Protecting the Asset
Your most valuable asset is yourself — prioritize sleep, health, and recovery to sustain peak contribution
Protecting the Asset is the Essentialist principle that the best investment you can make is in yourself — your mind, body, and spirit. If you underinvest in yourself, you damage the very tool you need to make your highest contribution. The most common way ambitious people damage this asset is through lack of sleep. Research shows that top violinists sleep an average of 8.6 hours per day and nap 2.8 hours per week — sleep is not the enemy of productivity but a driver of peak performance. The Essentialist sees sleep as necessary for operating at high levels of contribution, while the Nonessentialist sees it as a luxury, a sign of weakness, or a waste of time.
- The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves
- Sleep is not a luxury or sign of laziness — it is a priority that enables highest-level mental contribution
- One hour more of sleep equals several more hours of much higher productivity
- We need to be as strategic with ourselves as we are with our careers and businesses
- The real challenge for overachievers is not working hard — it is saying no to an opportunity so you can rest
- Shatter the sleep stigmaChallenge the false belief that sleeping less means achieving more. Review the research: top performers sleep more, not less. Bill Clinton attributed every major mistake of his career to sleep deprivation. K. Anders Ericsson's study found the best violinists slept 8.6 hours daily.Pro tipEven a single REM cycle nap enhances the integration of unassociated information, boosting creativity.WarningMost people who claim they don't need much sleep are simply so accustomed to being tired that they've forgotten what being fully rested feels like.
- Build sleep into your schedule deliberatelyTreat sleep as a non-negotiable appointment with yourself. Systematically and deliberately schedule adequate rest rather than treating it as whatever time is left over after work.
- Pace yourself strategicallyNurture yourself and give yourself fuel to explore, thrive, and perform. Choose to do one fewer thing right now in order to do more tomorrow. This is a trade-off that cumulatively yields enormous rewards.Pro tipIf you think you're too tough to need rest, try this challenge: say no to an opportunity so you can take a nap.WarningWithout deliberate pacing, type A personalities will push until their health fails — and the recovery takes far longer than prevention would have.
- Invest in the full asset — mind, body, and spiritBeyond sleep, protect your whole self. Change your diet, exercise, create space for play and reflection. Design a life that supports regeneration alongside contribution.
A 36-year-old CEO of a global organization traveled constantly, sleeping 4-6 hours per night. His organs began shutting down: erratic heart rate, inability to digest food, blackouts from low blood pressure. He kept pushing, canceling meetings at the last minute and bombing speeches because his brain was cloudy.
K. Anders Ericsson's famous study (popularized as the '10,000-Hour Rule') found that the best violinists practiced more than good violinists. But a less-known finding was equally important: the best violinists also slept an average of 8.6 hours daily and napped 2.8 hours per week.
McKeown tells the story of Geoff, a textbook overachiever who was CEO of a global microcredit organization, on the board of Kiva, and named Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year — all by age 36. He traveled 60-70% of the time, sleeping only 4-6 hours a night. Eventually his organs began shutting down one by one. His doctor gave him two choices: medications for life or disengage from everything for a year or two to recover. After a two-month sabbatical where he crashed completely, sleeping 14 hours per night, he resigned from all his positions. His hard-won lesson, shared at a World Economic Forum event: 'Protect the asset.'