Most Leaders Sacrifice This One Thing — I Did Too, Until I Realized It Was Destroying My Focus, Energy and Ability To Lead

If you’d met me in the early days of building my company and asked how much sleep I got the night before — because for some reason, that’s what strangers ask entrepreneurs — I’d say, “Not enough, but I’ll catch up.”

I was still five years (and one hard crash into chronic fatigue) away from understanding a basic truth: effective leaders sleep well. And no, a Saturday morning lie-in and an oversized coffee won’t fix a week of sleep debt.

Since then, BetterMe has grown into a global wellness company with 500 team members. That kind of scale demands clarity, stamina and emotional consistency. None of that is possible when you’re constantly running on empty.

What actually sustains high-performing teams isn’t adrenaline or hustle — it’s the boring, unsexy stuff: consistent sleep, daily recovery and grounding routines.

Related: I Risked Everything to Build My Company. Four Years Later, Here’s What I’ve Learned About Building Real, Lasting Success

Why sleep deprivation made me a worse leader

In hustle culture, sleep is often sacrificed for success. It’s glamorized. Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi famously claimed to thrive on four hours of sleep. People like her are called “the sleepless elite.” Elite — of course, I wanted in. But here’s the thing: I’m not one of them. And odds are, neither are you.

Only about 1% of people have the rare genetic mutation that allows them to function well on little sleep. The rest of us? We end up in a very different club: the one-third of adults who are chronically sleep-deprived.

And the price is steep. In the U.S. alone, sleep loss costs the economy $207 billion a year due to mistakes, poor productivity and absenteeism.

But I didn’t change my habits because of the global economy. I changed because I started failing at the one thing I cared most about — leading effectively.

Lack of sleep impacts the brain like alcohol. I don’t drink, but for years, I was essentially operating under the same fog — trying to run a company while mentally compromised.

I’d lose focus halfway through tasks. I’d zone out in meetings. My critical thinking slowed. Worse, my energy impacted the team. I was short-tempered and unpredictable. People didn’t know which version of me would show up — and eventually, they stopped speaking up.

As a leader, you set the tone. And I was setting the wrong one.

Sleep is not just a health habit — it’s a business strategy

I used to think building a company meant giving it everything — including my sleep. But most of that effort was wasted on low-impact decisions and redoing work that could’ve been done right the first time.

When I started prioritizing sleep and building wellness into my daily routine, my performance changed dramatically.

Athletes have known this for decades. A Stanford study found that basketball players who increased their sleep improved sprint speed, shot accuracy and mood. The same logic applies in business.

I now follow a simple 8-1-1 rule:

• 8 hours of sleep
• 1 hour of movement
• 1 hour of mental recovery

The results speak for themselves:

• More sustained focus and deep work
• Sharper, faster decision-making
• More creativity and clearer communication
• Better mood and fewer sick days

Most importantly, I’m more present — for the business and for my team.

Related: Regaining Control of Your Sleep Life…From a (Recovering) Insomniac Entrepreneur

What actually helps me sleep — even when life gets chaotic

Healthy habits don’t come from hacks. They’re built slowly with deliberate effort. Here’s what works for me:

• Early bedtime: I’m in bed before 10 pm and aim for seven to eight hours of sleep. Real energy starts the night before.
• Daily exercise: Movement helps burn off excess energy and improve sleep depth — as long as it’s not too close to bedtime.
• Wind-down routine: I combine a workout, meditation, chanting mantras and 10–15 minutes of breathing to transition out of “go mode.”
• Mental decluttering: A quick brain dump before bed clears my head and stops midnight overthinking.
• Travel consistency: I stay on schedule, bring a massage ball to reduce tension and avoid late-night events unless absolutely necessary.
• Sleep on demand: On flights, I skip movies, books and meals. Instead, I meditate and fall asleep before the meal service even starts — so I land clear-headed and ready.

Culture starts at the top — so does sleep

You can invest in top talent, cutting-edge tools and smart strategy. But you can’t buy clarity, energy or resilience — you have to build those through culture. And culture always starts with leadership.

If you glorify late nights, your team will mirror it. If you normalize rest and recovery, they’ll follow that example too.

Ask me today how I slept last night, and I’ll proudly say: “Eight hours — and it’s the reason we’ll still be here ten years from now.”

If you’d met me in the early days of building my company and asked how much sleep I got the night before — because for some reason, that’s what strangers ask entrepreneurs — I’d say, “Not enough, but I’ll catch up.”

I was still five years (and one hard crash into chronic fatigue) away from understanding a basic truth: effective leaders sleep well. And no, a Saturday morning lie-in and an oversized coffee won’t fix a week of sleep debt.

Since then, BetterMe has grown into a global wellness company with 500 team members. That kind of scale demands clarity, stamina and emotional consistency. None of that is possible when you’re constantly running on empty.