HAPPY TO BE CAUGHT NAPPING

Winston Churchill is a great hero of mine. It was his destiny to help our nation to stand up to the might of Hitler's Germany and I never tire of studying how he organised himself in achieving this aim.

One way in which he crammed so many hours of work into a day was through taking a nap. 

Generally speaking, at around 5:00 p.m., after a weak whisky and soda, he went to bed for an hour and a half. He always maintained that this short sleep, a habit gained in Cuba, allowed him to work for an hour and a half days in every 24 hours:

“You must sleep some time between lunch and dinner, and no half-way measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That’s what I always do. Don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imagination. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one - well, at least one and a half, I’m sure. 

Nature has not intended mankind to work from eight in the morning until midnight without that refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it only lasts twenty minutes, is sufficient to renew all the vital forces.”

 

Churchill’s afternoon nap was a non-negotiable part of his relaxed approach to his daily routine. Indeed his nap was so vital to him that he kept a bed in the Houses of Parliament and believed that napping was the key to his success in leading the country through the Battle of Britain.

I'm off to try it out for myself.