12 April 2006

All-nighter advice and being hard-core

I found the following article about "how to pull an all-nighter" via Lifehacker.com. The author, Christian Montoya, says he has a lot of experience with this from being an electrical engineering major at Cornell.

Ah yes, I, too, pulled some all-nighters as an undergraduate. I pulled most of my all-nighters during my freshman year when I was adjusting to a new school and environment. However, after that, most of my all-nighters were for literature essays that I wrote at the last minute. I like Christian's point about "really wanting" that all-nighter. The occasional, well-done all-nighter can be a satisfying experience (says I). It's kind of like climbing Mt. Everest. You do it because you want to prove you can. I also get a nice adrenaline rush after turning in my assignment or completing whatever task I was cramming for (provided that I followed Christian's tips). I remember staying at lab until midnight or getting into work at 6 am (usually with the stereo cranked up). Sometimes the pride (maybe self-delusion) you get from being the last person or first person at work is a great motivator. Another good reason to pull an all-nighter is creative inspiration. That great idea you have at 3 am will probably be lost if you go to sleep now.

Before anyone concludes that I'm insane, I would like to say in my defense that I don't pull too many all-nighters. But sometimes going on a hard core burst can be uplifting. It's sort of like going to the gym; you feel like you did something.

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