Someone posted a "tricks to fall asleep" thread, but then it got deleted while I was writing this masterpiece.
So, for everyone that was curious, my wisdom.
You're asking the expert here. I had trouble falling asleep for a long time, but I've accumulated a lot of advice that I personally use that almost always works unless I'm really jazzed about something.
Before bed:
Get off the internet at least 20-30 minutes prior. Also, no music with a fast beat. Our heart rate will rise to mimic the bass beat of music we listen to. Relaxing music like Tangerine Dream's "Underwater Sunlight" or sound effects like Rainymood.com are better options.
If you can't get offline, at least turn down the screen brightness. Fl.ux gives me a headache.
If you're really hungry, drink a lot of water.
Take some melatonin if you really have a hard time. Read this link for more information on dosage and long-term use. As always, consult a doctor before taking any drug regardless of how harmless it may seem, especially for extended periods.
Avoid eating a meal at least 3 hours before bed.
If you're super hungry, make a small sandwich with like one piece of bread or have some cheese and half a glass of milk. Nothing acidic or sugary.
No caffeine at least 5 hours before bed. Seriously. Also, don't drink a lot of water too close to bedtime if you have an overactive or small bladder. Edit: Everyone metabolizes caffeine differently, and there is a genetic marker for fast or slow caffeine metabolizer. I'm a "fast." If you have trouble figuring this out, try stopping earlier and earlier until you figure out your personal timing.
Brush and floss yo damn teeth.
Bedtime:
If you need to remember something for tomorrow, write a list or make the things impossible to avoid (put your keys in your shoes, put your phone on your wallet, put the garbage can in front of the front door, or do what I do and set up reminders in Thunderbird (or Outlook, whatever.
)) If you think of something you forgot to write on the list, immediately get up and write it down on the list. It will bug you and you WILL forget.
Be comfortable. Experiment with different thicknesses of pillows. Have a decent mattress. Use clean sheets. Clean sheets feel awesome. Don't be too hot or too cold. I like it a little cold at night, personally. Helps me sleep better.
White noise. I use a white noise generator which is just a fan inside a plastic box, but some people use ocean surf, rain, etc. If you have a loud neighborhood and cars or slamming doors wake you up, work on your soundproofing or white noise. Yes, you might have to pay some money to make life comfortable. Don't be a cheapskate; some things are worth it. Getting a good night's sleep is one of the most important things you can do for quality of life.
Don't think about shit you need to do tomorrow. Don't worry about bad stuff that might happen. Don't dwell on past mistakes.
You won't remember anything in the morning anyway, so it's not like you're gonna figure some shit out when you're exhausted and trying to sleep that you couldn't figure out when you were wide awake.
Relax your muscles. All of them. Your jaw, your back, your neck, your butt. Even your feet. Take a mental inventory of your whole body from your scalp to your toes and make sure they're all unclenched. A stressful life can mean you're clenching your muscles all day, and you may become used to it.
Breathe deeply and slowly for a few minutes. Get your heart rate down. You can't just jump into bed with your heart going 90 or 100bpm and expect to fall asleep.
Think about something enjoyable, but not sex, unless you plan to have a wank (which can also help, but then you can end up with a mess to clean up.) Good options are: what you would do with lottery winnings, what would your perfect house be like, how would you build a zombie-proof mansion, what beach resort would you like to visit.
Think about that TV show or movie you watched most recently, or your favorite. Go through it scene by scene in your mind.
I have this one where I try to figure out how to find people in a world where all the people have disappeared. I run through a list of all the shit I'd do, like preparing signs to post around in cities, how I'd install a loudspeaker system and lasers on a car, etc. For me, picturing a world devoid of people is pretty relaxing.
A lot of times just reviewing the day's events, as long as they were not stressful, is enough for me to fall asleep. BUT, it can't be TOO interesting or you get too into it and you trigger your creative problem-solving brain. So if you tend to think about puzzles or new creative projects or problems from work at night, don't. You'll want to get up and write things down every 5 minutes.
Once you find something that works, use it every night. Your mind will become used to falling asleep to that thing, and it will become a trigger.
Sleep well.
Edit: Updated for melatonin disclaimer.
Edit 2: I should add, have a consistent wake up and bedtime. Don't oversleep, don't mess up your schedule every weekend.
Edit 3: As pointed out, use your bed just for sleeping and sexing. Don't put a TV in your bedroom, don't read or browse or play vidyagames in bed.
Since I was young, I've been hearing, "Get 8 hours of sleep every night," from my mother and doctors.
Truthfully, it is one of the most important things we can do if we want to get the most out of every course we take. It’s a part of the life of an ideal student. But, of course, none of us can be the ideal student 100% of the time—not without sacrificing some other important parts of our lives.
Our lives as university students don’t just revolve around the courses that we take. Other things are equally—if not more—important, and they can help us stay grounded and sane during the madness of assignments and exams.
These things include friendships, volunteerism, and time with family. But, these things don't come effortlessly—they require a lot of time. And, along with our coursework, these commitments can make it hard to get the ideal number of hours of sleep every night.
So, as the term progresses and final papers and exams get closer, you might end up finding yourself with no choice but to pull an all-nighter or two.
I know I’ve done more than my fair share of all-nighters over the years. I'm not advocating it by any means—sleep is important and regularly depriving yourself of it can cause many problems with learning, memory, and mood.
But in the occasional instance when sleep becomes a luxury you cannot afford, there are a few ways you can pull an all-nighter in the least unhealthy and most productive way possible:
Make sure to have a good night’s sleep the night before. It is never a good idea to do an all-nighter while running low on sleep.
Avoid caffeine if you can. While caffeine can give you temporary alertness while you study, it can result in a bad crash later in the day. Instead, stay hydrated by drinking herbal tea or water.
Find a motivated friend to study with. It's much easier to stay awake when you have to keep yourself accountable to each other. It also helps to reduce the monotony of studying in the night.
Study in a brightly lit area, but keep your computer’s brightness setting on medium and try to focus on an object far away every 20-30 minutes. This helps reduce the strain on your eyes from staring at a bright screen for long periods of time.
Work at a proper desk with a chair as far away from your bed as possible. Sitting upright can help increase your alertness and help you feel better.
Take breaks often.
Get up and move around for 5 minutes at least once every hour. This keeps the blood flowing and helps you stay more awake.
If you get extremely tired, set a timer and take a nap break during the night. This will give your brain an opportunity to rest and may give you extra energy. Check out this infographic about how long you should nap:
Make it a goal to give yourself time at the end of the night for at least a couple hours of sleep. Set your alarm and have someone wake you up just to be sure. The rest will help you to focus better later in the day.
Be honest with yourself when you hit the wall, and admit when no further studying is going to help. At this point, it would be far more productive to go to sleep and wake up earlier in the morning to study.
Go to bed early the evening after your all-nighter to give your body a chance to recover.
Even if you use these tips, remember that no one can function properly without adequate sleep. Your memory retention is best when you have had enough sleep, and sometimes an all-nighter might just not be worth it at all. If you do decide to pull one, take care to avoid driving the following day as your alertness will be greatly reduced.
Visit the UBC Learning Commons or Wellness Centre for more resources on time management and tips to help you develop better study strategies for the future.
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The boy was talking about the books he had read, about his dreams, he even burst into tears. And then I went to his channel and saw this:
And so every day since March 2020.
The boy has a CRT monitor, a cool red cat, the guy streams every day how he studies to become an IT specialist (and motivates others with his diligence) for 10 hour pomodoros with 10-minute breaks between them.
I decided to figure out a bit who this guy is and what drives him.
(grammar as in the original)
01 
I practiced a lot. I don't believe in motivation. She is fickle.
I firmly believe that if you want to change the world, you must be really interested in it. You must want it so badly that even if you don't feel like working on it, you will still do it. I believe in forming habits—positive habits that, if consistently worked on, will help you reach your goals until you eventually reach them.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I had the darkest streak of my life. My mom had just left for Vietnam a month before and was going to stay there for another two months. I was lonely. I got into trouble at school. I started losing sleep and wondering what to do with myself.
As the darkness deepened, I found my flame. This was exacerbated by a desire to help those who were also lost and broken. I was thinking about how I can help those who are stuck at home and I realized that I can share my drive on the Internet.
I would like to be an example, showing others how much one person can do if he really wants to.
I tested my resolve and started creating online content that I did 12 hours a day. It was a big risk. You have to spend a lot of money and time on something unprecedented. However, I was ready and started on March 20, 2020.
After over 300 live broadcasts and 2880 hours of training, my flame is stronger than the day I started.
I have gathered followers, those who are also ignited by the idea of playing with all their might. Who was inspired by my example.
Hey guys!
Today we have a very important video, probably the most important video I've ever made.
I am often asked the question: “What is your way of thinking that you study 12 hours a day for more than a year?”
Let's talk about motivation, discipline, drive, mindset.
What was the last straw, the reason that turned my life upside down?
First, our physics teacher gave me to watch a TED video about “growth mindset”:
The speaker talks about two worldviews.
The first is a fix mindset. The second is growth mindset.
Fix mindset is about the fact that every person has a bar, and everything that goes beyond it should not be done. "I was born that way." "This is not for me". "I don't want to stress." "I'm not smart enough for that."
I had this way of thinking.
In high school, I was quite good without studying. Why should I study when I can just have fun?
Then college started and it got really hard, I didn't think my studies were a problem. I thought I wasn't smart enough.
I was brought up that way. This child succeeds, not because he worked hard, but because he was born that way, he is talented.
The second type of worldview is the growth mindset. It's about how to challenge yourself, how to push yourself and break yourself so you can get stronger. It's about resilience/resilience. It's about not slacking off in the face of adversity.
This is definitely a different point of view than I had before.
And the very first step I took was to accept and understand the way of thinking in general.
So if you are not familiar with the growth mindset, I highly recommend that you read it. This was the first step I took.
The second topic I would like to talk about is drive. Desire to succeed.
This is quite a large topic, I don't know how quickly I can sum up my entire life experience in two minutes.
There is a big difference between motivation and drive.
I don't rely on motivation when I do something. I think if you just rely on motivation, you're already setting yourself up for failure. Because motivation is not constant, it is bound to change.
Like, it's raining outside, I'm not in the mood to run, I just don't want to train for a marathon today. This is where motivation comes in. Going nowhere. No matter how much time passes, maybe two weeks, but in the long run, motivation does not work.
I am constantly asked: “How do you stay so motivated, why do you do it every day, what motivates you?”
The bottom line is that I am not motivated to do this. I have drive for work and it's a very big difference.
The fundamental difference between drive and motivation is as follows. The drive never ends, it can take you from point A to point B without stopping, no matter if it's raining outside when you're going for a run, no matter how cold the water is when you take a shower.
It may sound confusing, but it's important to understand that motivation is temporary. It's very easy to be motivated to complete difficult tasks when you're comfortable. When everything goes right. But when in the end you encounter difficulties that interfere with comfort, and motivation does not work.
That's why I rely on my drive. So what is a drive?
I had a hard time figuring out how to put it into words, but my desire to succeed is something like: (draws with a pen in the air rotation) and the fire in my heart that drives me to do the things I want to achieve.
My goals, my aspirations. That's what drive is.
And if you rely on motivation to achieve your goals, it won't work.
“How did you finally find your drive?”
I don't think I've met really driving people in my life before.
I have met outstanding people who are also on the drive, they want the full experience of life.
That was exactly the reason why I started this channel to share my drive online.
So how did I get there?
Cant hurt me by David Goggins was really important in understanding why I wanted to do the things I did. I had a big burden on my shoulders during high school because I was always a "weird" kid who wasn't socially successful, didn't really like other people. And I really remember how I hated that feeling when people just looked down on me like I was just another person they met.
I still remember thinking, "I'll be so energetic that you won't be able to forget me."
Yes, I've always had this burden because I've always been a weird guy and I've always wanted to be better.
I also want to talk about all these driving things, but this is not to brag about how driving you are, etc.
It's not what you do for other people, it's what you do for yourself.
If you watch the video from when I was little, or from high school, you can see how insecure I was. I couldn't stand up straight, if I had been knocked down, I would have remained on the ground. And understanding why I want to be better took a really long time.
And I think the book Can't hurt me explained to me the reason for the author's drive and I was able to see myself in this person.
Also I wanted to share this drive with you guys, that's why I started this channel. I don't mean to say that I made it for other people, you know. I made it for myself because I wanted to be the best person, the best person I can be.
There are things I want to achieve in life. I want to buy my mother a big house. I want to be a wonderful father. I want to help people.
And things like sticking to Instagram all day, watching mindless YouTube videos all day, procrastinating, won't help me reach my goal.
It took me 19 years to figure this out.
I want to be around my friends and I really want to connect with people. But I just couldn't put this and that together. I didn't know what I really wanted until I persisted too much.
I wanted to be successful no matter what, that was the drive, the reason why I started a YouTube channel.
It took me 5 months to reach 1000 subscribers. When I started making these videos, I lost subscribers, I had ~100 subscribers when I started. But I didn't worry about it. Motivation would stop me right here. 5 months - no growth. Why should I continue? Drive helped me get through it. Because, you know what? After 5 months I reached 1000 subscribers. And after one more month I reached 10.000. Then 3 months later it reached 50,000. And this is what can give you a drive. You have to understand what you really want and also find out why you want it. These reasons should be clear. Because when you're outside and fighting, you'll forget a lot about why you're there.
Ask yourself, "Why am I doing this at all?" You must remember why you are doing this. So find out what your drive is. Why do you want to be the best version of yourself.
Once you figure out your drive, the first thing to do is build good habits. There are many systems on which I started. The first thing that comes to mind is "deletion".
Creating a journal where you keep track of things, and every time you do something, you cross it off. Here's how I did it:
In Atomic Habits, James Clear talks a lot about building habits. I highly recommend the book if you haven't read it.
Basically, habits are what makes you permanent. This is what stops procrastination. Because when you do something sustainably, you don't think twice about whether or not it's worth doing. Don't you think, "Damn, should I brush my teeth today?" No, you just do it.
I have converted many things in life into habits, including my studies.
I no longer think about when to start studying, I just do it. It's like my body knows it's time to learn.
I can't fit the whole point of the book on habit building into this short video, but I recommend reading this book if you want to figure out how to do it.
The next step after the drive is habits.
Another thing I wanted to discuss is tracking your progress. I think it's very easy to become obsessed with how long you've been doing with YouTube, but that's not right. You have to worry about how deep you study.
There is another book about this that I also recommend, Deep work by Cal Newport. (In Russian: Head to Work. Patterns of Success by IT Specialist, Cal Newport)
It's about how to learn deeper, how focused you can become in this noisy world, and how you can measure your progress, because we we do something longer when we know that we are going to do it for a long time.
It makes a big difference whether you're going on a 2-hour flight or an 18-hour flight. If you don't think about depth, you're not making the most of your time.
The book presents the formula for quality work. It is equal to elapsed time multiplied by the focus quality.
And if the quality of the focus is poor, you won't get much done, no matter how much time you spend.
Determining how good or how deep you can go is not easy, but I recommend the book because the author gives ways to measure this factor and tells you how to get into the zone of deep focus.
But, honestly, my ultimate goal is to reach the maximum depth for the entire period of training.
What I recommend to do is to find out where it is convenient for you to practice, no matter if it is two or three hours, or even longer. And during this period, do not change it, but try to go deeper into your studies as much as possible. Because the formula I mentioned has an upper limit on how long you can practice each day.
I don't see any point in studying from the moment you wake up to the time you go to bed. There is no balance here. You must have a life, you must have friends.
It may be a little hypocritical when I say this, but I have succeeded enough to be able to practice for a certain amount of time each day.
No matter where you are, the priority should be the depth you can reach.
It took me a long time. A few years ago I could barely practice for two hours without a headache, but it took a lot of effort to get me ahead in terms of focus and duration.
In the previous formula for high performance (time x depth), you must be sure that you know that depth is the most important part because it has more room to grow.
The first variable is fixed, it doesn't make sense to practice more than 12 hours a day (for me) because I need about 8 hours of sleep to be focused enough to be able to practice for that long and be focused.
Depth for study is much more important than allotted time.
I also wanted to talk about burnout and how to stay committed to this lifestyle. I wish I knew all the answers, but I'm not sure exactly what to tell people when they burn out. Except, “I think you just have to be patient and accept that there are always ups and there are always downs. Stay committed to this lifestyle." It is not simple. If it were easy, everyone would do it, but it's hard work.
There is a balance here between pushing yourself to the extreme and forcing yourself to work hard. And for many people, this balance is different. As for me, I can overcome myself quite strongly. I think if I worked even harder, I would burn out.
But once I started the project, I burned out and really all I could do then was just wait until things got better. I wish I could tell you how to deal with burnout, but I can't. All I can say is that you have to be very careful not to burn yourself out. And if it does happen, analyze what happened and don't do it again.
Another thing I wanted to talk about is your physical health and how I stay healthy even when I sit 12 hours a day.
The answer is that I have always been active outside of my studies, outside of my streams. Basically it's running. I trained for a marathon before it was cancelled, running 10K 3 times a week. There was a two or three week period when I stopped playing sports, and it was physically terrible, I kind of got fat (muffin top). I think my mental health just dropped back then.
So getting outside and exercising regularly was the key to being able to sit at your desk all day.
And one more thing, which was also very important, was my posture.
If you turn on the earliest videos, you can see how terrible my posture was. It took a toll on my back after a couple of months and I wish I had taken it more seriously in the beginning, but now I'm taking it very seriously.
You may notice that now I use a lumbar support, I have an ergonomic chair that supports my back, legs. I wish I had invested in these things sooner because I never went to a chiropractor or anything like that.
If you're going to do something, make sure you're physically fit, that you eat the right and healthy food, that you sit right, and that you exercise because that also affects your mental health.
Physical health plays a big role in mental health.
And the last thing I want to talk about is whether this lifestyle suits you or not.
Suitable for me. Mainly because I am very driven, I am ambitious, I want to become a better person, I want to help people, I want to become the best version of myself. These are the reasons why I want to practice a lot, but perhaps these reasons are not a priority for you. It is not easy in any case, because it is difficult.
And if it were easy, I'm sure a lot of people would be doing it, because there are so many benefits to working hard, I've learned so much during the pandemic.
I think in time I will know even more just by following this lifestyle. I am very happy, I am and I am focused. I can't tell if this is for you or not, but if you decide to start this lifestyle, I hope you succeed, I wish you good luck, I really hope you become much better.
So thanks for watching, I hope you found this video helpful.
Have a nice day.
Now, every time I go to YouTube, it shows that at this very moment, live, an Asian boy is fucking very hard and I want to do something useful too.
Use all vacation days, leave work on time, ask for a raise, refuse tasks and other principles of the followers of the Antiwork movement in the retelling of the Quartz material.
29 181 views
What is Antiwork
The Antiwork ideology has been gaining popularity since around 2019. People are increasingly inclined to believe that work is only a part of life, and not the main purpose of existence.
Most of the Antiwork ideology is aimed at ensuring that the housing situation, nutrition and general well-being of a person do not depend on work.
rockcellist, reddit community moderator, engineer
In the fall of 2020, the Antiwork movement community on Reddit had 150 thousand subscribers, by December 2021 their number had grown to 1. 4 million - Quartz attributes the growth to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
People lost the opportunity to go to work for the first time. And they realized that the Earth did not stop rotating because of this.
rockcellist, reddit community moderator, engineer
In 2021, Bloomberg, The New York Times and other publications wrote about the community. Users of the subreddit not only discuss ideology, but also take joint action. For example, they boycotted Black Friday and spammed Kellogg's, a breakfast cereal maker's website, with fake job postings so the company couldn't replace striking workers.
Goldman Sachs mentioned the subreddit in their study, noting that the spread of the Antiwork movement in the long run could lead to an overall reduction in the proportion of people working.
Most often, community subscribers discuss the following problems:
Subreddit users are a variety of people. Many of them are frustrated with the hierarchical system at work and the way they are treated. In their posts, they talk about their salary and contribution to society, their attitude towards hired labor.
Key principles of Antiwork supporters
The publication compares Antiwork to Occupy Wall Street - a large disparate movement without leaders and clear demands, hungry for social change.
The difference is that Occupy Wall Street is about politics and Antiwork goes beyond it. A survey of 1592 users of the subreddit showed that their political views differ.
According to participants in the movement, the more different people follow the ideology of Antiwork, the higher the chances of changing the culture of work. In general, each of them independently determines what it means to be supporters of the idea, but there are several principles that everyone adheres to.
Do not overdo it
One of the important principles is to do only what is necessary.
My father believed that at work a person should do more than he is asked. And he did - and then got laid off.
rockcellist, reddit community moderator, engineer
Many people have realized that they are doing more than they should, the newspaper writes. They also came to understand that if they stop recycling, nothing will happen.
“Try not to compete with your colleagues. Don’t work faster than usual, but rather work a little slower and give more time to the rest,” recommends the Antiwork community user.
Cancel schedule from 9 to 17
The eight-hour day is historically linked to the industrial revolutions - it protected factory workers from exhaustion due to long shifts. Followers of the Antiwork movement believe that in the 21st century people should not be in the office for eight hours if they can complete their duties faster.
Some people have nothing to do at work. Sometimes they worry about it: “I sit in the office from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon. And maybe I do something part of the day, but I get paid for a full eight hours.
rockcellist, reddit community moderator, engineer
Antiwork's position is that an employee does not steal the company's time if he completes tasks faster and goes home early.
If it really only takes 15 minutes to complete a full-time task, why sit in an office for eight hours?
rockcellist, reddit community moderator, engineer
User rockcellist cites his routine as an example of work-life balance. He works at NASA, at the university and does his own projects, but he no doubt takes a break for a run, and sometimes, having completed all the work in a couple of hours, he goes for a walk for the whole day.
With work from nine to five, it is impossible to enjoy the day and the beauty around.
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