The Sleepless Elite

Imagine what more you can learn, experience and accomplish with 16 percent more life to live, that is the way of the sleepless elite.

“For a small group of people—perhaps just 1 to 3 percent of the population—sleep is a waste of time. Natural “short sleepers,” as they’re officially known, are night owls and early birds simultaneously. They typically turn in well after midnight, then get up just a few hours later and barrel through the day without needing to take naps or load up on caffeine.” –WSJ

The “sleepless elite” are a small percentage of the population that sleep somewhat late but wake up very early to achieve more on a regular basis.

The average person sleeps about 8 hours a day. That means that most people spend one third of their life in slumber, doing nothing, just aging. If we didn’t require sleep, I’d say that’s a third of our lives wasted.

I am one of these sleepless elites that, without trying, sleep about 4 – 5 hours a day, 6 at most. I don’t drink coffee or need to use alarms. This is in part from my natural sleeping pattern as well as my training and experiences as a covert operative.

My typcial (or ideal) bedtime is 1 or 2 am and wake up well rested at 5 or 6 am, always like clockwork.

I don’t have a job to go to or a child to care for so it’s not that I have to wake up early, it’s that I want to and have conditioned myself to.

As with most people, the first thing I do while still in bed after waking up is check my phone for news, emails and a browse through my social networks.

Then I do a quick set of pushups or sit-ups then wash up. It’s still dark out but my day has long started.

Again, I don’t need or want coffee.

I like to put on music or the TV (for background noise) and I get to work or research. I don’t fuck around or do non productive things at these early hours. I get shit done, this website for example.

My productivity and focus is at its peak during this time, before the sun reveals itself in the morning.

The fact that I’m getting so much done before the rest of the world is even awake is in itself a motivator to get shit done, especially considering I’m not making any hard or uncomfortable changes to my routine.

What’s important however, is that this so called “sleepless elite” sleeping method doesn’t negatively affect my energy and focus during the day and through the evening. No coffee, no naps and no grogginess. Otherwise, it would hardly be useful.

Not everyone can be a sleepless elite because of genetics or health issues, but if you can, I urge you to at least try. You’ll have “more” life to live.

Don’t get me wrong, I like my sleep and seeing dreams, but I love being awake and feeling alive.

Life is short, extend it with strategic sleeping.

[The featured photo was taken at a bungalow in a rice paddie somewhere in rural Vietnam.]