And... CRASH!!!!

Yesterday was deadline day. I got there through two weeks of averaging about five hours of sleep per day, killing my social life, disappointing everyone and everything I hold dear, and just generally pushing myself and everyone around to the limit.

So, how did I do it? Some hints at how to turn yourself into an insane workaholic:

1. Learn from the "sail-around-the-world-alone-in-a-small-ship" people. They teach us that to maximize the impact of little sleep, you should sleep in episodes of 3-4 hours at a time. After a few days your body goes into panic mode. You fall into super deep sleep immediately, and wake up easily and quickly get back into work mode. Basically, work 10 hours, sleep 3 hours, repeat. Average 5.5 hours sleep. I need 8 hours, so over two weeks that's a massive saving for me. If you only need 6 hours, you could probably use the same technique to reduce your sleep to average of 4 hours per day.
   
2. The Propaganda meister taught me: either sleep well or eat well. So, when you are pushing it, it's critical to eat well. Don't overdoes on carbs (make you sleepy anyway), it's the proteins and minerals that need to be fully stocked.
3. You loose both your creativity and capacity for logical reasoning. The solution: use powerpoint to write out your thinking. Whenever your mind blanks, just reverse a couple of slides and you're back in your chain of thought...
4. Don't play dicewars. And ESPECIALLY don't check out kdice- a multiplayer version of the same game.
5. Wake up easily, however tired you are: connect your iPod to a strong speaker. Set up a playlist that starts with your favourite sleepy tune, something extremely soothing. After that song, add increasingly energetic and wake-y up-py songs, all of them should be your favourite songs that make you happy being alive. set the iPod alarm to about ten-twenty minutes before you want to wake up. Set the volume high, but not so high it's annoying. The idea is that when the iPod alarm goes off, it doesn't really wake you up immediately but rather slowly brings you awake over twenty minutes as you listen to your favourite music. When your REAL alarm clock rings, you should be alert and already looking up into the ceiling, ready to get started right away.
6. Just generally don't play flash games. For instance, avoid this genius of a game. Whatever you do, DON'T press that link.
7. Dedicate yourself to something that takes time out of your day, like exercise or taking chinese lessons. By jogging another part of the brain, it keeps the mind overall more alert than if you are simplemindedly pursuing only one thing.
8. Set aside a budget to invest in a couple of CDs per week. Nothing keeps the mood up when you're working on a Friday night like listening to some really great new music.
9. Don't waste time on updating your blog for a while.

And if you do this, then what is the result?
You hit your deadlines, and then you crash. I woke up at 5am this morning with a boiling temperature. My body was shaking and every part of it sore. Once I had dropped a gram of paracetamol and put on a jacket, i managed to fall asleep again. woke up again at 6pm. Nice.
Not feeling too rough, temperatures gone. Maybe I got away this time without paying too much. Hurra!