Sleep is the greatest legal performance enhancing drug

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Hey friends 👋 ,

Happy Monday and welcome to the seventeenth issue of Through the Noise!

"Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker is the most compelling book on sleep I have ever read.

Sleep affects us all. This is why you should care to live a happy and productive life.

Read time: 3 minutes

The Shorter Your Sleep, The Shorter Your Life Span

A Primer: The Productivity Paradox

The paradox of productivity fascinates me. "If I work for longer I'll get more done right?"

Let's overclock with caffeine and sugar.

Wrong...

In 1931, British economist John Maynard Keynes published a short essay titled "Economic possibilities for our grandchildren". Keynes predicted by 2030 people would work no more than 15 hours per week. 91 years later things couldn't be more different.

People are working fewer hours than they did in 1990. But the 9-5 benchmark remains intact. The trend? Productive people are paid better and consequently spending less time at the office.

Greece: 2,000hrs / year

Germany: 1,400hrs / year

Yet German productivity is 70% higher than Greece. Why is this important?

Get more done by doing less. A fixed hour work routine means you find unproductive ways to fill it.

The solution?

Work like a lion. Sprint. Rest. Reassess. Build a marathon of sprints.

Successful people are amazing at only focusing on what needs to be done. They measure what matters. Data that records their value in units other than hours. It's not a question of working hard. It's about finding the best pace for each individual.

The Solution: Sleep

Those who study top-performers only focus on the obvious:

How to make the training more effective.

Training = Stimulus

They skip the golden nugget– the recovery.

Recovery = Growth

Rest is equally important as the work itself. Your body strengthens whilst recovering. The discovery– deliberate rest.

In an interview with Joe Rogan, Matthew Walker said:

Deliberate work and deliberate rest are the two halves of a creative life. Each is necessary. Together they are ferocious.

Regardless of occupation, combining deliberate work and deliberate rest is critical to live a fulfilled and productive life.

Through the Noise Podcast

Since last week, we had the one and only Bilal Zaidi on the show.

Bilal is the Founder and CEO of Creator Lab, a podcast and digital marketing consultancy. Each week Bilal interviews some of the best creators and business minds on this earth including the likes of GaryVee, Anthony Pompliano and Scott Harrison, the founder of Charity: Water.

Bilal is also 1/3 of the Not Investment Advice Podcast with co-hosts Jack Butcher and Trung Phan.

That’s all for today friends!

As always feel free to reply to this email or reach out @thealexbanks as I’d love to hear your feedback.

Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you next Monday.

Alex