Successful People Who Get By On Barely Any Sleep
Getty Images, Kevork Djansezian
But you can change how you use them. Some of the most successful people in the world not only work extremely hard in the hours they have, they create more of them by forgoing sleep.
Some people are genetically wired to wake up earlier or sleep less. Others seem to thrive on less sleep only through sheer determination. For executives like PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi and Twitter's Jack Dorsey, sleep is often sacrificed in order to excel at work and still manage to have a personal life.
To be sure, sleep deprivation — defined as getting very little sleep in one night or consistently getting less than seven to eight hours over time — comes with consequences. Fatigue can hurt performance just as much as or even more than alcohol impairment when taken to extremes. So while waking up earlier can be beneficial, be cautious about following these examples and burning the candle at both ends.
Carolyn Cutrone contributed to an earlier version of this piece.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter founder and Square CEO
Owen Thomas, Business Insider
Being at the head of two exciting tech startups doesn't leave too much time for rest. In 2011, Dorsey told Kara Swisher that he was spending eight to 10 hours a day at Square, and eight to 10 hours a day at Twitter.
That left him somewhere around four to six hours a night to sleep, possibly less when travel time is factored in. He still manages to get up at 5:30 every morning to take a jog.
Sergio Marchionne, Fiat CEO
After his turnaround of Fiat and part in the resurrection of Chrysler, Marchionne is one of the most renowned executives in the automotive world.
He's kept a punishing schedule throughout. According to Alex Taylor at Fortune, Marchionne works on four hours of sleep a night, fueled by coffee and cigarettes.
Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO
Mayer gained a reputation for working extremely hard at Google, working as many as 130 hours some weeks, leaving little time for sleep.
The Guardian reports that she needs only four to six hours a night. She recharges by taking weeklong vacations every four months.
Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
One of the world's most prominent female executives since getting Pepsi's top job in 2007, Nooyi sleeps a meager four hours a night, according to CNN Money.
She's no stranger to long hours, having worked the graveyard shift as a receptionist while getting her Master's at Yale.
Dominic Orr, president and CEO of Aruba Networks
According to The Wall Street Journal, Orr sleeps an average of only four hours. He makes a habit of rising before dawn and usually works into the evening.
Fortune Magazine reports that this is actually an improvement. He sometimes put in 18-hour days while an executive at HP during the 1990s, and would continue making phone calls and answering emails during his few hours at home.
Helena Morrissey, CEO of Newton Investment Management
Morrissey told The Guardian that she gets up "at 5 in the morning, sometimes earlier," and immediately starts sending emails until her kids get up. She has family dinner scheduled at 7:30 p.m. but works again after that, sometimes for as much as two hours, prepping for the next morning's meetings.
She gets five to six hours of sleep each night and admits to feeling a bit sleep deprived. But that's the job, especially when you've got nine children in addition to running a global investment company.
Steve Reinemund, former PepsiCo CEO
AP Images
Reinemund has made a habit of waking up at 5 a.m. and taking a four-mile run. He sleeps only five or six hours a night, according to CNN Money.
Reinemund told CNN that he goes to bed around 11 p.m. and does not use an alarm to wake up. Today, he is the Dean of Business at Wake Forest University.
Tom Ford, fashion designer and director
After dropping out of NYU to pursue a career in fashion design, Ford quickly landed a position as design director at Gucci. Under his leadership, Gucci's value increased by 90%.
He does not attribute this success to talent, but says it's due to his energy. It must be pretty intense, considering that Ford sleeps only three hours a night.
Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL
Armstrong wakes up around 5 a.m., is out of the house and working from his car by 7 a.m., and works until 7 p.m. He used to start sending emails immediately after waking up, but now restrains himself until 7 a.m.
He says he tries to get six hours of sleep a night, but often ends up operating on less. "It isn't ideal," he told The Guardian.
Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines
Southwest
Inc. reports that during his time at the helm of Southwest, Kelleher slept only four hours a night.
That hard work paid off. Although Kelleher is now retired, Southwest remains one of the few continuously-profitable airlines.
Julie Smolyansky, CEO of Lifeway Foods
Courtesy of Lifeway
Smolyansky took over the dairy company her father had started in 2002 at the young age of 27.
It took a great deal of work for her to do so. She told Fortune that she managed it by sleeping as little as four hours many nights.
Martha Stewart, chair of Martha Stewart Omnimedia
Stewart's company produces four magazines, Martha Stewart Living, Everyday Food, Weddings, and Whole Living. She also has a TV show, radio show, and product lines in stores like Staples and Michaels.
Stewart keeps an impressive schedule while running her business, and according to CNN Money, she sleeps less than four hours a night.
Stanley McChrystal, former U.S. general
You would think that the former General of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan would have needed an immense amount of energy to perform his job.
Most people get theirs from a few meals a day and a good night's sleep. Not McChrystal. According to Time, he eats just one meal per day and sleeps only four hours a night.
Barack Obama, President of the United States
AP
Michael Lewis' profile in Vanity Fair revealed the president's usual schedule: He goes to bed at about 1:00 a.m and is up at 7:00 a.m., meaning he sleeps just six hours a night.
Obama sometimes gets less sleep than that. Aides in the White House must constantly decide what type of crisis is important enough to wake the president during his few hours of shut-eye.
Jay Leno, host of "The Tonight Show"
In addition to hosting "The Tonight Show," Leno still manages to tour on the comedy circuit, averaging over 150 gigs a year.
Perhaps mimicking some of the people who stay up to watch his 11:35 p.m. show, Leno only sleeps about five hours a night.
Bill Clinton, former U.S. president
Wikimedia
Though he's changed his sleep habits after his heart surgery, Clinton was renowned for sleeping only five or six hours a night throughout his presidency.
It's apparently a habit he developed quite early. According to The New York Times, a professor at Georgetown told him great men require less sleep.
Ma Ying-Jeou, President of Taiwan
Last year, Ma Ying-Jeou was elected to his second term as Taiwan's President.
The New York Times ascribes his success to an intense discipline and work ethic: He sleeps five hours a night and routinely rises at dawn to jog.
Donald Trump, chairman of The Trump Organization
BarackObamadotcom via YouTube
According to The Daily News, Trump credits his success to sleeping only three to four hours each night to stay a step ahead of his competition.
He does not seem to understand how sleep and success can co-exist according to his quote in The Daily News: "How does somebody that's sleeping 12 and 14 hours a day compete with someone that's sleeping three or four?"
BONUS: Historical figures
Thomas Edison: The famous inventor only required about three to four hours of shut eye each night, according to The New York Times. He regarded sleep as "a heritage from our cave days."
Benjamin Franklin: In his autobiography, Franklin published his typical daily schedule. He appears to have slept only five hours a night, from 11:00 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Nikola Tesla: An even more restless inventor than Franklin or Edison, a biography of Tesla by a personal friend claims that he would sleep as little as two hours a night.
Margaret Thatcher: Britain's longest-serving Prime Minister was famous for getting by on just four hours of sleep each night while in office, according to the BBC.
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