One Less Hour of Sleep Each Night Can Make You Richer

It is well known that highly successful people are able to function well on little sleep. It doesn’t matter which profession you are in—the more time you dedicate to your profession, the more likely you will be successful.  One of the principles of becoming a rich doctor is to hustle. If you wake up one hour earlier than everyone else, you will have more time to hustle.

I once knew a surgeon who woke up at 4am every morning to go swimming. He would arrive at the hospital at 6pm and review his patient charts before going into surgery at 7:30am. He did not allow his waist grow with the size of his wallet, and stayed active and healthy. His patients loved him and he took good care of them.  He also retired at age 59 with a healthy chunk of change without ever focusing on hyper-saving his income.

But wait, this guy probably netted over $300,000 a year his entire career! He could have retired 10 years earlier and still be in financial independence! If finance were that easy, why do 41% of all doctors still have less than $500,000 in retirement savings?

DISCIPLINE

The surgeon mentioned above did not have great investment acumen. In fact, he was guilty of the typical situations that chew up one’s net worth: (1) investing in gold and rare metals, (2) divorce, (3) investing in land that could never be converted to any appreciable asset, and (4) investing in properties sold by infomercial pitches.

Despite those shortcomings, he had discipline and he hustled in his career. The 4am mornings allowed him to exercise and prepare for his patients. In return, he remained healthy and was able to maintain his job throughout his career. He also did not have a lavish lifestyle but drove a 20 year-old truck.

What Can You Do With An Extra Hour?

What you choose to do with an extra hour of your day depends on what your immediate and long term goals are. Do you wish to build up endurance for your physically demanding job? Perhaps you can dedicate this time for exercise and improving your health. An hour a day of exercise for an entire year will definitely result in better health.

Perhaps you need to bulk up your financial knowledge or medical knowledge. Maybe you wish to embark on a side business or simply need additional time to clean your house. Make a list of mini-goals that you can hope to accomplish if you are able to dedicate an extra hour to during the day. As long as you aren’t vegetating on the couch watching television, extra time will definitely achieve more and get ahead.

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