Napoleon Never Slept: How Great Leaders Leverage Social Energy: Microtechniques of Success From Jesus to Steve Jobs
Randall Collins, Maren McConnellWhat all highly successful people throughout history have in common is they were extremely energetic.
Napoleon slept only four hours a night, and that was during quiet times, when France was at peace. When he was with his army on campaign, he napped in snatches of 15 minutes here and there, and was up at all hours, ahead of everyone else, getting the next day's action ready to go.
Winston Churchill, during the Second World War, would take a nap in the afternoon and stay up all night answering dispatches. Beethoven was so engrossed in composing that he didn’t even notice his meals-- his cook would find the untouched dishes outside the door next day while Ludwig was still crafting music inside. Steve Jobs would phone key people in the small hours of the morning, or stay up all night at their house making enthusiastic plans.
Where does their energy come from? Eventually most people get tired. How do these historically successful people keep it up, day after day, night after night, year after year? Call it passion if you like, but putting a word on it doesn't really explain it. Why don't big winners in the game of success get burned out, like most other people?