Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter

by Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson

I contributed to that misconception for many years. I used to say things like “sleep is for broke people” or “I don’t like to sleep because I might miss the opportunity to turn a dream into a reality.” The basic motivation behind those messages was correct—that you have to be willing to hustle harder than your competition if you want to win. But I shouldn’t have connected hustling harder to sleeping less. In recent years, I’ve learned that some of the most successful people out there are also big sleepers. Jeff Bezos says he prioritizes sleeping eight hours every night because it makes his thinking much clearer. Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, also makes getting enough sleep a priority, saying that staying up all night might help you get more things done in the moment, but in the long term proves to be very “counterproductive” because it makes people “anxious, irritable and confused.” It’s a strategy echoed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who says, “The real secret is the most successful people have awareness of what their body needs and sleep whenever necessary.”