3 ms·
I am facing yet another day of utter sleep deprivation tomorrow... most of this is from work stress I think, and a good chunk of that is because Ive never in m
by tobmlt 6y ago
I am facing yet another day of utter sleep deprivation tomorrow... most of this is from work stress I think, and a good chunk of that is because Ive never in my life been able to force myself to really focus on something that wasn’t fun/engrossing in its own right. Luckily, programming physics is usually engrossing and fun, but when I am being closely managed, the old traits come out and sleep soon goes by the board due to stress from slow progress.
I can handle micromanagement during the “code-up-the-solver” stage, but then when I have to deal with yet another rewrite of the infrastructure code... the mind wanders to, say field theory, the weather, or hacker news.
It reminds me greatly of back in my school days. I could never really focus on the content of my studies properly — not until after being dumped out of undergrad with a lackluster gpa and no good future prospects. Only then, with nobody looking, caring, or expecting, curiosity and motivation switched on properly.
From the article: “ Dr Robert Stickgold has shown that people who learn a skill during the day do not show significant improvement until they get 7-8 hours of good sleep[1]”
Wow, I have had that a handful of nights in the past 3 years.
- sanarothe 6y agoI have no advice but want to send some empathy. I also typically get through work with curiosity and my own motivation, and less by discipline. It's a constant battle to refocus on critical business objectives and not to get distracted by the hundred other interesting rabbit holes. I know I've given too much time and too much of myself to work, but still feel a bit of shame and stress about falling behind. I've always heard the advice to do work by discipline and not motivation but 30 years and I haven't figured it out yet :)
- tobmlt 6y agoHey thanks! That’s nice to hear for sure. Similarly I’ve given way to much to work as well. My problem is they hold the cards for the moment!
- adflux 6y agoUsed to have the same problem, my mind wandering off into (anxiety raising) fantasies. Now I read the same book over and over again as a form of meditation, it's a way to switch off. Same book because else I will be too engaged and will want to keep reading. I have the brightness way down on my amoled screen so that I can only just read the letters.