The best piece of advice anyone will ever give you about getting ahead in journalism is this: either be better than everyone else, or work harder.
Most people – simply as a matter of odds – must take the latter path. That means getting there early, staying late and writing like crazy in between. It also means running on empty most of the time.
I wake up at 6 each morning, and I’m sure that’s late for most. When I first moved to Washington, I heard from Jonathan Allen of Politico that he goes to bed at midnight, only to get up at 4 a.m. and start reading the wires, preparing his morning newsletter, and then it’s on to his daily work starting at about 8 a.m. That’s four hours of work before most people even get to the office.
As far as I can tell, this isn’t abnormal. Many of the journalists I’ve met this summer have a similar schedule.
In real terms, a 14-hour work day means waking up before dark, getting home long after primetime TV and finding yourself passed out on almost any available surface. I can vouch for this. I’ve woken up slumped over on a kitchen stool, crumpled in an easy chair, and even, somehow, seated Thinker-style on an ottoman.
The pace most journalists keep up is certain to take a toll, not just on their work but on their lives.
In a 2010 study published in the medical journal Sleep, researchers from Portland State University examined the sleep patterns and lifestyles of nearly 16,000 Chinese adults aged 65 and older and found that those who regularly got around 7.5 hours of sleep were prone to live longer and healthier lives.
Add to that the research from South Korea’s Wongwang University that came out in April, which found that journalists there are among the first to die when compared to other professions, and you get a pretty grisly picture.
The study examined obituaries from 1963 to 2010, finding that among professors, politicians, lawyers, business people, government officials, athletes and entertainers, journalists die earlier than others, with an average life expectancy of 67 years old.
So what does this all mean for the budding journalist?
First, get sleep whenever you can. If you have a down hour during the day, grab a chair in the newsroom or an empty editing bay and surreptitiously catch a few Zs (let’s hope my editor isn’t reading this too carefully).
If you can’t afford more sleep than the measly five or six overnight hours you’ll probably have time for, make the most of your waking hours. Journalists are notorious for eating poorly, too. But drinking plenty of water and eating high-protein and vegetable-laden meals will help fuel you when you’re running low.
And finally, take a break every once in a while. Ambition is important, and journalism is a worthy cause to devote yourself to, but the work suffers if you’re run down. When you find yourself staring at a bright screen in the wee hours of the morning, take a minute to decide whether you’ll be able to write better and more quickly if you just close the laptop and lay your head down for a few hours.
And if you want to live to be 100, maybe put down your reporter’s pad and run.