How To Fix Your Sleep and Sleep Like A Baby Every Night

Imagine waking up on cloud nine.

Your mind is razor-sharp.

You effortlessly slip into flow.

Your mood is stable and positive.

Your energy levels are through the roof (you haven’t even had your morning coffee).

Now, imagine the opposite:

The alarm shocks you awake.

You feel groggy and drag yourself out of bed.

You rub your eyes aggressively to open them.

You NEED that cup of coffee (maybe 3) to function.

And nothing on the screen makes sense as you’re sitting at your desk.

There’s only one thing that separates you from experiencing scenario 1 or 2:

How you sleep.

Grind First, Hustle Second… Sleep When?

“I slept 6 hours last night”, my coach said.

He said it like something he was proud of.

“Oh, nice! I slept like 4.”

I looked at my peer in shock.

He had a big smile on his face.

Listening to the two of them was like watching a competition for who could sleep the least.

This was back in 2022.

I was waking up for 6 am kickboxing training.

In addition, it was my final year of university, and I was building my first business — an SMMA.

I was also part of the kickboxing committee as vice-chairperson.

So, to put it lightly, I had a lot going on.

But when I told them I slept close to 8 hours, the looks on my coach’s and peer’s faces said otherwise.

But this wasn’t always the case.

For years, like my coach and peer, I wore sleep deprivation like a badge of honour.

Getting into entrepreneurship only compounded this.

“I'll sleep when I'm dead.”

“More work, less sleep. That's the grind.”

“Sleep is for the weak.”

I prided myself on surviving on disgusting amounts of little sleep.

Even though it backfired on me — and badly:

• My focus tanked.

• My acne flared up.

• Loud noises overwhelmed me.

• I was irritable and easily agitated.

• I abused caffeine, leading to frequent midday crashes and headaches.

• My appetite was all over the place, and that messed with my health goals.

• Worst of all? I was so exhausted that I once dozed off during an online tutorial (luckily, my camera was off).

I thought prioritising work over sleep made me more productive.

Instead, it made me a sluggish and distracted mess.

Most entrepreneurs, creators, and high performers make the same mistake:

They treat sleep as an afterthought. A luxury. A “nice-to-have.”

It wasn’t until I picked up Matthew Walker’s book, Why We Sleep, that everything changed for me.

I learned that sleep isn’t time away from productivity.

Instead, it’s the ultimate productivity multiplier.

It’s the ultimate performance multiplier, as Walker states:

Once I realised how valuable sleep is for my performance, health, and productivity, I stopped regarding it as an afterthought or a luxury.

I prioritised it as a non-negotiable.

I saw sleep as more than a biological necessity.

I saw it as the ultimate performance hack, tactic and tool.

The Hidden Link Between Sleep, Performance and The Flow State

You already know sleep is important.

What you might not realise is that it’s the biggest driver of the flow state and high performance.

Flow is that optimal state of consciousness where time slows down, distractions disappear, and you perform at your absolute best.

It’s where you do your most creative, focused, and high-leverage work.

And guess what? Your flow state gets created while you sleep.

Sleep and flow work like a seesaw:

• Flow is an optimal state of performance.

• Sleep is an optimal state of recovery that makes peak performance possible.

While you sleep, your brain isn’t resting. It’s:

• Repairing and rebuilding neurons for better cognition

• Enhancing focus, creativity & problem-solving

• Strengthening memory & learning capacity

• Regulating emotions & stress resilience

• Priming you for deep flow states

• Recharging energy levels

Sleep is rest for the body and exercise for the brain.

Without successful sleep, you hit what I call the Performance Ceiling—a hidden limit on your performance.

When you neglect your sleep, you won’t notice it right away, but it trickles into your day in different waves:

1. First-order effects: Difficulty waking up, grogginess, and snoozing your alarm.

2. Second-order effects: Skipping your morning routine, slow thinking and scrolling your phone instead of deep work.

3. Third-order effects: Midday crashes, forgetfulness, getting distracted, doing shallow work, irritability and emotional reactivity.

(Have you experienced any of these?)

Until you master your sleep, you won’t break past your performance ceiling where you tap into mental clarity, deeper focus and peak creativity on demand.

Luckily, sleep is something you can master.

The 80/20 of High-Performance Sleep

When I started working to improve my sleep, I thought, "I just need to sleep more."

This was completely wrong.

What I needed to do to approach sleep right was focus on the 80/20 of sleep.

What are the 20% of actions and habits that would give me the best returns on my sleep?

This meant focusing on Quality > Quantity.

Good quality sleep isn’t just about getting 8-9 hours.

It’s about optimising deep sleep and REM sleep.

• Deep sleep (1-2 hrs): Repairs body & brain, strengthens memory, enhances motor skills.

• REM sleep (2-3 hrs): Boosts creativity, emotional regulation & focus (most important for flow state!).

Here’s How To Master High-Performance Sleep:

Step 0: Treat Sleep Like a Skill

Great sleep is trainable.

You learned how to drive, how to use no-code tools and how to swim; you can learn how to sleep better and optimise your sleep systems.

Step 1: Identify As a Professional Sleeper

This may sound silly, but making habits last long-term requires a shift at the identity level.

Until you see yourself as someone who values and prioritises sleep, it’s going to be hard to consistently prioritise it.

Step 2: Set a Non-Negotiable Sleep Schedule

Set a bedtime alarm and train yourself to sleep at the same time every night.

Set a wake-up alarm and force yourself up at the same time daily (even on weekends).

The reason you do this is to regulate your body clock.

Too much variation leads to your body being confused and never getting into a routine of when it’s time to sleep and wake.

Step 3: Go to Bed Deaf, Cold, Hungry & Blind (From Rian Doris)

This formula will optimise your sleep quality:

• Deaf: No noise. Use earplugs or a white noise machine.

• Cold: Set room temp to 18–20°C (64–68°F ) for deeper sleep.

• Hungry: Stop eating and drinking 2-3 hours before bed to prevent stimulating your digestive system or waking up to use the bathroom.

• Blind: Blackout curtains, no blue light, or a sleep mask to block light exposure.

Step 4: Optimise Light Exposure

Morning: Get 10-15 mins of sunlight within 30 minutes of waking up.

Evening: Reduce blue light exposure 2 hours before bed (use Night Mode on screens).

Step 5: Control Caffeine & Alcohol

Cut caffeine 8-10 hours before bed (caffeine has a half-life of ~5-6 hours).

Limit alcohol (especially before bed). Alcohol has been shown to disrupt our deep sleep and REM cycles. The two cycles that lead to better flow and high performance during the day.

Bonus Step: Track & Optimise

Use an Oura Ring, a Whoop band or a sleep tracking app to track sleep metrics.

Aim for:

• 1-2 hours of deep sleep

• 2-3 hours of REM sleep

Over time, dial in what works for your body and lifestyle.

Becoming Unstoppable with High-Performance Sleep

You don’t need another productivity hack.

You don’t need more caffeine.

You need better sleep.

When you prioritise sleep, everything improves: your focus, creativity, energy, mood, and decision-making.

Start optimising your sleep today and watch how your performance skyrockets.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed it. / I hope it helped.

See you in the next one.

— Shana

p.s.

If you’re ready to unlock high performance in all areas of your life, click here.