Queen Arianna

Is it better to stay up all night studying for an exam or to go to bed early? Arianna Huffington has made the executive call that sleep should be your priority. Maddie Stearn, after getting a whole night of sleep, reported Huffington’s reasoning. 

On Monday evening Arianna Huffington took the stage at an event sponsored by the Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE). Even while battling a cold Huffington is a dynamic speaker, hitting her stride only a few words into her keynote address. She assured the audience that her accent “is for real” and proceeded to turn out sound bites like a machine. A highly successful, health-conscious machine.

This health-consciousness is perhaps what sets Huffington apart from other entrepreneurs. In 2007 Huffington collapsed from exhaustion and woke up bleeding and with a broken cheekbone. At that point she decided to make sleep a priority in her life and launched the “Sleep” section on the Huffington Post. Today it is easy to take for granted the pervasiveness of sleep studies and articles, but that was not necessarily the case 8 years ago. Arianna Huffington launched the “Sleep” section of the Huffington Post website at a time when, in her opinion, sleep was held in high contempt. Now, however, sleep articles abound and it seems like you can’t go a day without seeing an article that claims, “New Study: Napping Improves Sex Life.” On that note, Huffington did say that if you want to write about how sleep improves your sex life, then you should go ahead and send it to her.

According to Huffington, entrepreneurs seem to be especially guilty of not prioritizing sleep. During the interview portion of the event–conducted by Kathryn Minshew, co-founder and CEO of The Muse–Huffington spoke to the stress that entrepreneurs tend to put on themselves. While recognizing the pressures facing entrepreneurs, Huffington stated that, “our best ideas are not going to come during stressful times.” She provided Archimedes and Newton as examples, while acknowledging that the locations in which both men had their epiphanies (bathtub and apple tree respectively) are perhaps caricatures of her argument.

Huffington is not just concerned with sleep and stress; she wants us to disconnect to reconnect. You might be thinking, “Pardon me, but that appears to be an oxymoron.” There are no runaway oxymorons here, just a few missing nouns. Huffington is talking about disconnecting from technology to reconnect with the world around us. Granted, this is not a revolutionary idea, but almost anything sounds new coming from Arianna Huffington. She predicts that soon the world will be divided into two groups of people: those who are constantly connected to technology, and those who will run the world. Huffington says that the first group will not run the world because “they are going to be too busy being notified” by their phones, Apple Watches, or whatever is around when this divide occurs.

Disconnecting from technology ties in well with Huffington’s focus on regaining a sense of wonder, which she describes at length in her newest book, Thrive. Kathryn Minshew brought up the theme of wonder during her onstage interview with Huffington, and asked how Huffington maintains a sense of wonder on a daily basis. Huffington’s reply was a bit cookie cutter, saying she tries to be present in whatever she is doing. Her anecdote, however, was very appropriate. She described a day when she was walking and looking around (instead of texting) and noticed a beautiful building nearby. She asked her friend when the building had gone up, assuming it was new. The friend looked at her and replied, “1890.”

Before the interview wrapped up, Minshew asked Huffington if she had any advice for young entrepreneurs who hope to follow in Huffington’s footsteps. Huffington immediately replied with, “Don’t follow in my footsteps.” As the laughter died down Huffington elaborated, arguing that what’s great about entrepreneurship is coming up with new ideas and not trying to copy anyone else. Her final piece of advice for the evening was a bit corny, but appropriate for the audience. “Live life as though everything is rigged in your favor.” That phrase seems like it might be happiest living on a Pinterest board, but things seem to have worked out well for Arianna Huffington.

The Sleep Crusader via Twitter