I thought if I worked longer, I'd get more done. I stopped sleeping. I worked through the night. I wrote. I deleted. I wrote again.
My writing got worse. Not better. I made mistakes. I lost track of arguments. I deleted things I should have kept.
A friend told me to sleep. I said I couldn't. She said to try. Just try.
I tried. I didn't sleep the whole night. But I lay in the dark. I rested. The next day, I wrote more in two hours than I had in the previous three days.
What I learned:
My writing got worse. Not better. I made mistakes. I lost track of arguments. I deleted things I should have kept.
A friend told me to sleep. I said I couldn't. She said to try. Just try.
I tried. I didn't sleep the whole night. But I lay in the dark. I rested. The next day, I wrote more in two hours than I had in the previous three days.
What I learned:
- Sleep is not optional. I thought it was. It's not.
- You can't push through forever. Your body stops. Your brain stops.
- The dissertation will still be there in the morning. I was scared to stop. I thought I'd lose momentum. I don't lose momentum. I lose my mind.
