The ‘you snooze, you lose’ principle

Next to going to the bathroom, sleeping probably comes second as the most maligned and most ridiculed natural human activity. And the more I think about it, the more I wonder. For instance, when a bunch of friends get together for an out-of-town trip and they’re all together swapping stories in a room, having beer, and one guy slowly falls asleep and starts snoring, one guy suddenly notices him and says to the others, "Pssst…boys…look!" and he silently points at the guy sleeping. Then they all chuckle and start making fun of the sleeping dude. And everyone gets a kick out of how funny the waking guy looks in the picture.

In my first job, I had a boss who had a tendency to fall asleep in the middle of a sentence. He would come up to my cubicle and say, "Rod, meron ka bang copy ng report na ydgrr(snort)zzzzzz…" He would literally fall asleep while he was talking! One time, we were driving back to the office and he commented that he was always falling asleep because he had to wash his socks at night. "Napuyat ako kagabi kasi hinand-wash ko pa yong mga medyas ko eh. Kasi kung di mo i-hand-wash magiging marzkor(snort)zzzzz……" His head would just suddenly drop, and it would bob up and down, up and down.

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." It seems like sleep was a very sacred thing back in the olden days. They really valued it.

These days, however, it seems that sleeping or snoozing is viewed negatively. With the possible exception of Spain and other Hispanic countries, sleep is no longer considered with much reverence in many countries. Our view on sleeping has changed. We equate it with sloth and laziness. But if you think about it, sleeping is a beautiful thing. It’s about the only time, the body, mind, and spirit are tranquil and peaceful (except of course if you’re having a nightmare, which is a different story altogether).

Every day, there’s a ton of opportunities being presented to us. If you snooze – that is, if you don’t keep your eyes peeled – you just might miss out on an opportunity. And I have witnessed this a lot in business. I have two clients within the same industry. Let’s call them X and Y. Size-wise they used to be on the same level. But X has been relentless – grabbing every marketing opportunity in sight in order to increase market awareness. Y was more deliberate in analyzing opportunities and, in the process, missed out on several good marketing breaks. In the end, X – the more aggressive one – outpaced Y. And today, X is almost twice as big as Y in terms of market share.

But a corollary to that principle is this: If you go too fast, and neglect your sleep altogether, you may not have enough energy to sustain yourself when you’re working on those opportunities.

God created us to work. But he also designed us to make sure that we slow down and rest. That’s why he invented sleep. And if you really take some time to consider it, sleep is a very pleasurable thing. It’s just that somewhere along the way, we got distracted with so many things in the world – and we’ve come to view sleep as a chore.

I’m not writing this piece to lecture you to be in bed by 10 p.m. and be up by 6 a.m. Neither am I here to advise you to at least get eight hours of sleep. We’re all made up differently. Some people can get by with five hours and some people need 10. But what’s important is we value sleep. Sleep is not a sign of sloth or laziness, unless you sleep more than half of the day. Sleep is a basic need. You have to set aside time for it.

Remember, only you know if you’re not getting enough sleep. You can feel it. And if you are feeling it, be careful. Instead of winning, you might eventually find yourself on the losing end.

So if you’re body’s aching for a quick shut eye, go ahead and take that snooze.

You can’t loose.

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Thanks for your letters, folks! You may e-mail me at rodnepo@yahoo.com.