If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about myself over the past couple of years it’s the fact that I really need my sleep to be a positively contributing member of society. If I have 7-8 hours of sleep under my belt when I get out of bed in the morning, watch out world because I’m coming at you full force like a boss.

The words that would describe me when I get some sleep would be:

– motivated
– fun
– loving
– creative
– spontaneous
– patient
– relaxed
– social

On the other hand, if I don’t get any sleep (or enough) then I tend to be better described as:

– cranky
– boring
– uptight
– anti-social
– a terrible husband

The funny thing is that I used to be able to go with practically no sleep and there was usually one day a week when I didn’t sleep at all (p.s. that’s not a good idea). Of course, that was also when I worked by myself most of the day and wasn’t married. I’m sure that I was just as bad back then, but the thing was that I was a lot younger and there was no one to let me know about it. Plus, I would put back some caffeine like it was going out of style so even if I actually was tired I would never know it (p.s. that’s not a good idea, either).

So, what now? Well, I don’t drink any caffeine anymore and I’m doing my best to get some sleep and it seems to be doing the trick. I’m not saying that I’m getting all of the sleep I need (it’s really hard for me to go to bed early), but I am giving it a good effort.

I know that it sounds really lame, but figuring out what keeps you energized throughout the day is really important and for most of us it’s getting the sleep that we need to cover the amount of activity we do during the day. Do a lot? Well, then you better sleep a lot, too.

Want to hear what people who are way smarter than me say about getting sleep? Check out this Harvard post from 2006 titled 6 Reasons Not To Scimp On Sleep.