Depending on how tired you are, you probably read the title of this post as either a noun or a command.

Sleep is similar to drinking water and taking vitamins….we know we need to but we end up not doing it. The interesting thing about sleep though is that in our society it is celebrated to operate on very little sleep. I often hear people almost bragging about only getting 4 hours of sleep….what is that? I have never heard someone say, “hey dude…guess what…I have only had 1 glass of water today…” If anyone said that we would immediately consider them a bit strange. But sleep, we celebrate. Like oh you must be some kind of tough superhuman that is so efficient that you don’t have to waste your time sleeping.

You may be one of those people.

I think it is time to rethink the sleep problem we have in our society. There is plenty of science (summarized well in this book) that shows us that sleep is not only something that helps us stay healthy, it actually is like a performance enhancing drug. Our brains thrive when they are given enough sleep. We are more creative, productive, joyful and clear-headed.

I think it’s time we stop treating sleep as a waste of time and start treating it like a way to increase our performance. I can already hear some people grumbling while reading this post. The people who value “hustle” and don’t believe in work-life balance and the people who think that a good day of work is a long day of work. I hear you grumbling. This message is not a plea for people to be lazy or to achieve less, this is a plea for the exact opposite. We need well-rested people. We need dreamers that can see solutions and think clearly about big problems in our society.

Sleeping 8 hours a night is not going to kill your business, ruin your relationships, hurt your career or burn you out…the opposite will.

This is why I want to challenge you (and myself) to the 30-day sleep challenge. The challenge is this, for the next 30 days, you will do your best to attempt to get 8 hours of sleep per night and see how your life changes. There will be nights that you stay up too late, and nights that your 2-year-old wakes you up…that is ok. Do your best, though. Below is a list of a few things you can do to improve your sleep over the next 30 days. Good luck!

Other Resources:

12 Tips for Better Night Sleep

8 Famous Ideas That Came From Dreams