I know how you feel. I get so much stupider and sadder when I’m tired. Have you found any solutions? I’ve tried naps and mid-afternoon exercise and dietary changes. The only thing that’s ever helped in the long term was giving up coffee 3 years ago—the crashes after the caffeine high were making everything so much worse. It took a lot of nail-biting but it was worth it.
On the plus side, at least you recognise its happening to you so you can try and make sure you don’t make important decisions in this state.
Taking time off of work. Thankfully, paid time off is available to me.
On the plus side, at least you recognise its happening to you so you can try and make sure you don’t make important decisions in this state.
Unfortunately, I recognize it’s happening only some of the time. But important decisions seem to happen to be so frequently I sometimes wonder if my importance sensor is calibrated incorrectly.
I think I need to learn to pace myself better. I remember feeling in a very similar mood to this a while ago, reading some pointing out that people in this set of circumstances needed to learn to pace themselves better, and thinking something along the lines “Of course! That’s exactly what I need to do!” and feeling inspired. And now, here I am, weeks later, complaining of a surprisingly similar problem… I think this is evidence I didn’t actually learn the lesson of how to pace myself properly.
Good point. I have a tendency to treat the marathon like a sprint. Any plans for how to improve your pacing?
You’ve inspired me to come up with a mental list of “warning signs” that I should use as an indication I need to drop my hours for a while. (I’m thinking: skipping meals, drops in concentration and finding it harder to keep my temper).
My current plan is to make an effort to relax, specifically by beating a type of vague fear about “But what if I’m slacking off on X and no one is telling me! I’ll (get fired/divorced/socially crushed) I have to work harder on the off hand chance that happens!” that I have periodically, particularly because, I have NO evidence of this fear, which hopefully will make it easier to beat.
All evidence points towards other people letting me know when I get anywhere near a lack of acceptable effort. If people think I’m slacking off, they’ll let me know, like they have in the past. I have no need to work at above the pace I can keep at all times on the off hand chance someone might be quietly fuming about me being lazy and going from everything looks fine to unrecoverable/horrible in seconds.
I know how you feel. I get so much stupider and sadder when I’m tired. Have you found any solutions? I’ve tried naps and mid-afternoon exercise and dietary changes. The only thing that’s ever helped in the long term was giving up coffee 3 years ago—the crashes after the caffeine high were making everything so much worse. It took a lot of nail-biting but it was worth it.
On the plus side, at least you recognise its happening to you so you can try and make sure you don’t make important decisions in this state.
Taking time off of work. Thankfully, paid time off is available to me.
Unfortunately, I recognize it’s happening only some of the time. But important decisions seem to happen to be so frequently I sometimes wonder if my importance sensor is calibrated incorrectly.
I think I need to learn to pace myself better. I remember feeling in a very similar mood to this a while ago, reading some pointing out that people in this set of circumstances needed to learn to pace themselves better, and thinking something along the lines “Of course! That’s exactly what I need to do!” and feeling inspired. And now, here I am, weeks later, complaining of a surprisingly similar problem… I think this is evidence I didn’t actually learn the lesson of how to pace myself properly.
Edit: Based on this link, I apparently had this realization about pacing not even two months ago. http://lesswrong.com/lw/aks/emotional_regulation_part_i_a_problem_summary/5z6l?context=1#5z6l So I’ve updated my earlier comment to “weeks” later, and not months.
Good point. I have a tendency to treat the marathon like a sprint. Any plans for how to improve your pacing?
You’ve inspired me to come up with a mental list of “warning signs” that I should use as an indication I need to drop my hours for a while. (I’m thinking: skipping meals, drops in concentration and finding it harder to keep my temper).
My current plan is to make an effort to relax, specifically by beating a type of vague fear about “But what if I’m slacking off on X and no one is telling me! I’ll (get fired/divorced/socially crushed) I have to work harder on the off hand chance that happens!” that I have periodically, particularly because, I have NO evidence of this fear, which hopefully will make it easier to beat.
All evidence points towards other people letting me know when I get anywhere near a lack of acceptable effort. If people think I’m slacking off, they’ll let me know, like they have in the past. I have no need to work at above the pace I can keep at all times on the off hand chance someone might be quietly fuming about me being lazy and going from everything looks fine to unrecoverable/horrible in seconds.