Sleep isn’t time off from your life. It’s how you show up for it.

Rest gets counted as subtraction, as though the hours asleep were taken away from the hours that matter. Everything you do awake runs on what sleep restores, though, so the trade is not a real one. Cutting it borrows from tomorrow’s patience, judgement and ability to enjoy anything.

Treat bedtime as part of the plan rather than whatever happens when the day gives up. Pick a time and protect it for a week, even when there is something you would rather finish. Notice which parts of the day improve without you changing anything else.