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While ideally you want to avoid a traditional schedule and keep working until you get too tired, there are plenty of times when you need to stay up longer than your body would like — or even times when you need to forego sleep altogether.
Even with my current 8-4, I try to keep my edge by pulling at least one all-nighter a week. As I’ve learned from Twitter, I’m not alone: Justin likes Sundays; I like Sundays or Wednesdays.
Here’s how to stay up tonight and stay alert tomorrow:
Caffeine — But Not Too Much Caffeine. Stave off your caffeine consumption until you really feel like you need it. Try to space your caffeination out to avoid getting too strung out. I usually sip a venti iced coffee over the course of a couple hours and supplement with a weak cup of coffee or a few cups of tea in the wee morning hours. When the “real” day begins, I have another venti iced coffee.
Eat Light. A big dinner will lead to a serious energy slump that can easily stop a productive night before it even begins. Snack every three hours instead. If you need a short break, cook something instead of resting — it will keep you alert.
It’s All In Your Head. The less you think about the fact that you’re supposed to be asleep, the harder it will be to stay awake. Pretend 8pm is 8am and act accordingly.
Don’t Get Too Comfortable. If you’re in your favorite t-shirt and bunny slippers, you’re not going to work as hard. Remember, it’s mostly mindset!
Don’t Nap! If you’re an experienced napper and you know that you can wake up after 20 minutes with no tempation to lie back down “for five more minutes,” go ahead and risk it. For the rest of us: No Napping!!
Blast Some Music. If your energy really starts to wane, put in your headphones and play an upbeat song or two — loudly. This always gives me an energy surge. (I’ll come clean — awful as it is, “Gimme More” by Britney Spears is one of my favorites for getting a jolt. I also like “Some People” by Linda Eder, “Stand” by Rascal Flatts, and “Fighter” by Christina Aguilera.)
Stay Positive the Next Day. The worst thing to do is to dwell on the fact that you didn’t sleep the night before. Pretend like you did. (Did I mention it’s all about mindset yet?) Don’t complain. Instead, be pleased and excited about the extra work you got in.
and my secret foolproof strategy:
Omega-3s Are Your Friends. Early on in the evening, I’ll eat a small bowl of pasta with a heaping tablespoon of flaxseed oil as the sauce. (Other good sources include walnuts and cold-water fish, but flaxseed oil really packs a punch.) I’ve tried all-nighters with and without flaxseed oil, and my energy simply soars on pasta nights. Flaxseed oil isn’t the tastiest food on the planet, but it’s not that bad, and it’s easy to hide in other foods if you don’t like it.
What keeps you up?
Today, Chris Brogan tweeted about the reaction to freeze up in the face of a full plate of things to do.
I’m sure we can all relate to this!
My suggestion to Chris was to put himself out there for public scrutiny — announce what task he has to do, and then report back whether he does it or not. Over time, he can develop a reputation as someone who gets things done, or not.
Few of us can claim the Twitter following Chris has, but even if you only have a few followers out there, the thought that someone might be watching and paying attention can be enough motivation to get yourself in gear and tackle that task.
This is especially useful if the resulting task can be shared with your online audience — finishing a blog post, updating a design, writing code, and so on.
I’d love to be your Twitter accountability partner — follow me by clicking here!
Both Google News and Google Alerts let you keep track of the latest news by keywords.
A lot of people simply stick their favorite keywords into Google Alerts and ignore that feature in Google News. However, there’s a better way.
Use Google Alerts for keywords that you really want to keep track of on a constant basis. Since the alerts are emailed to you, you can always file the emails away under a “To Read” tag and catch up when you have time later without fearing you’ll miss anything.
However, there may be topics that interest you, but you don’t necessarily need to read every story that’s published about them. These keywords are better entered as Google News keywords, so you can peruse the latest stories when you launch Google News, but you won’t miss them if you don’t have the time — and your important alerts won’t be lost in the shuffle.
For example, I keep Google News alerts on general topics like “animal welfare” and “reproductive rights” but I keep Google Alerts on “assault weapons ban” and “misandry” because I want to be able to act on/respond to articles on the latter topics more often than the former.
The best gauge for whether something should be in Google News or Google Alerts is to set everything up as a Google Alert on a daily basis first. If a topic starts to come up so often that it annoys you, move it to once a week. If you’re still not reading your alerts, move it to Google News.
There’s an untapped knowledge resource staring you in the face every time you launch your browser.
It’s called your homepage, and by setting it to the right place (not Google – that’s what your search bar is for!), you can quickly and thoroughly learn
Keyboard Shortcut List – Take a quick glance at the list each time your homepage loads. Take note of just one shortcut you aren’t currently using, and make a point to try it out.
A Little of Everything – Productivity Ninja – 101 Ways to Rock the Keyboard (http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/05/productivity-ninja-101-ways-to-rock.html)
Mac OS X – Dan Rodney’s Mac OS X Shortcuts (http://www.danrodney.com/mac/index.html)
Windows – Microsoft’s Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449)
Random Wikipedia Page – Learn about a new topic. Recent random topics: John George (athlete), Crayenborgh lecture series, and lowrider.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Random wikiHow Page – Pick up a new skill, idea, or project. Recent random wikiHows: How to Catapult Your Online Sales, How to Adjust a Football Mouthpiece, and How to Move to Utah.
http://www.wikihow.com/Special:Random
Word of the Day – http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/
Quotations – http://thinkexist.com/
Your Own Flashcard Page – Learning a new language? Trying to memorize all the two-letter Scrabble words? Declining amo, amas, amat? Whip up a quick HTML page with key terms or facts. (No HTML experience? Try TiddlyWiki!)
The Latest News @ Truemors - Guy Kawasaki’s new project is a social compilation of news snippets. Contributors often beat the mainstream media in both timeliness and content. Just a quick glance at a Truemors homepage will keep you in the know every time you launch your browser window! (Also check out the Twitter News Network!)
http://www.truemors.com
http://www.truemors.com/tnn (Twitter News Network)
Do you have a creative way of using your homepage? Please share in the comments!
Wondering how to wake up in the morning on the right side of the bed? Starting your day with a laugh is a great way to set the tone for a positive, productive day.
What’s the best way to do that? Sign-up for one or more humorous RSS feeds and read them each morning.
My favorites:
Still waiting for iTunes to add a “Wish List” feature?
I learned recently that you already can. Simply create a new playlist, title it “Wish List,” and drag songs you want to purchase from the iTunes Store into the playlist.
Voila!
Keep on top of updates by subscribing to the RSS feed of blogs maintained by your favorite software, plug-in, and/or website developers.
If they don’t already have an RSS feed on their updates page, you can create your own with a service like Ponyfish.
Keep all of these feeds in a separate folder and go through it periodically, as time allows.