HUFFINGTON
06.02.13
THE THIRD
METRIC
mire. I considered getting a T-shirt
with the words typed out across my
chest. I wondered at the time what
it was that made me “somewhat
aspirational.”
Maybe it was that I had written
a great deal about the challenges
professional women face, both at
home and at work — and revealed
my own failures along the way (including a sleep-deprived tumble
down a flight of stairs that left my
4-month-old in a cast) — perhaps
that made me more approachable.
Or could it be simply that I was
at the end of a 16-hour day and had
swooped in to bail out Leeza. Maybe my vulnerability was raw and
apparent. Maybe it was that. Since
then, I have dug deeper and defined
the label myself.
I was only “somewhat aspirational” because, while I had accomplished so much, I had yet to
begin to crack the code on the Third
Metric. I’m talking about questions
many women are left with when
they achieve financial security, gain
power or success — or all three at
once. Here are the questions. Think
about them for yourself:
What about me?
When do I sleep?
Am I happy?
Am I mentally healthy?
Am I physically healthy?
Am I giving back?
Am I remembering where I
came from?
What about my friendships?
My answers to those questions
were “maybe” or “no” or “I DON’T
HAVE TIME TO THINK ABOUT
I make sleep a priority.
I think every woman
should sleep her way to the top.”
IT!” I now more than “somewhat”
aspire to figure out the Third Metric. I have to. I have two daughters,
and I truly believe we can do better.
Arianna Huffington and I have
set out to find it, with the help of
some incredible women, and a few
good men, too.
A few years ago, I noticed Arianna on the set of Morning Joe, and
she looked especially rested for six
in the morning. She told me she
had slept seven hours, even though
she had to get up at 4 a.m. for the
show. How was that possible?
“I make sleep a priority,” she told