Timestamps
00:45 A story about my typical morning that took a turn
03:32 Episode summary
03:57 A story about my entrepreneurial journey
07:48 The key to sleeping well consistently
09:43 How sleep plays into the role of entrepreneurship
10:48 Health benefits of sleeping well consistently
11:35 Performance benefits of sleeping well consistently
12:15 A societal bias to optimizing health and performance
13:00 Few tips on how to get healthy, quality sleep
16:15 Get your copy of a free guide optimizing your sleep for productivity
16:51 Take action for better sleep
Podcast Description
Welcome to the Work Hard Sleep Well Podcast with Kris Nowak, where we explore the million dollar question - how can we optimize our sleep for maximum performance, productivity, and success in our busy lives as entrepreneurs and working professionals? Join me as I document my journey of discovery in real time and share practical tips and tricks from successful entrepreneurs, working professionals and sleep doctors to help you achieve the best sleep possible.
As we explore different sleeping schedules, proven tricks, and changing relationships with sleep over time, this podcast is tailored for entrepreneurs and working professionals who want to improve their sleep quality, increase productivity, and perform at their best. We understand that you have a lot on your plate, and our aim is to help you manage stress and achieve a better work-life balance.
Through interviews with successful entrepreneurs and sleep experts, we provide unique insights and perspectives on sleep and rest, with a focus on productivity and performance. You can look forward to hearing from a diverse range of guests and answering intriguing questions that you won't find elsewhere. Join us on this journey to discover the secrets to unlocking your true potential through restful sleep.
Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Work Hard Sleep Well Podcast with Kris Nowak, where we explore the million dollar question - how can we optimize our sleep for maximum performance, productivity, and success in our busy lives as entrepreneurs and working professionals? Join me as I document my journey of discovery in real time and share practical tips and tricks from successful entrepreneurs, working professionals and sleep doctors to help you achieve the best sleep possible.
Welcome to the episode seven, the relationship between sleep and entrepreneurship. I'm your host, Kris Nowak. And first of all, I wanted to thank you for listening to this podcast. I hope you're doing well. You know, I think like nowadays it's super important that we take care of our mental health. And the reason why I say it is because so typically in the morning, when I, after I wake up shortly, I, most of the days actually try to get outside.
to get some natural sun exposure. And this morning was no different, right? So I got up, went outside to grab some sun exposure, went for a little walk outside, and I just walk out of high-rise where I live. I walk out of the building and I see police, firefighters, and ambulance, and there's lots of them. I'm wondering what's going on, looking around. I didn't see any fires or anything. So as I keep on walking towards the path that I typically take,
I see that there's basically a guy and he's trying to commit suicide, like jumping out of the balcony. And thankfully, he actually didn't live very high. He only lived on the second floor. And you know, and I see like, he's throwing some like glasses out of the balcony, like some stuff going on, right? Like just having some problems, having some issues. You know, I think a lot of people nowadays struggle with anxiety, the pressure, depression, mental health problems.
Right. And it doesn't actually have to be this way. Like there are things that you can do to ensure that like you're actually staying healthy, that your mental health is in check. You know, there's therapy if you want to pursue it that way. But, you know, there's a lot of things that you could do to actually feel great and to be on top of your thoughts. Right. So I just wanted to mention that because I know a lot of people struggle with it. And I did it.
end up seeing this guy like jump out the balcony. It was kind of weird. Like he was just kind of like he lowered himself as much as he could. So on some level, like he obviously didn't just like, you know, just start running and just like jump out of the balcony. No, like he kind of like lowered himself and then he dropped himself. So he probably just like, you know, jump maybe from like just a little bit higher than the first floor would be. So thankfully he wasn't really like one of those higher units, but still, you know, it's like.
early morning, like 730 on a Saturday, you know, I'm going outside to enjoy some sun. And I'm seeing something like that. And I think it's, it's so sad, like, what a way with a horrible way to start your day, you know, I don't think there is an easy way out of existence on this plane. On some level, we are here to suffer and overcome struggle and obstacles. And it's all part of the journey.
And I don't think we should be trying to avoid that. It's all part of it, right? Just looking for a way to manage it. But okay, so let's get into what we're going to talk about in this episode, what I'm going to discuss in this episode. So the fascinating relationship between sleep and entrepreneurship and how it may change over time, depending on where you are in your journey. Okay, and by listening to this episode, you will learn why prioritizing healthy quality sleep
will give you an advantage in life and business and allow you to live a happy, healthy and productive life and achieve greater, greater level of success. Okay. So I want to share a story about me personally, about myself. Okay. So I became an entrepreneur at the age of 25 and it's been over three years ago now. And so I started from the bottom. I remember, you know, when I was first getting started, I was literally driving like a $500 car.
and it would literally break down all the time, causing me all sorts of problems and issues. One time I literally got stranded on the highway during the winter, just like a horrible experience. Horrible, but in a way also great because it helped me elevate me to where I'm at right now. Okay, so when I first started, I actually had like 40K of student loan debt accumulated. I didn't really have...
anybody in my family that could show me the way of like how to get a business going. I didn't have any like mentors at the time or all I literally had was a desire to change my life and go into business for myself. I had no formal education like I mentioned, nothing like that. Right. So it started for me part-time, you know, so on top of having like a full-time blue collar job, I was working construction at the time because I actually ended up getting fired.
for an oil field job that I actually went to university for. Like I went to college for petroleum engineering in the province where I live in Canada. And so I got fired from that job and ended up working some blue collar construction job, which was super like demanding. These construction jobs can typically be super like demanding on you physically. So, you know, at first it was literally just finding a balance between working full-time and part-time and just getting a side hustle, right?
and sleep, like how sleep plays into all of that. So at some basic level, even back then, I already understood the importance of sleep or performance. And so I stopped hanging out with friends or watching TV, or in a matter of fact, doing anything else really that wasn't productive and that wasn't moving me in the direction I wanted to go in. And I did that for about a year, like for about.
one year until we actually managed to get some initial traction in my business to the point where I was able to literally like quit my full-time job and go like all in on the e-commerce thing. That's what I did, right? And so even back then, you know, I was focusing on getting quality sleep and focusing most of my energy on getting my business up and running. And I wasn't really exercising a whole lot at the time, maybe after waking up and doing some like calisthenics, doing some push-ups and stuff.
just to get some blood circulation going. Then I would take a cold shower and just have like ton of coffee. At the time I was drinking way too much coffee, which was making me anxious and was just like too much coffee can actually be a bad thing. Too much of anything can be a bad thing, right? That's what I did back then. And I didn't really know any better. But fast forward to today, three years later, I own a successful e-commerce company that I started. And then I own another e-commerce company.
Sleeprlo. You know, I'm an entrepreneur by the actual meaning of that word. And I absolutely love what I do. Like I wouldn't change this for anything else. And so sleeprlo is all about helping entrepreneurs and working professionals sleep better through high quality sleep accessories, educational products. And so, you know, so we can help you increase your productivity and performance and live your best life.
And so I've been studying about sleep and its benefits, how it works, how it relates to performance and productivity. And, you know, even though like the learning phase, I believe it never really ends and you always learn no matter how old you are. I'm actually getting like a full understanding that sleeping well consistently at this point is a result of being disciplined enough to prioritize your sleep overall else in the big picture.
for the most part to achieve consistent quality sleep, it's a result of being disciplined enough to prioritize sleeping well consistently over all else. And I'm not saying that you can't have any more fun and you have to be super strict and none of that stuff. At the end of the day, life is meant to be lived. And every now and then, you won't be getting the perfect night of sleep in exchange of attending an event, attending a party.
some seminar, vacation, whatever it really is, right? Like you won't be sleeping perfectly like all the time because you're going to have also other events happening in your life. But you know, the way I live right now, and I live by example, I actually do what I say here that I do is, so I prioritize exercise, I prioritize quality sleep, and stress reduction techniques to maximize my health and allow me to perform on my highest level.
And so, you know, and as a side note here, I wanted to mention, and I realized to some extent, like what I accomplished to some may be considered impressive, you know, going from basically like not knowing how to run your own business to being able to generate some traction in business, having a successful e-commerce company, building a second e-commerce company to some this may be considered like amazing and impressive. Meanwhile, to others, not so much, right?
And, but you know, ultimately it's part of my story. It's a true story. And the things that I discussed, they've been proven to work for me and they help me. And so I see no reason why they wouldn't help you if you look for the answer, if you're looking for a answer to the question I'm sharing the answer to here.
And so this is what we're going to be discussing in today's episode, how sleep plays into the role of entrepreneurship.
Okay, so ever since...
Ever since I was a kid, you know, as far back as I remember, sleep was always considered to be sort of like an unproductive activity, something that we have to do instead of we get to do. And I would hear things like, you know, stop sleeping in, you're wasting the day or cliche sayings like I'll sleep after I'm dead and so on. And I'm sure that you probably heard these sort of sayings yourself.
And so what's wrong with this method of thinking about sleep? And to start with, if you believe that you sleep after you're dead, then by consistently sacrificing your sleep, whether consciously or subconsciously, it doesn't actually change anything in that term. You will likely undermine your health and you may actually get sick sooner and die sooner because if you were to prioritize your sleep, you would actually
avoid a lot of different things that we're going to discuss in this episode. And so we already know that by sleeping well consistently, you will prolong your life and increase its overall quality. And in the last 30 years, we learned more about sleep and how it works than 100 years combined before that. And so with all the research and studies that have been done on sleep at this point, we know for a fact that when you consistently sleep well,
You get all sorts of health benefits from lower risk of heart attack to lower levels of inflammation in your body to enhance function of immune system and lower risk of cancer and infection to lower levels of anxiety and depression and so on and so forth. And this is by no means a full list of the benefits that you get when you sleep well consistently. And in terms of sleep and entrepreneurship performance.
By sleeping well consistently, you will improve your focus, avoid brain fog, increase your cognitive performance, improve your memory, improve your decision-making abilities, improve your stress tolerance, improve the quality of the relationships with others, reduce the amount of errors and accidents that you make, increase your endurance, do more creative work, complete work faster.
and so on and so forth. And again, like this is by no means a full list of things that get better and better when you sleep well consistently. And so with that being said, this brings me to this. So for some very interesting reason, in our modern society, we came to believe that the two most important elements to optimizing your health are nutrition and exercise. And that these two, they deserve the front of the scene sort of, right?
And indeed, they're very important. They play a huge role, but the missing element here is actually healthy quality sleep. Nutrition plus exercise plus sleep equals the magic trio that will actually help you perform at your best and become the best version of yourself, whether in sports or business or day-to-day life. And getting quality sleep consistently
It's really good for you for all the reasons mentioned above that I mentioned, but it's by no means the easiest choice. This is something very important to understand here because it means that, you know, you're going to have to adjust your current habits and let go of things like binge watching TV and binge watching social media, getting those dopamine hits in the evening, you know, like, so now like you're aware of that and you're going to have to change your habits.
and adjust things so you can actually prioritize your sleep. You know, it means that you may have to face advance some of the events that you have with your friends. So for instance, rather than hanging out in the evening and affecting like, you know, like massively affecting like what time you go to sleep, doing that consistently. It means that like you may have to hang out with your friends a little bit earlier in the evening. So you finish earlier and then like you actually get to prioritize your sleep still, right?
It means that you may have to become more aware and take action on the impact that technology has on your sleep and its quality. But you know, with all that being said, it doesn't mean that you can't have fun anymore from this point going forward. No, not at all. But no, if you're serious about increasing your performance and prioritizing your health, you know, you will need to make some changes to your habits. And in my opinion, it's 100% worth it in the end.
Because if we're on the same page here of becoming the best version of yourself and living a life of excellence and fulfillment and performance, then as an entrepreneur, you absolutely have to prioritize your sleep. We're definitely going away from this mentality and we're starting to see a change. Like we're not quite there yet for that, but we're definitely starting to go away this mentality where...
You know, you have to work more and sacrifice your sleep to get something get done, right? No, actually when you sleep better, all the benefits that I listed in this episode, everything gets better. Like it takes you less time to accomplish something. You can focus better. Your, your memory is better. So by prioritizing your sleep and exercise and nutrition, this, this trio will really allow you to perform at your highest level as entrepreneur.
And so I personally believe that it is your duty to be pursuing becoming the best version of yourself. And I do this. I live by an example of what I teach here and what I preach. And I think that I believe that becoming a successful, healthy and strong is our mission.
And I believe that it's our duty to be pursuing becoming the best version of ourselves, you know, becoming successful, financially independent, healthy and strong. And I'm on a mission to help entrepreneurs and working professionals achieve maximum health and productivity through mastering the sleep puzzle of this equation.
Okay, so, you know, I wanted to really thank you for taking a minute to listen to this episode. I put a lot of effort into creating these episodes. You know, so if you found this episode valuable, please consider liking and subscribing. On YouTube, these episodes are available on YouTube, on most podcast streaming apps. And then also follow me on Instagram and TikTok to get more valuable content for optimizing your sleep and performance and productivity.
And also, by the way, I have a bi-weekly newsletter about sleep. And so you can join the email list and receive the free guide to optimizing your sleep for productivity. I created this PDF to help people really get started fast on how to optimize their sleep for their productivity. So if you want, go to sleeprlo.com and click on the envelope in the header or scroll all the way down to the footer and there's a free guide and click on that and it will take you to a page where you can sign up to the newsletter.
and receive valuable content to optimize your sleep, as well as the free guide.
And lastly, I would highly encourage you, as I discussed in today's episode, now you understand the importance of sleep and entrepreneurship, and I highly encourage you to start prioritizing your sleep as an entrepreneur or working professional to really tap into your highest potential. It will allow you to optimize your performance and really reap the most benefits for the work that you do because you already are working hard, so you may as well optimize
other elements of your life to give you an edge and reap the most benefits. Okay so that's it for today's episode. I will see you in the next one. Bye for now.
