“Having trouble sleeping at night?” the voice on the ad asks. “Too much energy? Need some low energy? Jeb — for all your sleeping needs,” as the video turns to Jeb speaking at a town hall and successfully managing to put an audience member to sleep!
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A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on
Okay, so he is 75 years old. And he is running around promoting his new movie, Now You See Me with co-star Michael Caine. And, and he once played the role of God in the movie Bruce Almighty . Morgan is a very busy man, so if he feels the need to take a nap during an interview, then what da problem iz?
Go on Morgan, sleep if you want to.
I have to admit, I am not like every other teenager/college student who works some part-time job at a big chain supermarket or fast food restaurant. No, those are all too boring, they all lack thrill, and are so unoriginal that I’d just blend right in with the crowd. You see when I’m not here contributing to Ezkool or playing video games, I’m out promoting for a club. There’s no polite way to say it so I just will be blunt…I promote for a “Gentlemen’s” Club. While it might not pay so well, perhaps $80-$100 a week, it has provided me with some of my most interesting nights out I’ve ever had. Take Sunday night for example as it was the oddest night I’ve had.
I’ve always loved being “different”
My night started by getting the same old flyers from my promoter, Gucci (yes like the brand), at the club I promote for. I walked into as usual looking around and once again looking completely out of my element but whatever. I asked the bouncer where my promoter is and he pointed right up the stairs and up I went. I took a seat at the bar right next to him as we just decided to chat about whatever for a little.
“Hey Gucci, Babe. You want a drink? How about you Jeremy Lin?” asked the bartender. We both passed and just went talking about business; I was supposed to hit a place called The Palace tonight and with that information I was out on my way with a bag of 300 plus flyers.
I can totally see how I look like Jeremy Lin
I got to The Palace around midnight and just went about putting flyers on cars and talking to whoever I saw walking right on by; I soon found myself in the parking lot right across from The Palace. A previous night handing out flyers taught me that promoting in front of another club is a big “no-no” and this night was no different. A police officer approached me asking what I was doing, though I’m sure he had a very good idea exactly what. Thankfully the rowdy crowd outside the door of the club got his attention as he told me to just buzz off and he quickly ran back. I can happily say that every car in that lot had a flyer from me on it by the end of the night.
I continued on just putting flyers on the cars in the area until I ran into a woman outside her house smoking.
“What are you handing out child?” She asked.
“Flyers” I responded noticing she was missing some teeth. “For a club I promote for. Did I put one on your car by accident?”
“Oh no my car’s out back. Hand me one and go about your way”. I gladly complied and just went on back to my car and on my way home.
Of course to top it all off, a visit from my town’s Police Department. Keep reading!
I was about ten minutes from home when I realized I still had a nice amount of flyers left to hand out. I’d hate to bring stuff like that home especially after I’ve busted my butt tonight so I decided to go to an apartment/condo complex near my home. It was around 1 am, I had parked my car and started walking around the area putting flyers in-car windows. A woman walking her dog approached me as I was near the end of my stroll; I gave her dog a good scratch on its head and looked at her. Oh..my..gosh the look she gave me was as if I had just committed a horrible crime in front of her and smiled. On that note I quickly finished placing the last flyers and got back into my car, next thing I know I’m greeted by two police cruisers.
“Hey there! Can you just hold up turning your car on for a second?” Asked one officer as he drove up right beside me. “I just have a few questions to ask you.”
I sunk in my chair and prayed I wasn’t in some sort of trouble. He calmly asked me as to what business I had out at that time of night to which I explained to him my job, his partner went to go check out the cars to see if my story checked out.
“Yep. It’s all legit” He told his partner. “So what club are you even promoting for?”
“Hi-Beams sir.” We had a friendly conversation about the club and even the officers past experiences there. Before they sent me on my way I asked them who had called them on me.
“Oh some woman said she saw you while she was walking her dog. She thought you were checking door handles or something.” I laughed the entire way home.
It was past 2am when I finally got to lie down in my bed from an odd but eventful night. I didn’t like having the police called on me, but it was a key part to a very interesting night.
Trying to do more, be more and achieve more has always been an American trait.
If we can do more with less, we have achieved the accolade of all accolades. Many people talk of how they don’t sleep enough but “they are getting a lot done.” Startup businesses talk about sleepless nights. College students have all night study sessions.
Whatever the cost, we get it done.
That is what counts, right? Getting stuff done?
In the last five years, one research study after another is revealing a different philosophy. As Tony Schwartz, author, speaker and founder of The Energy Project says, “Sleep or Die.”
It may sound extreme but Mr. Schwartz might be making a valid point. For anyone who considers themselves to be a creative – and who isn’t a creative in some aspect in our information and digital age – a lack of sleep dramatically decreases not only one’s ability to get their best work done; they may not even live to enjoy it.
Consider some of the results of sleep deprivation from these studies, all done in the last 5 years:
What a bummer.
In his book The Way We’re Working isn’t Working, Schwartz emphasizes the importance of sleep to the point that he recently made the infamous statement noted in the opening paragraph, “Sleep or die.”
Studies show more than 95% of the population needs at least 7 hours of sleep to be at their optimal level but most people never get that much sleep. In a blog post about how sleep deprived we are, Schwarz states, “ We’ve literally lost touch with what it means to be fully awake.”
My curiosity is also alerted about what Schwarz means by being “fully awake.” I wonder how I would live differently, write differently, and think differently if I was sleeping more than 7 hours every night.
But in this activity driven, over-stimulated world can I make the choice to eliminate stuff and activities in order to sleep more and think better? After all, I’m uber-guilty of reading “just one more blog post,” writing one more chapter, creating one more piece of art, answering one more email all into the late hours of the night. To get enough sleep, the sleep Schwartz claims (and studies show) would help me write, work and live better, I would have to make significant changes in my life.
At my worst sleeping habits a few years back, I was getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I commuted four hours in addition to working up to a 12 hour day. I was also working on a side writing project. To say I was tired is an understatement. Some of you are doing exactly what I did. I know the pain of trying to make stuff happen, be a good employee and try to stay connected with family and friends. I was exhausted, but trying to pretend I was fine. It worked for about 6 months.
Looking back, the decisions I was making were not good. I was very reactive and there was no sense of vision in my life. I don’t want to return to that: either the lifestyle or the mentality.
I’m back in a place where my sleep times are irregular and inconsistent. It’s not at the extreme deficit I was in, but I know better than to think I’m immune to slipping back to my old ways.
I’m going to try an experiment for the next month. I’m going to prioritize sleep and work on getting 7 hours of sleep every night. I’m going to track my progress and my productivity during my waking hours. The goal would be to experience the feeling of “fully awake.”
How about you? How important do you think sleep is to your ability to think clearly, create brilliantly and live with more energy? What changes would you be willing to make in order to get more sleep?
I am curious to hear your thoughts on the power of sleep and its effect on creativity. Leave a comment.
Melissa is a blogger and artist, pursuing the location independent lifestyle at http://www.launchyourcreativelife.com Follow Melissa on Twitter @melissauclair.
