As a result, Huffington came up with a new concept of a successful life. It encompasses not just attaining money and power but also what she calls the "third metric," which includes well-being and work-life balance.

So she retooled her schedule to get more sleep, and channeled what she learned into the advice she presents in Thrive. The book offers tips and exercises to help women rebalance their lives.

"I think we are living under the collective delusion that burnout is the only way to succeed," Huffington says.

"There is no trade-off between taking care of ourselves, reaching out to others, finding time to give, [and] being a good leader, being effective, producing results," she tells Lifescript. "I'm hoping that Thrive will be a bridge between us knowing what to do and actually doing it."

For Huffington, thriving begins with rest. That's because a full night's sleep doesn't just improve our health, but also helps with "mental clarity and capacity for wise decisions," she says.

Unfortunately, exhaustion is a common state for many women. In her own life, being fatigued has led to some bad decisions, Huffington admits.

The time she now carves out of her schedule to recharge each day hasn't hindered her success. The Huffington Post is one of the most widely read websites on the Internet. Huffington herself has twice made Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and she's been named to Forbes magazine's list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.

Through it all, she now makes sure to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night.

"Remember what they tell us on airplanes: Put your own oxygen mask on first," she says. "That is really the key. Then we're going to be better parents, better at work."

For more information, watch the full interview at the beginning of this article.