You Know You Need More Sleep. Here’s How to Get It.

Many leaders put in long hours, but sleepy leaders are less effective leaders. Begrudgingly, some leaders are starting to accept the fact that they are better leaders if they regularly get a good night of sleep. But acknowledging that fact is much easier than actually leaving the office early enough to get a good night of sleep. There is always one more urgent task. So how can leaders prioritize sleep? First, face up to the fact that we all face a tradeoff between the quantity of work we do and the quality of that work. Increasing your work hours from 10 hours per day to 18 hours per day will surely increase the amount of work that you can get done. That’s a mirage; you may be able to complete more tasks, at least in the short term. However, that 18 hour workday will destroy your effectiveness through the harmful effects of sleep deprivation. Second, use your caffeine consumption as an indicator of your need to reprioritize sleep. If you feel you must use caffeine to make it through your morning without feeling sluggish, that should be a major red flag that you are just covering up your problem of sleep deprivation. Third, don’t be a lone superhero. You do important work. Not everyone can do the work you do. But you can put members on your team who can do much of the work. You have to be willing to delegate. Finally, make a plan each day on how you are going to get out of the office at a reasonable hour. If you wait until 5 minutes before you would like to leave in order to try to disengage from work, you will probably fail. But if you start the day with a plan, and then prioritize your work according to that plan, you have a much sounder structure to support your bid to keep your workday from crowding out a good night of sleep.