I have a dirty secret.

I’m writing this article on 1.5 hours of sleep.

And this is not the first time I’ve pulled off 22 hour workdays.

I launched a new business venture about three weeks ago and as always with new businesses, things didn’t go as planned. Nor did they look as good in real life as they looked on paper.

How do you fill the gap between dream and reality?

The answer is:

The Mighty 22 Hour Workday

Don’t get me wrong.

The business has generated $12,000 in the first two weeks of launching so things could be worse.

But every once in a while I put everything aside and go all in.

I’ve been in the midst of one of these “beast mode” productivity streaks for almost two months now. I usually work 20-22 hours several days a week. Getting 8 or 9 hours of sleep feels unreal at this point. And getting 4, 5 or 6 hours of sleep is a luxury.

It’s crazy how everything is relative.

If you’re used to sleeping 8 hours a day, a 5 hour night knocks you out.

But if you’re used to sleeping 2-3 hours a day, a 5 hour night is the equivalent to “sleeping in”.

Anyway, I’m not here to tell you this is good or desirable. This is extreme. It’s ruthless. And I’m not going to tell you to copy what I’m doing. We all know that sleep is important and anyone who tells you otherwise is a complete lunatic.

So don’t try this at home kids.

However, the strategic use of 20-22 hour workdays is a great tool to have in your toolbox.

And since I’ve become kind of a “pro” at 20-22 hour workdays, I’ve discovered some secrets worth sharing with the world. This blog post is for the night owls. The hustlers. It’s for those of you who are working like there’s no tomorrow.

Here are five secrets to work 22 hours a day and still feel human.

1) Getting up at the same time every morning matters more than how many hours you sleep

No exception.

In order to pull off 22 hour workdays, you need to adhere to a very strict schedule.

If you get up at the exact same time every morning regardless of how many hours you’ve slept, you can “trick” your body into believing things are normal and well.

I get up at 7.30am.

Even if I go to bed at 4am or at 6am after a night of work, I still get up at 7.30am every single day.

This consistent schedule is the first secret.

If I’d go to bed at 6am and sleep until noon, my day and all following days would be a complete mess.

I would actually feel worse although I slept six hours.

2) You have to go to bed and sleep even if it’s just for one hour

You might think:

If you’ve worked until 6am, wouldn’t it be better to just pull an all-nighter?

No.

In order to “trick” your body into believing that you’re rested you need to lie down and sleep for at least one hour. This, combined with a consistent wakeup routine, will make your body believe that you got the rest you need.

If you’d pull an all-nighter, the tiredness would catch up with you and exhaustion would kick you in the face sooner or later.

There’s something magic about getting undressed, slipping under your bed sheets and sleeping for a moment.

When you wake up, it feels like the “next morning”.

In reality it’s 1.5 hours later.

But your mind and body thinks it’s a new day just like all the other times you woke up in the morning.

It’s a weird trick but works very well.

3) You have to take a cold shower first thing in the morning

I won’t lie to you.

When you get up after sleeping 1.5 hours you will hate yourself and life.

But there’s a brutal trick that solves that.

Cold showers.

Unless you take a cold shower, you will feel tired and exhausted all day. You can drink 3 or 10 coffees, it won’t make a difference. You could of course take some other stimulant or something like amphetamine, but that would be cheating.

Real hustlers don’t need that.

Plus taking a cold shower in the morning will wake you up more than anything else you can think of.

I literally feel like an exhausted wreck from the time I wake up until I’m standing in the shower. Once that ice cold water hits my my skin, every exhausted cell in my body wakes up and screams. It feels like I’m going to die or faint. But after about 30 seconds, all my brain fog has vanished for mental clarity and most of the exhaustion seems to have magically disappeared.

Don’t get me wrong.

I can still tell that I didn’t sleep as much as I should have.

But taking a cold shower makes a 1.5 hour night feel like a 6 hour night.

I’ve found that cold showers give me the energy equivalent to about four hours of sleep. Of course, in reality that’s not the case. Once again, I tricked my body into believing I should be awake.

I’m a mean sucker.

Sorry body.

4) Periodically replenish your sleep to prevent sudden death and other complications

Did I mention yet that this isn’t sustainable?

Your brain and body need sufficient sleep in order to function properly.

In order to stay productive and not wreck your health, you have to periodically sleep 7-9 hours.

This will replenish your sleep.

Don’t try to stay on a 1-3 hour sleep routine for more than a few days per week.

Use these extreme 20-22 hour workdays strategically in your life and business when you need them. And when things are a bit more calm, give yourself the gift of a full night’s sleep. You won’t believe how amazing you’ll feel when your body is actually rested and awake rather than you “tricking” it into believe all this.

What’s your thoughts on sleep?

How many hours do you need to feel rested?

What’s the most you’ve pushed yourself in the past?

Let me know in the comments 🙂