Would You Work on a Difficult Project After a Couple of Margaritas? by Karin Stewart

This special online event is brought to you Biba Pedron from Your Business in Style – Today we introduce you to Karin Stewart.

Whenever I ask this question in talks and seminars, I get a chorus of “of course not!” Yet, when I ask how many in the audience have tackled a difficult project after just 4 or 5 hours of sleep, almost all hands come up.

People usually think that lack of sleep doesn’t significantly impact their productivity and ability to work efficiently and accurately. Yes, they feel tired, and sluggish, but they think that, if they push themselves through, they can work just as well as usual. Alcohol, on the other hand, is another matter. It is well-known that alcohol muddles the brain, and that, under its influence, people make more mistakes, lose the ability to creatively solve problems and work more slowly. They are two completely different situations.

Or are they?

Studies in the past 15 years have repeatedly shown that the effects of lack of sleep are functionally the same as the effects of inebriation: both slow down your reflexes and your thinking in general; impair your ability to solve problems; lead you to make more mistakes; and make it impossible for you to accurately estimate your level of impairment. The only difference between the two is that excessive alcohol gives you a hangover, while sleep deprivation is silent, outside of a feeling of sluggishness. As a result, it is much easier to ignore, and much easier to believe that there are no effects.

When you add to this physiological fact the fact that there are many incentives to forgo sleep for “more interesting” things, from demands at work to the vast array of entertainment choices that we have, it is no wonder that we Americans sleep less and less. And we are paying for it: chronic sleep deprivation has documented links to obesity, ulcers, cardiovascular diseases. And it also impacts our productivity:after 6 months of 10-hour days and the corresponding lack of sleep, a person’s output is only 60% of what a rested individual produces in 8 hours, rested. 

Sleep is essential, and one of the most valuable things you can do for your health, your mood and your productivity, and only a small minority of the population needs just 5-6 hours of sleep. So make sure that you have at least 7.5 hours of sleep a night, every night. If you can’t make it happen on your own, a time management or productivity coach can help you find ways to re-work your day so that you can take that time. Your family, your employer and yourself will all love it. ~Karen Stewart

Do you want to learn how to truly master your day so that you can have the life you want and enjoy it?

Visit www.DailyMastery.com to download your three gifts,  The 5-Minute Time Management Solution, Daily Mastery’s 10 Top Time Management Mistakes and The Best-Kept Secret for Peak Productivity.

Karin Stewart, Ph.D., is a specialist in time, stress and energy management and work-life balance, and shows service professionals, solopreneurs and working moms how to get more done, in less time, and without the stress every day, so they can fully enjoy their lives. Working both in person and by phone, Karin’s clientele spans the country and the globe and includes individuals as well as organizations.