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From: http://www.stevepavlina.com/bl... "Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "Press On" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. (Calvin Coolidge)"

Of course, it has also been said: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. (Albert Einstein)"

Perhaps the difference lies in having some way of validating that you are making some progress through your persistence, even if infinitesimally?

Read this:
http://www.justonewayticket.com/2013/01/13/8-steps-to-freedom-how-i-quit-my-job-and-traveled-around-the-world/

And this:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07/10-reasons-you-should-never-get-a-job/

for inspiration.

Frankly, comparing it to a game where the choice is (Play Guitar Track) or (Don't play guitar track) seems silly. This is much more a game that is trying to get you to think about composing music, and seeing the ways different sounds work when combined. It has an entirely different reason for existing than a symphony orchestra playing Beethoven.

Much like I would never compare Wii Fit to running a mile every day, I wouldn't compare Wii Music (or any other rhythm game) to playing music; think of them as a way to expand your thinking, and to perhaps add more breadth to the things you care about. It's sharpening the saw in game form, basically.

Don't know if anyone saw this post yesterday by Steve Pavlina on his "Personal Development for Smart People" blog. At the end of a long postmortem about his recent "juice feast" experiment, he described a vivid dream he'd had the week before:

I had a dream that I was taking a class at some school. This school was having budget challenges, so they decided to sell advertising to raise more money. There was an ad network, similar to Google Adsense (actually it could have been Adsense), that placed context-sensitive ads on school assignments. So the teacher of any class could upload an exam to this ad network, the exam would be scanned, and context-sensitive ads would be provided to be printed on the exam. Then the school would get some money based on how many students were in the class to see these ads. For placing a single ad on an exam or assignment, the classroom might earn an extra $5 for its budget. So over the course of a year, each class could earn well over $100 in ad revenue for the school. These are fairly non-intrusive logo/branding ads, so the students wouldn't be overly distracted from seeing ads on their exams and other assignments. [...]
If this dream vision catches on the real world -- there's no reason it can't be done with today's technology -- you might see a little note at the top of your biology exam that says, "Sponsored by Scientific American." Or maybe you're taking a computer programming class, and one of your assignments includes a student discount coupon for a popular programming library. [...].
Would you tolerate context-sensitive ads on your class assignments? What if it meant you paid lower tuition -- or all your textbooks were free? What if it meant your school could afford better educational resources? What if it meant your teachers were better compensated? And what if the department chairs and/or teachers had the discretion of being able to accept or reject individual ads, so they never approved anything they felt was inappropriate?
You know⦠this doesn't sound like such a crazy idea after all.

Here is the blog of someone who tried it out and found it worked rather well outside of the matching their time to the rest of the world's time issue.

7 Rules for Maximizing Your Creative Output

Don't like it? Quit your job and start working for yourself, not somebody else ... 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job.

I know the feeling all too well. Currently at seven years with panic attacks which have lead too things like being terrified of things like public transport. It's sooo strange. Logically I have no reason to fear and I even enjoyed the 60.000 KM I travelled by train in the two years before things became somehow messed up after a burn out/hyperventilation attack combo.

Panic attacks are horrible, but I don't have to tell you that. It's something I don't even wish for my worst enemies! (not that I have any... ). So far I've managed without any SSRI/SNRI medications, taking some homeopathic Valerian every now and then.

What did also help me:

- Totally remove _all_ caffeine intake. Yes, the first thought is "GASP!", but after three days I realized I could perfectly live, work and be functional without it. Less panic and even better sleep. "But waking up without coffee is not possible!": yes it is!

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-gi ve-up-coffee/

- Reduce sugar intake. Noticed that after eating something rather sweet, the 'sugar rush' could trigger a panic attack. My energy level over the day is now more constant.

- Accupuncture: helps me feel more stable and 'grounded'. Less likely to hyperventilate. Added bonus: my hands that had been always extremely cold for 7 years became warm again after the first 20 mins. of the first session. Haven't had cold hands since then at all! (3 months and counting)

- Currently experimenting with Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT)
http://www.emofree.com/

An alternative form of healing (combining the idea of accupuncture, affirmations in an intriguing field of research called 'energy psychology') which seems to yield impressive results:

Best of all: you can learn and try it on yourself for free!
http://www.emofree.com/LearnEFT.htm

The latter might be too alternative for you, but I'm at the point where I don't care anymore HOW it goes aways. If I could get rid of my panic attacks and phobia by walking 10 KM on all fours, I'd do it.

Yes, Panic attacks and anxiety is teh sux0r!

Wishing you all the best and sharing your pain,

An AC.

The good news is that there are still forums (fora?) around where good manners still seem to prevail.

I have found the channels on Freenode to be filled with very patient, helpful and generally pretty nice people. The biggest hassles I have seen there have come from the questioners themselves. Some seem to expect a definitive answer to their question/s practically immediately and become cranky quite quickly.
Personally, I blame Microsoft, television, George Bush(the alpha and the omega),and without a shadow of a doubt microwave ovens for the timely indulgences they offer us.

For more insightful advice of this nature, see 10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed, first linked from Joel Spolsky's Reddit page and later on the front page of Reddit.

Yes, if I get to do it again--and I'm constantly trying to figure out how--I certainly will do it with more scientific eyes on it. I'd especially like to do the control group again, because it is my belief that those 12 people dropped out for only one reason, and that was lack of discipline. As I've mentioned hundreds of times, to do this schedule requires a lot of discipline (and/or a lot of help), especially in the beginning. If you're not the type who can haul out of bed in spite of serious exhaustion eight or nine times in a row, yeah, no polyphasic schedule will ever work for you because you won't give it the chance. Did you read Steve Pavlina's log? (http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphas ic-sleep/) He did the Uberman and kept records all the way through...he's now been on it more than 3 months and has no plans to go back. He even contests that the adjustment period is shorter and easier than I said it was (which may be true, since I'm operating on sparse notes and memory). No, I wasn't hooked up to anything, but I was seen by the school psychologist, who said I was fine, and that I seemed "much less tired and strung out" after having been on the schedule a while than I did before I started (remember, I was having sleep problems to begin with). -K*

Okay, I wrote the E2 article. I did this for almost 6 months, and I had NONE of the problems you describe, including sleep debt: When I came off the schedule (not because I wanted to), I just started sleeping 8 hrs a night again. Some, but not all, of the sleep disorders that the schedule "cured" for me came back, but not as severely, and over time I got rid of them through other means.

No, light and dark caused me no trouble whatsoever. I didn't get tired when it was dark, and I had no trouble falling asleep in broad daylight (as long as it was naptime). Nor did any time get wasted falling asleep...before this schedule, it used to take me at least an hour to get to sleep (hell, it still takes at least half an hour), but while I was on it I could fall out in less than 5 minutes, every time. I could also, once I was adjusted, wake up after exactly 20 minutes without an alarm clock.

A polyphasic schedule, properly adhered to, is NOT the same as just reducing the amount of time you sleep. It's not just "sleeping less", it's "going to sleep every 4 hours". And for every ten people who say it didn't work (and who all, in my experience, didn't have the discipline to keep the schedule as strictly as is required), there are a few like myself and Steve Pavlina (http://www.stevepavlina.com/ who did it properly and experienced no ill effects whatsoever. (I'm not counting adjustment issues, which can indeed make you feel a little crazy or disoriented for a while, but that's mostly because you're no longer operating on the same wavelength as the rest of the herd, and that does mess with your brain a bit -- you get over it, though.)

For a fuller list of long and short-term side-effects that I felt, you can read my follow-up article (http://pure-doxyk.livejournal.com/229675.html); and I strongly suggest reading Steve's site, since he did a much more thorough job of cataloging his progress as he adopted the schedule.

Ta!

-K*

Steve Pavlina, apparently a man with a huge amount of people following his blog about various ways of self-improvement, has rather nice coverage on his experiment with polyphasic sleep. Long story short, he's been doing it for over 90 days now and claims to have improved his quality of life tremendously. It's a nice read, go check it out. Here's an excerpt from his entry on day 90:

Mentally I feel very different. My brain actually feels different than when I slept monophasically. -- Its really hard to describe this sensation, but it sort of feels like my brain is soaking in a warm jacuzzi. I feel very mentally relaxed and unstressed most of the time, at least when I keep to my naps roughly on schedule. Maybe its because I always just recently woke up.

Personally, I do think polyphasic sleep can have a positive effect. It just takes a lot of character and a suitable life situation to make it work. Not for everybody, but not bogus either.

I read about this some time back in Steve Pavlina's fascinating sleep diary.

One thing he mentioned specifically was polyphasic sleep wasn't sleep deprivation.

I think the idea is that you're never more than 4 hours away from sleeping
at any time during the day.

check out http://www.stevepavlina.com/

If anyone here is interested in improving their time management or boosting their personal growth...such as "doing what you love" as Mr. Grahm wrote I highly recommend stevepalina.com

Steve Pavlina is games programmer turned personal growth export. In addition to having a variety of inspirational articles on his site he also has a (mostly) daily blog.

I often take brakes from my work by going to the web. I also end up wasting a lot of time there. Now, I have been going to Steve Pavlina's site, reading a short, online, inspirational article about productivity/personal growth, and getting off the web faster, inspired to do better.

FWIW...

http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/

Thomas Warfield about the life of a successful shareware author:
http://www.asharewarelife.com/atom.xml