depression, suicide, and risk-taking behavior. In business, this is significant. So what can you do about it?
7 secrets of highly happy people
Happiness is not something easily measured. After all, it is truly in the eyes of the beholder, and depends so much on our perspective of life. Happiness is not a one-size-fits-all concept. That being said, there are some common elements of highly happy people. Happy people who have unlocked the secrets of happiness have seven common characteristics. How many do you have?
17 sleep hacks to get you through your workday
If you’re struggling through your day, sleep-deprived and grumpy, try these sleep hacks to navigate your way through your day. And then plan to get to bed early tonight!
Sleep your way to the top
While lack of sleep in favor of working more is often supported and even rewarded in the workplace, lost sleep costs businesses over $63 billion annually in lost productivity. Too many job demands, not enough job resources, and too little recovery.
A recent Harris Interactive survey found that Americans had an average of 9.2 days of unused vacation in 2012 – up from 6.2 days in 2011. In addition, poor sleep quality is linked to risk of heart attacks and coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, more aches and pains, and can be a factor for the onset of mental health problems, like depression.
I’d love to hear how you feel about burnout and you’ve turned things around in your career.
