Anne, you outdid yourself! The best newsletter EVER!! (I just read this, and it is WAYYYYY too long!) Be forewarned:
Five-alarm Comment: “You want you have more that you want to accomplish then is conceivably, physically possible. So then you’re always feeling under pressure! If your list is never all checked off, you’ll always have something to do.” That statement is above the entrance to the prison camps in the gulags across Russia!! NO THANK YOU! I agree 100% with Abraham Lincoln: “My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don't deny it. I'd rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh -- anything but work.”
*Disclosure: 23&Me says that I’m majority Italian (but also a tinge of Jewish). David’s attitude might be cultural: “There’s a famous scene in Eat Pray Love where Julia Roberts’s character berates herself that all she has done during her three weeks in Rome is eat and learn a few words of Italian. ‘You don’t know how to enjoy yourself,” retort her Italian companions. They go on to describe the concept of dolce far niente – the sweetness of doing nothing. Italians, they proclaim, ‘are masters of it’.” THAT’S ME!
Best EXPERT Sentence Regarding Sleep: “You can’t go from the business of the day to unconsciousness,” EXACTLY!
1ST Runner-up: “Flexing that fantasy muscle allows the business muscle to relax.” I’m 69, retired from EVERYTHING, and my “fantasy muscles” are in the best shape of my life!!
Winner Miss Congeniality: “So if you see a raccoon in mid-day, it's FINE, he is probably just going for a powwow with the Series B investors.” Just hilarious!!!
Winner BEST CAREER ADVICE EVER: “And I’m thinking I could maybe monetize this. If I could be paid to be sleepy.”
Best Entrepreneurial Tip: “It’s hard to get off the couch or get off the floor. I do a lot of floor lying.” That’s even worse when you have to go upstairs to sleep! Every night my wife and I joke that one of those stair-lift chairs, that are on every commercial these days (along with the come-ons for “Medicare Part C” with Joe Namath and Jimmy JJ. Walker) are not enough! You have to get off the couch to get to the lift-chair to go upstairs. People need a couch that has a button on the side that you push, even in a stupor, and the couch magically moves over to and up the stairs, depositing you into your bed, osrt of like a front-loader dumping detritus. You might have to sleep a while in your clothes and on top of the covers, but the worst part of the job is taken care of!
That information about the sleep-habits of animals, squirrels, pigeons, raccoons and rats is the best! Now I know! We have squirrels active all year long and they behave EXACTLY as described! I doubt I would pet a raccoon, but I’m sure it could be done safely by anyone who has already, sadly and unfortunately, lost their fingers.
For the last 10 years of my career, I worked 3rd-shift, from 10:00 pm to 8:00 a.am., 7 shifts on / 7 shifts off (typical of hospital workers.) I don’t think your circadian rhythm ever resets. Mine hasn’t in the almost 3 years I’ve been privileged to be removed from the mart of competitive commerce. I sleep like the rat: “Rats typically sleep on and off during the day—about four hours at a stretch—and then stay up all night, partying on the subway tracks.”
***Suggestion: Anne, interview 3rd-shift workers on their sleep habits and the challenges of 3rd shift. 3rd-shift workers, especially in hospitals, are like Ginger Rogers: They do everything that Fred did, but backwards, and in high heels. Patients never realize that for half of their daily stay, they are being protected from Death by Zombies, on 3rd-shift. My motto was, “There’s no cryin’ and no dyin’ on my shift. You’ll live to see another sunrise. Sunset is someone else’s problem.”
JRB! Thanks for your kind words, and for all this wonderfulness. Your comments made me laugh and laugh, and usual.
First prize: "I doubt I would pet a raccoon, but I’m sure it could be done safely by anyone who has already, sadly and unfortunately, lost their fingers."
I LOVE the NYC Third Shift Issue idea! This is FOR SURE going to happen.
The couch is a good idea but really it should be a couch that if you fall asleep at your friend's house, or on the A train, would come and get you and transport you home.
My favorite issue to date! But I feel that with every one I read. My take home messages: 1) start taking a “disco nap” and 2) I resonate more than I imagined with the Naked Cowboy
I'm neither practicing nor religious, but I envy the first interviewees discipline! I'm also an early riser but my routine is way more chaotic - prep lunch for wife, have breakfast, write, walk the dog, shower, in any order :)
I do the exact same thing in the exact same order every day Oleg—journal, meditate, exercise, walk the dog, dress, breakfast, email, social media, then I start work. Except for Saturdays and Sundays, when ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, haha. I can't tell you how relaxing and freeing it is to not have to rethink this stuff every morning.
Clearly the squirrel is winning this debacle of sleep. The startup guy is right in theory, but that method doesn’t work for everyone. Hard, consistent effort doing what you love? Yes. Forcing yourself to always be busy/distracted? No thanks. For me I cherish alone time, hiking, relaxing, as well as working hard. I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. Maybe it’s less about time spent and more about maximizing the hours used.
Hah yes I also noticed that squirrel gets the prize when it comes to hours/day. It is surprising!
To your other point, I thought a lot about Mr.Startup guy after we spoke. As a formerly very busy person, I can report that having a super full schedule and always having to be "on" was not great for me. But I do think it really works for him. He seems genuinely happy. Not stressed out, just very alive.
"Splooting" is what my 1st girlfriend and I did when were were 16 and so overjoyed we found each other that we cavorted in revelry like squirrels in the backyard! Get everything you can out of "16" because it's sure over in one heck of a hurry!
Well, I considered a trial run at splooting this afternoon, but it's way too chilly in January to risk losing any body heat: I have none to spare at the moment.
I'm impressed by your devotion to the cause, but give me six months to catch you up, okay?
Thank you for the word "crepuscular" -- what a gem. You always brighten my Mondays, Anne, thank you for that! And to learn about the sleep habits of squirrels, pigeons, etc -- I love it (more than people, but that's just me 😍).
Loved this! I’ve been thinking about this topic lately (well...maybe not specific to New Yorkers) as I’ve been turning in at 7 or 8 some nights the last couple of weeks. I wake early (5am), but unlike the Startup Guy it’s not to start my hustle for the day. Like you, Anne, I start my day with journaling and meditation. I read the Bible to remind myself to be kind and selfless and love the people who irk me, and I drink one cup of coffee.
I usually only nap on Sunday afternoons, but lately I’ve been contemplating shorter daily naps (DISCO NAPS!) since my Fitbit likes to tell me I only got 7 hours of sleep even though I was in the bed for 8.5 hours. Maybe naps will help me through the winter doldrums.
Also, splooting is what I needed at 2:30 this morning during yet another hot flash. I would not, however, try splooting on a sidewalk here in Mississippi in July. That would result in fried squirrel.
This was great Anne. To me, sleep is a celebration of adaptation. The range of how people and other creatures manage is interesting. Your friend Dan Killian looks like he sleeps where he is playing with a pillow right behind him in the photo. I am going to unfairly group him in the crowd that when we ask them how often they eat ice cream they aren't good at estimating :) You had the perfect mix of people on interview. The hard-driver sure he will miss out on something if he fails to cram a few more things into every day. The coffee salesman who embraces artificial stimulation to make anything possible and best of all the animals that just follow what nature and evolution has dealt them. Half your brain awake is a cool parlor trick!
I am always amazed by animals! Humans can learn a few tricks for sure! One of my favorites is the belief that if you have a really sophisticated two hemisphere brain, things get real tricky. I understand that dolphins ALTERNATE the side of the brain that is sleeping so that the whole thing gets the rest it needs but one side is ALWAYS awake.
That's so funny. I hesitated using it because I wonder how many people will still get it. Then again, WHO CARES? Also, my titles usually change many times before I post the thing, so who knows if I'll keep it. Could use "where's the beef?" instead? 😂
I have to chuckle at the fact that many of your interviewees are also lovers of the exclamation point! Perfect! And I think you need a field trip to Vegas for Part 2 of this article!!
I had a dream last night that you were queuing someplace, incognito, and due to your great fame, would not speak to me. I am sorry for bothering you in my dream.
I was waiting to reply to this comment because I was hoping I might have a dream last night about you, Carolyn, that I could tell you about.
But instead I had a dream that my little sister was diluting the whiskey in my parents' liquor cabinet with soy sauce to hide the fact that we'd been drinking.
I LOVED this post, Anne. I'm so fascinated by other people's sleep habits. Mostly because I wish I was one of those "short sleepers"--alas, I'm not. And I'm all for hibernation! Loved how you mixed up the NYC inhabitants (both human and non-human). One of my most favorite reads recently is "Why we Sleep" by Matthew Walker. My first thought, after reading it, was that it's amazing we spend as much time awake as we do, considering just how beneficial sleep is. Anyway, I'm writing this while suffering from slight jet-lag. Perhaps I need a nap :)
Barron F! I could do a whole issue on Dan Kilian. I met him more than 25 years ago, at an open mike in the East Village. Once, at a birthday party in his apartment, he stripped naked and humped a chair. Am I remembering this wrong? He has a very nice girlfriend, Colleen, who works in children's publishing.
Anne, you outdid yourself! The best newsletter EVER!! (I just read this, and it is WAYYYYY too long!) Be forewarned:
Five-alarm Comment: “You want you have more that you want to accomplish then is conceivably, physically possible. So then you’re always feeling under pressure! If your list is never all checked off, you’ll always have something to do.” That statement is above the entrance to the prison camps in the gulags across Russia!! NO THANK YOU! I agree 100% with Abraham Lincoln: “My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don't deny it. I'd rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh -- anything but work.”
*Disclosure: 23&Me says that I’m majority Italian (but also a tinge of Jewish). David’s attitude might be cultural: “There’s a famous scene in Eat Pray Love where Julia Roberts’s character berates herself that all she has done during her three weeks in Rome is eat and learn a few words of Italian. ‘You don’t know how to enjoy yourself,” retort her Italian companions. They go on to describe the concept of dolce far niente – the sweetness of doing nothing. Italians, they proclaim, ‘are masters of it’.” THAT’S ME!
Best EXPERT Sentence Regarding Sleep: “You can’t go from the business of the day to unconsciousness,” EXACTLY!
1ST Runner-up: “Flexing that fantasy muscle allows the business muscle to relax.” I’m 69, retired from EVERYTHING, and my “fantasy muscles” are in the best shape of my life!!
Winner Miss Congeniality: “So if you see a raccoon in mid-day, it's FINE, he is probably just going for a powwow with the Series B investors.” Just hilarious!!!
Winner BEST CAREER ADVICE EVER: “And I’m thinking I could maybe monetize this. If I could be paid to be sleepy.”
Best Entrepreneurial Tip: “It’s hard to get off the couch or get off the floor. I do a lot of floor lying.” That’s even worse when you have to go upstairs to sleep! Every night my wife and I joke that one of those stair-lift chairs, that are on every commercial these days (along with the come-ons for “Medicare Part C” with Joe Namath and Jimmy JJ. Walker) are not enough! You have to get off the couch to get to the lift-chair to go upstairs. People need a couch that has a button on the side that you push, even in a stupor, and the couch magically moves over to and up the stairs, depositing you into your bed, osrt of like a front-loader dumping detritus. You might have to sleep a while in your clothes and on top of the covers, but the worst part of the job is taken care of!
That information about the sleep-habits of animals, squirrels, pigeons, raccoons and rats is the best! Now I know! We have squirrels active all year long and they behave EXACTLY as described! I doubt I would pet a raccoon, but I’m sure it could be done safely by anyone who has already, sadly and unfortunately, lost their fingers.
For the last 10 years of my career, I worked 3rd-shift, from 10:00 pm to 8:00 a.am., 7 shifts on / 7 shifts off (typical of hospital workers.) I don’t think your circadian rhythm ever resets. Mine hasn’t in the almost 3 years I’ve been privileged to be removed from the mart of competitive commerce. I sleep like the rat: “Rats typically sleep on and off during the day—about four hours at a stretch—and then stay up all night, partying on the subway tracks.”
***Suggestion: Anne, interview 3rd-shift workers on their sleep habits and the challenges of 3rd shift. 3rd-shift workers, especially in hospitals, are like Ginger Rogers: They do everything that Fred did, but backwards, and in high heels. Patients never realize that for half of their daily stay, they are being protected from Death by Zombies, on 3rd-shift. My motto was, “There’s no cryin’ and no dyin’ on my shift. You’ll live to see another sunrise. Sunset is someone else’s problem.”
JRB! Thanks for your kind words, and for all this wonderfulness. Your comments made me laugh and laugh, and usual.
First prize: "I doubt I would pet a raccoon, but I’m sure it could be done safely by anyone who has already, sadly and unfortunately, lost their fingers."
I LOVE the NYC Third Shift Issue idea! This is FOR SURE going to happen.
The couch is a good idea but really it should be a couch that if you fall asleep at your friend's house, or on the A train, would come and get you and transport you home.
I bow to your fantasy couch!!
My favorite issue to date! But I feel that with every one I read. My take home messages: 1) start taking a “disco nap” and 2) I resonate more than I imagined with the Naked Cowboy
EVERYONE IS THE NAKED COWBOY
Thank you Caroline!
😂 Love this!!
OMG!! I loved the "disco nap," too! I took those in my younger days, when I was roaming with a pack of drunken choir boys every night!
JRB! Can I count my 2 pm naps as disco naps please?
Omg!! I'm a nap philanthropist!! Naps are the BEST part of life!!
I'm neither practicing nor religious, but I envy the first interviewees discipline! I'm also an early riser but my routine is way more chaotic - prep lunch for wife, have breakfast, write, walk the dog, shower, in any order :)
I do the exact same thing in the exact same order every day Oleg—journal, meditate, exercise, walk the dog, dress, breakfast, email, social media, then I start work. Except for Saturdays and Sundays, when ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, haha. I can't tell you how relaxing and freeing it is to not have to rethink this stuff every morning.
What's in your wife's lunch btw?
Mostly sandwiches, I make them while making breakfast (she leaves for work at the crack of dawn)
Marx said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." If true, opiates make you drowsy. Not for this guy!
Clearly the squirrel is winning this debacle of sleep. The startup guy is right in theory, but that method doesn’t work for everyone. Hard, consistent effort doing what you love? Yes. Forcing yourself to always be busy/distracted? No thanks. For me I cherish alone time, hiking, relaxing, as well as working hard. I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. Maybe it’s less about time spent and more about maximizing the hours used.
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
Hah yes I also noticed that squirrel gets the prize when it comes to hours/day. It is surprising!
To your other point, I thought a lot about Mr.Startup guy after we spoke. As a formerly very busy person, I can report that having a super full schedule and always having to be "on" was not great for me. But I do think it really works for him. He seems genuinely happy. Not stressed out, just very alive.
I'm sure the life of the squirrel isn't all "splooting" and teasing hawks; but they sure look like they're having fun!
I’m like you 🫰
SUCH a great read! I am DEFINITELY adopting the practice of 'splooting' in the next UK heatwave...
Thank you Rebecca! I am splooting as we speak!
"Splooting" is what my 1st girlfriend and I did when were were 16 and so overjoyed we found each other that we cavorted in revelry like squirrels in the backyard! Get everything you can out of "16" because it's sure over in one heck of a hurry!
🤣
Well, I considered a trial run at splooting this afternoon, but it's way too chilly in January to risk losing any body heat: I have none to spare at the moment.
I'm impressed by your devotion to the cause, but give me six months to catch you up, okay?
How about the "Naked Cowboy" in winter?? How does he do it??
Thank you for the word "crepuscular" -- what a gem. You always brighten my Mondays, Anne, thank you for that! And to learn about the sleep habits of squirrels, pigeons, etc -- I love it (more than people, but that's just me 😍).
My original plan, Jessica, was to do the whole thing on the sleep habits of animals. I think that would make an excellent book!
I especially like, "miscoonceptions"!! Hahahahahaha!!!!
Excellent idea!
❤️❤️
Loved this! I’ve been thinking about this topic lately (well...maybe not specific to New Yorkers) as I’ve been turning in at 7 or 8 some nights the last couple of weeks. I wake early (5am), but unlike the Startup Guy it’s not to start my hustle for the day. Like you, Anne, I start my day with journaling and meditation. I read the Bible to remind myself to be kind and selfless and love the people who irk me, and I drink one cup of coffee.
I usually only nap on Sunday afternoons, but lately I’ve been contemplating shorter daily naps (DISCO NAPS!) since my Fitbit likes to tell me I only got 7 hours of sleep even though I was in the bed for 8.5 hours. Maybe naps will help me through the winter doldrums.
Also, splooting is what I needed at 2:30 this morning during yet another hot flash. I would not, however, try splooting on a sidewalk here in Mississippi in July. That would result in fried squirrel.
Holly, Fitbit reported similar nonsense to me, and I was so glad when it broke.
But I do love your morning routine. Imagine if everyone did that! It would be a different world.
If you ever do try splooting, send a photo please!
Oh, Anne. No one, and I do mean NO ONE wants to see that.🤣
This was great Anne. To me, sleep is a celebration of adaptation. The range of how people and other creatures manage is interesting. Your friend Dan Killian looks like he sleeps where he is playing with a pillow right behind him in the photo. I am going to unfairly group him in the crowd that when we ask them how often they eat ice cream they aren't good at estimating :) You had the perfect mix of people on interview. The hard-driver sure he will miss out on something if he fails to cram a few more things into every day. The coffee salesman who embraces artificial stimulation to make anything possible and best of all the animals that just follow what nature and evolution has dealt them. Half your brain awake is a cool parlor trick!
Thanks Mark! My favorites are the animals. Their habits are the strangest of all!
I am always amazed by animals! Humans can learn a few tricks for sure! One of my favorites is the belief that if you have a really sophisticated two hemisphere brain, things get real tricky. I understand that dolphins ALTERNATE the side of the brain that is sleeping so that the whole thing gets the rest it needs but one side is ALWAYS awake.
"Life is not for sitting on your ass doing nothing." WHOA—point taken!
Also, Anne! My next post utilizes "NOT" in its title, I kid you NOT! So please don't think I was trying to steal your thunder 😅
BA, I added the "NOT" at the last second! Maybe we got a simultaneous late '80s speech fad brain zap!
That's so funny. I hesitated using it because I wonder how many people will still get it. Then again, WHO CARES? Also, my titles usually change many times before I post the thing, so who knows if I'll keep it. Could use "where's the beef?" instead? 😂
"WHO CARES?" is such a great conclusion in so many situations...
Ha ha
WRONG! If you are lucky enough, LIFE IS FOR SITTING ON YOUR ASS!
😂😂
I have to chuckle at the fact that many of your interviewees are also lovers of the exclamation point! Perfect! And I think you need a field trip to Vegas for Part 2 of this article!!
I need a field trip to Vegas, PERIOD!
WHO DID THE DRAWING
It MIGHT have been a raccoon, but I am sworn to secrecy.
(wink wink). It's really good!
(deleted and retyped with ALL words spelled correctly)
Will pass your comment along! Speaking of which, please see comment (above? below?) from Ms. Tina Neidlein.
oh god if i had known anybody was gonna see this i would have spent more than 3 minutes typing it
My dog wakes me in the morning when she wants to go out,usually around 6:30 or so. Best alarm clock ever.
We have the same dog! Except mine is the 5:00 am model.
I had a dream last night that you were queuing someplace, incognito, and due to your great fame, would not speak to me. I am sorry for bothering you in my dream.
I was waiting to reply to this comment because I was hoping I might have a dream last night about you, Carolyn, that I could tell you about.
But instead I had a dream that my little sister was diluting the whiskey in my parents' liquor cabinet with soy sauce to hide the fact that we'd been drinking.
“Life’s for work! Life is not for sitting on your ass doing nothing”
And he said it with such conviction!
I LOVED this post, Anne. I'm so fascinated by other people's sleep habits. Mostly because I wish I was one of those "short sleepers"--alas, I'm not. And I'm all for hibernation! Loved how you mixed up the NYC inhabitants (both human and non-human). One of my most favorite reads recently is "Why we Sleep" by Matthew Walker. My first thought, after reading it, was that it's amazing we spend as much time awake as we do, considering just how beneficial sleep is. Anyway, I'm writing this while suffering from slight jet-lag. Perhaps I need a nap :)
Ms. Hess! I just put "Why We Sleep" on my BPL holds list. I just know I'm going to love it. Thank you!
And yes, maybe you need a nap. I just woke up from a nap and can tell you from direct experience that today is a very good day for napping.
Ooo you will! Let me know what you think of it. And that nap is sounding very good right now!
🙌🙌
The Rat hibernating line! Fuggetaboutit! made me rofl. I think you and Dan Killian would definitely be on my “If I had one last dinner” list.
Barron F! I could do a whole issue on Dan Kilian. I met him more than 25 years ago, at an open mike in the East Village. Once, at a birthday party in his apartment, he stripped naked and humped a chair. Am I remembering this wrong? He has a very nice girlfriend, Colleen, who works in children's publishing.
I should add that he is one of the best songwriters in the universe!