The Incredible Importance of Sleep for Habits & Motivation

By Leo Babauta

For a long time, I underestimated the importance of sleep.

Sure, I know that sleep is important for health and happiness and all of that … but it wasn’t until I learned two things that sleep took on a new importance for me:

If you don’t get enough sleep, you will fail at changing habits; and
If you have a lack of sleep, your motivation will drop tremendously.

For years I focused on waking early so that I’d be more productive and be able to focus on my morning habits. But those two things were harmed by a lack of sleep.

I could cite a bunch of studies and numbers, but here’s the honest truth: based on my own self-experiments, and working with thousands of people on habits, sleep is one of the most important but least valued factors when it comes to creating habits.

And in my own life, I’ve noticed that when sleep levels drop, my productivity drops. My motivation to work on hard projects drops.

Here’s what happens:

I stay up late but still try to get up early, and so I’m in a bit of a sleep deficit.
Unfortunately, I stay up late the next night, but still get up early the following morning, and the sleep deficit grows.
This continues until I’m really tired and just not motivated to do anything.
This lack of motivation drops my discipline levels, so that my healthy habits get forgotten. All I care about is how crappy I feel, and how to comfort my bad feelings.
Whatever project and/or habits I’ve...

Source: Zen Habits - February 10, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Goals & Motivation Habits Source Type: blogs