What we trade for time
~ the quiet math, of limits and energy
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We pretend we can stretch a week, squeeze a day, and outrun the clock.
Not everyone, I’m sure, but I sure do. A lot. Often …
But every ambition in the world still needs a rested brain to steer it.
Everyone already knows sleep matters. This may feel like common sense stretched thin without offering anything new or actionable.
I need less reflection, more strategy, more NO and less YES.
After last night’s drive home, a time for reflection …
It was a blur of a day, attending an afternoon memorial service, followed by a reception, and then an Outlook 2026 presentation in a crowded room of strangers. By the time I reached a pillow, my mind was still working at the pace of my much younger self, while my body filed a formal complaint.
How much is too much, and of what?
We care about so many things. People, projects, deadlines, ideas, causes. If we had eight-day weeks, we would fill them. If we slept four hours a night, many of us would still chase sixteen directions at once.
But here’s the truth I keep tripping over: even ambition needs sleep. Even purpose has limits. Even the best-intended yes becomes a burden when there are too many of them.
Lately, I’ve been sneaking in some longer mornings in bed …
More sleep, more clarity.
And every time I do, the day feels less like a race and more like a choice.
Then there’s the other side of the ledger.
A five evenings out in a seven-day week - yikes, it’s that kind of ‘what was I thinking?’ time …
Conversations, commitments, catch-ups, obligations. All worthwhile. All energizing. Altogether, exhausting.
Some weeks feel like a scheduling kaleidoscope. To keep turning it, hoping the pieces settle into a pattern that makes better sense.
Instead, everything shifts again.
Yesterday’s mix of observing a family’s grief, reflection, and laughter; an evening of hearing commentary on the market and projections …
And small talk with strangers, too, was its own reminder: life fills any available space. And if we don’t guard that space, it steals from our sleep first.
The problem isn’t caring about too much.
It’s believing we can do it all on borrowed rest.
Good judgement is rarely born from exhaustion, but often from the sleep we finally honour.
