These 20 successful leaders sleep less than 4 hours a day, no wonder why they succeed!

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One of the key character traits of the world most successful is the ability to work harder than the average person.

The Bible emphasizes how hard work is a universal law for reaching financial success, Proverbs 24:33-34 says, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.”

Below are insights by successful individuals from the past and present.

1. Aristotle Onassis

“Don’t sleep too much or you’ll wake up a failure. If you sleep three hours less each night for a year, you will have an extra month and a half to succeed in.” – Aristotle Onassis, Legendary shipping tycoon

2. Donald Trump

“How does somebody that’s sleeping 12 and 14 hours a day compete with someone that’s sleeping three or four?” – Donald Trump, Real estate developer

3. Michaelangelo

Image source: Thinklink.com 

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo, Sculpture

4. Margaret Thatcher 

“I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.” Margaret Thatcher, Former Prime Minster of the United Kingdom

5. Thomas Edison

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison, Iconic American inventor and businessman

6. Richard Branson 

To create a business you’ve got to, initially, work day and night, weekends. It’s really hard work.” Richard Branson, founder of Virgin

7. Elon Musk 

“I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing you know that… you will achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year to achieve.” – Elon Musk, Co-founder of PayPal and Tesla

8. Jack Dorsey 

“All my days are themed. Monday is management. At Square we have a directional meeting, at Twitter we have our opcomm [operating committee] meeting. Tuesday is product, engineering, and design. Wednesday is marketing, growth, and communications. Thursday is partnership and developers. Friday is company and culture. It works in 24-hour blocks. On days beginning with T, I start at Twitter in the morning, then go to Square in the afternoon. Sundays are for strategy, and I do a lot of job interviews. Saturday is a day off.” – Jack Dorsey, Co-founder Twitter

9. Narendra Modi 

“I have been an early riser since the beginning. My initial life demanded labour and effort for survival, so I am very hard working by nature. I would toil more than my peers. Be it sports, theatre activities or even reading a book, I would feel I should read faster and more books than the others. Lazing around is not in my nature.” – Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

10. Strive Masiywa 

“It took me about five years to build my first business. I started building it before I was married and had children. It was everything to me. It was not unusual for me to spend 48 hours at the business non-stop. I was young and bursting with energy, drive, ambition, passion… and I poured it all into my little business. It grew quickly, and soon people heard about me. I had what they call in Africa “a name,” and it was because of my business.” – Strive Masiyiwa, founder of Econet Wireless

11. Karren Brady 

“When I’m in London I work constantly, every minute of the day. I don’t stop for lunch, I don’t go to the gym. I work from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep. I’m not exaggerating. The first thing I do when I open my eyes is check my emails. I work on the way to and from the office, and in the evening I set up dinners, which are really meetings, with people I need to see, or attend business functions. I once worked out that if I drank less water I could use the toilets less, which meant I could fit more in one day, as it was a long walk to the ladies from my office. How sad is that! When you’re on the way to where you want to be, it’s a test of your endurance. How much can you take on and get through? Nobody got successful leaving work at five o’clock.” – Karren Brady, sporting executive, politician, television personality

12. Howard Schultz  

“You have to eradicate the human behavior of relaxing, the human behavior of feeling like we have won. What I have said in the last two years at Starbucks is, “There’s no celebration, there’s no victory lap, we haven’t done squat.” I feel as if people need to understand that success is not an entitlement, it has to be earned, and earned everyday.” – Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks

13. Tyler Perry 

“I work three months really hard, nonstop, and then I take a month off. Then I do it all over again. I work hard but I give myself four breaks a year.”-  Tyler Perry, Movie director

14. Marissa Mayer 

“I pace myself by taking a week-long vacation every four months.” – Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo

15. T. Boone Pickens 

“A lot of people ask me, how can I do what you did? And I said, well, the first thing is, is that you’re going to have to work hard.” – T. Boone Pickens, Oil magnet

16. Will Smith 

“I’ve never really viewed myself as particularly talented. I’ve viewed myself as slightly above average in talent. And where I excel is ridiculous, sickening, work ethic.” –  Will Smith, Actor

17. Martha Stewart 

“I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing.” – Martha Stewart, Lifestyle entrepreneur

18. Sean “Diddy” Combs 

“Work hard…then work harder. The difference between me and you is I’m working while you’re sleeping. When you think you have done enough for the day… Keep working.”-  Sean Combs, Entrepreneur

19. Arnold Schwarzenegger 

“I’ve always figured out that there 24 hours a day. You sleep six hours and have 18 hours left. Now, I know there are some of you out there that say well, wait a minute, I sleep eight hours or nine hours. Well, then, just sleep faster, I would recommend.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Actor and former governor of California

20. Eric Thomas 

“I studied the top millionaires in the world and I discovered that they all wake up at 3-3:30 in the morning.” – Eric Thomas, Life coach

What does the Bible say about hard work? 

“Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.” – Proverbs 20:13

“Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” – Ecclesiastes 11:6

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” – Ecclesiastes 9:10

“Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.” – Proverbs 12:24

“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” – Proverbs 14:2

“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” – Jesus Christ

Recommend for entrepreneurs – Master of Money CLICK HERE