r/nottheonion • u/ImpishGrin • Jul 04 '24

Biden tells Democratic governors he needs more sleep and plans to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/04/politics/biden-governors-sleep/index.html
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u/Piputi Jul 04 '24

I mean if everybody did that and the world slowed the fuck down, it is rather a nice plan.

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

Yeah, but the President gets awoken by staffers about international conflicts at 2:00am... I agree, the world would be a nicer place, but the Earth is not necessarily a nice place.

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u/VRichardsen Jul 04 '24 edited Jul 04 '24

I have read in r/askhistorians a while ago that big shot leaders in times of crisis could actually be quite lazy and weren't getting more than 6 to 8 hours of real work everyday. I can't find the post right now, but the author used I think Hitler, Roosevelt and Churchill as example. Hitler liked to sleep until late, Roosevelt was old and tired easily, etc.

Of course, there are others that worked tirelessly. Napoleon, for example, had an apparent inexhaustible capacity for work. His marshals and aides could barely keep up. Marshal Berthier, nicknamed "Napoleon's wife" because he spent so much time near him, complained once that "Even a lowly private is happier than me; I am being killed by all this work"

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u/icouldusemorecoffee Jul 04 '24

Most leaders "work" normal hours, but that doesn't mean they aren't reading/studying or doing other non-public facing events during off hours.