Staying awake at the keyboard...how do you do it?

I read somewhere....work for 40 minutes...rest for 20 mins.

coffee?

pills?

redbull?

catnap?

my catnap turns into a full night of sleep so no...Pills no...redbull and similar stuff yes...But let me warn you...If you run out of things to do..You get bored as ********!

That's easy...

I think of the bills I have to pay and also I constantly remind myself of the things I want
to have and don't have money yet to get them.

Either one... at the right time, it works wonders...

Agree with Rhazha... although I hate to think so materialistically. Gotta balance that stuff... regardless, you have to have something to focus you... the love of being successful at what you do isn't too bad, either...

I play my ps3 while working on the laptop I play mw2 search and destroy, so you play for a minute and then work for a minute or two.

1 1/2 hours straight work (about the time it takes to listen to two music albums)

follow by 1/2 hour snack / exercise

repeat

If youre tired just go to sleep. It means you're not going to be working fully functional as you should be. Sometimes I write tons of notes for myself about ideas or thoughts I was having and it turns out to be a waste of effort since I remember everything still from the night before, when I wake up. So just go to sleep, wake up with more energy and have a more productive day then you would if you were just forcing yourself to stay awake, probably not getting too much done, or not at a professional level. Besides, it's much healthier to get the sleep you need.

Just have a really cool setup you never want to leave and can never get tired of. I don't know about that rest stuff.

Lately i have been working 12-14 hrs/day, and drinking lots of espresso!

I agree with fanthomas and that's what I usually do.

It's quality over quantity guys. The old saying goes, manage your time but really, it's managing your energy.

1 hour of productive work beats the living crap outta 5 hours of trying to stay awake just to complete the same task.

fanthomas said:

If youre tired just go to sleep. It means you're not going to be working fully functional as you should be. Sometimes I write tons of notes for myself about ideas or thoughts I was having and it turns out to be a waste of effort since I remember everything still from the night before, when I wake up. So just go to sleep, wake up with more energy and have a more productive day then you would if you were just forcing yourself to stay awake, probably not getting too much done, or not at a professional level. Besides, it's much healthier to get the sleep you need.

Click to expand...

I completely agree, get some sleep. Although it is good to get up about every 1.5 hours and take a break for a few, even if you go put in a load of laundry, make a phone call, play with your dog for a few ... whatever, just get away from the computer. Even take a power nap, I have done this many of times when I have a project that just has to be finished.

When I push myself and run into a issue, I have learned it's time to walk away, take a break watch part of a movie or whatever and then come back and I can usually see right where my error was and get on with it.

Beer keeps me motivated. I have a certain "task" I need to do wether its write an article, make a few backlinks etc. Once I get that done I can get up and grab a beer. Then have another task to complete and I cant have another beer till its done. Simple and efficient.

I found that giving up coffee helped.

If I go to bed really late I wont get up a 5 or 6 am. Four or five hours sleep over several days really takes it out of you.

Plan your day (write out what you need to do) and try not get distracted in the forums like me ; )

work 40 minutes, rest 20 minutes..?

I spend like 12 hours infront of my pc without rest..

I seriously think rest is totally overrated.

Always wearing the headphones and listening to music while working. Do anything that keeps you in the good mood.
And you should know that there's nothing you can't do if you really want it.

You shouldn't try to stay awake in most cases. You'll work more efficiently if you get regularly sleep. As others mentioned, you'll end up losing time doing nothing by trying to stay awake. Nonetheless, there are situations that require you to stay awake. These are typically deadlines, but sleep deprivation can increase mood and put you in an interesting state of mind. If you're a writing creating a scene where the characters are sleep deprived, you might purposefully put yourself in that situation. Or you might have a creative tasks that can benefit from enhanced creativity via sleep deprivation.

If you need to stay up, there are too many options to list. Medically, medications like adderall and modafinil can help. You might have a sleep quality issue and need medication or something. You never know. Caffeine is available for everyone, of course. Some people aren't aware of the fact that gradually sipping caffeine is more effective at keeping you awake than quick consumption.

Music can help, leaving the lights on can help. Basically, simulating the day-time can trick your body. There are light therapy lights you can abuse that might boost your focus in the evening. These are available over the counter at a pharmacy. Taking a shower, preferably cold, doing some exercise, having a snack, drinking a lot of fluids. If you're like me, having to go the bathroom somehow keeps you alert. It's annoying when you are cozy in bed and want to sleep. Apply mass liquid consumption to your staying awake efforts. Caffeine will obviously help, but it's important to get water in your system, too.

Naps can be effective for some people, though I only take them "very rarely" and almost never late at night. Then you've got fans and air conditioners. Wearing daytime clothing. Setting goals for yourself to stay motivate. Keep alarms and timers scheduled to go off periodically.

I spent my first year of college staying up all night at least once every two weeks. My subconscious knows better than that now, and I rarely do that anymore. It's just not worth it. The last time I did that was because I had an early flight and I would've barely got any sleep as it is. Plus my medications allow me to stay up fairly easily if I really need to do so.

I go out for some fresh air for a bit then come back and work
Posted via Mobile Device

1. If you like working in intervals, the best working time frame is 30 minutes working, 5 minutes break, 30 minutes working......

2. It's also important not to jump from unrelated task to unrelated task. It's way more effective and efficient to complete similar/related tasks.

For instance, don't write an article, then answer an email , followed by keyword research, then check your PM's, write another article, etc.

What you should do instead, is set a time where you only work on answering emails and/or PM's, then writing all planned articles, followed by completing all keyword research you planned doing at that day, etc.

You will be pleasantly surprised how much more work you are able to do this way.

there was a download for this program called the action machine...its a timer where u put 1 task in the box and allot urself a certain amount of time to work on it...when the time is up...just stop...but usually i keep working cuz im in the flow...another thing would be to turn of all Instant messengers cuz the hits can be a distraction too

tried music...cant concentrate when reading

gonna try to organize tasks based on brain power needed to do the tasks

its the pain meds im fighting against