"How do I make money doing what I love, if what I love to do is sleep?"

I was a teenager then, and the concept of making money 'doing what I love' seemed impossible.

Who's going to pay me to sleep? A mattress company?

Some time later, I decided to dig a little deeper.

I asked myself, "Why do I like sleep so much?"

And my realisation was that having ideas buzzing around my head from the moment I wake up, and being bombarded by constant stimuli in my environment, I always have trouble keeping my energy levels up.

Sleep was the sweet relief from my cranial activity. And it was bliss.

This meant that I needed to do things as efficiently as possible, so I can avoid wasting my limited energy, and so I had more time to sleep.

And that was my A-ha moment!

I had learned to be highly energy-efficient when it comes to my work. Set a target, work towards it in as streamlined a way as possible, and end it once it's completed within expectations.

Perfectionism? No time or energy for that. I'd rather grab more sleep.

I had also learned effective ways to shut out (as best I can) external stimuli, and focus only on the task at hand, allowing me to enter 'flow' seemingly more easily than other people.

This doesn't mean I'm a productivity machine. Far from it. By Singaporean cultural standards, I'm horrendously unproductive.

But I'm productive enough that I don't work endless hours, need to, or want to.

And that's good enough for me.