Get to Sleep For some business owners, sleep is a privilege. Can your business wait 'til morning?

Has your bedroom become just an extended version of your office,where you do all the work you couldn't fit in during the day?If you're like many entrepreneurs, you've relegated sleepto the bottom of your priority list, preferring instead to burn themidnight oil on your way to success.

History is full of people like you. Inventor Thomas Edisonreportedly slept just three to four hours a night (though he tookdaytime naps); uber-entrepreneur Martha Stewart gets by on four orfive hours; and Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO of online careercenter Monster.com, sleeps anywhere from two to seven hours a night("Anything less than two hours and I don't bother,"he says).

Is forgoing sleep in favor of business-related pursuits thesecret to success? Not according to James B. Maas, CornellUniversity psychology professor and co-author of Power Sleep(HarperCollins). "There is a way to condition yourself to getless sleep, but not to need less sleep," he contends."[You're simply] becoming habituated to a low level ofalertness." Get enough sleep, says Maas-who contends adultsneed at least 8 hours a night-and you could get your 19 hours ofwork done in 12 hours.

Entrepreneurs with unusual hours have an even bigger challenge.Ernest Oriente, 38, is a business coach in Park City, Utah. Heroutinely goes to sleep at 9:30 p.m., gets up at 3:30 a.m. to talkto his international clients by phone, calls it a day around 10a.m., then takes a 30- to 90-minute nap to rejuvenate. SaysOriente, "I've been on this cycle for 10 years, and I feelgreat."

Worried you can't be successful and still get eight hours ofshut-eye? Look to Albert Einstein for inspiration: He slept 10hours a night.

Contact Sources

• James B. Maas
  jbml@cornell.edu, www.powersleep.org
• Ernest Oriente
  (435) 615-8486, Ernest@powerhour.com