Science suggests that a lack of sleep boosts levels of ghrelin (responsible for the sensation of hunger) and reduces leptin (the satisfaction hormone), so how do successful people respond to this wellness challenge despite gaining wealth and remaining energetic, stimulated and healthy in all aspects of their life both personally and at work? 

In my experience, wealthy, successful people do five things that the even harder-working middle class could do to establish and maintain balance. 

1. Successful people make decisions quickly.  Decisiveness is the key to taking action, and successful people take action often.  Procrastination, however, is reserved for those who limit their ability to execute a strategy.

2. Successful people create strategies, not plans.  As such, they do not limit themselves to one path.  They leave room to be versatile in a changing environment and realise that having more than one plan, a multi-faceted plan - a strategy, for example - can be the difference between success and failure.

3. They find ways to manage stress, whether this is exercising to practise breathing, meditation to practise mindfulness, addressing conflict using a two-way communication technique or turning their phone off for five minutes while they eat or sleep.  Stress is this century’s No.1 cause of self-sabotage.

4. They seek knowledge but know that knowledge is not power.  Knowledge is the switch on a machine that turns it on, but using knowledge as a stimulant for creating and acting on new ideas is what keeps the cogs moving. 

5. Successful people understand the law of usefulness.  The use of a person’s skill set, talents, existing knowledge or personality traits to the advantage of acting on ideas is the easiest place to start on the path towards success.  Why waste what you already have? Why not put your usefulness to good use? 

Those who find wealth and balance in their lives have experimented with something called risk and reward, and have at one stage questioned and doubted their own abilities while on the edge of possible or actual failure.  However, a combination of finding out what you are good at, interested in, and enjoy doing may be how success and a good night’s sleep are eventually attained.

-       Georgia Zadow