Sleep is the most underrated performance (and life) enhancer.

When I was constantly traveling across time zones in the past, I really struggled with jet lag.

Flying, for example, from Japan to South America was brutal.

One of my doctors teamed up with Harvard sleep professor Dr. Steven W. Lockley to design personalized routines that completely eliminated jet lag — and I became a test person.

Here’s what worked for me during big time zone shifts:

- Shift sleep by a maximum of 1.5 hours per day before and after travel.

- Use blackout glasses before bedtime and a 10,000 lux lamp at wake-up.

- Cut all screen time 90 minutes before bed — blue light kills melatonin production, which is essential for deep sleep.

When preparing, for example, for the Australia time zone, I’d be waking up at 1am and running through Palma (CET) at 2:30am. People around me thought I was crazy.

But it 100% worked. I had zero jet lag for an entire season of global travel.

It was a complete game changer for my life and my work.

The context has shifted to venture capital, but the need to perform at my best hasn’t.

I still rely on the same mindset: many small improvements — like sleep — compound into big performance gains.

Yet founders and investors often treat sleep as expendable. Science says otherwise:

43% of business leaders sleep poorly at least 4 nights a week, undermining decision-making and emotional control (Harvard Business Review).

Sleep-deprived executives are far more prone to major mistakes.

The same Harvard professor I worked with has since launched Timeshifter, a circadian-based jet lag app (which I’ve invested in) — already with over 1.3 million downloads.

We don’t talk enough about this in business. But if you want to think clearly, lead better, and build long-term — start with sleep.

It’s where performance begins.

💡 What’s one routine you’ve built to protect your energy while operating at a high level?