Rule #9 Prioritize Sleep to Fuel Professional Growth

I've been a bit sleep deprived this week, joining nearly one-third of American adults who are sleeping?less than six hours ?each night.

Between travel for work and trying to finish the first draft of my next book, I just know that not getting enough sleep is impacting my performance.

I know that sleep is what my body needs to consolidate and store memories, helping me remember a lot more of the research I've gathered to put this book together. Sleep helps me process emotional experiences and makes it much less likely that I'll get in an argument with my husband or my kids. And sleep replenishes my glucose (the fuel my brain uses to function) and cleans out the beta-amyloid (a protein in the brain associated with impaired brain function and Alzheimer’s disease that builds up when you don't get enough sleep).

Boy, knowing all that, I should really go get some sleep!

This week, I had an amazing conversation with Lexi Bohonnon, executive vice president at Yext, who has learned to not only prioritize her own sleep, but ran an experiment at work on whether training and tracking the sleep of her team would improve their sales and performance.

Lexi is ahead of her time. A 2016 survey by McKinsey showed that 70 percent of leaders said that sleep management should be taught in their organizations, just like time management and communication skills are now. But I just haven't seen those sleep trainings taking shape.

I'd love to hear what your organization has done to promote sleep!

And I'd love to talk about what steps you take to make sure your Sleep Hygiene (the habits you try to practice to help promote good sleep) is serving you. I'll put my Sleep Hygiene tips in the comments below! Please share yours as well!?

--Diana