31–40 of 82 posts
The only times I ever learn about someone on prescription "smart" drugs or antidepressants is when we're close and I confide in them first, or they're the type of person who shares their adderall with people who want to take it recreationally.
There is a documentary on Netflix called "Take your pills" about Aderall (and it's cousin Ritalin). According to it a lot of people under 25 take it, they feature a student, a software developer, a financial analyst. After watching it my understanding of Aderall is that it makes you capable of intense focus (a sort of anti-procrastinator). It doesn't make you smarter or capable of solving stuff that you couldn't befo…
The biggest side effect I ran into was de-personalization, Adderall made me lose interest in many non-productive things like taking relaxing walks outside or making small chat with my girlfriend. It turned me into a productivity machine.
My doctor and I played around with various dosages ranging from 5mg XR to 30mg XR and from 5-15IR in the afternoon as it starts to wear off.
My philosophy these days is to take the minimum dose required to just barely get that focus I need to finish complex long tasks that require a lot of focus. For me that's 10mg XR for a whole day or 5mg IR for a hour or two. I also only take it on days where I have one of those tasks, and neither my doctor nor I see any benefit it taking it every day.
In college many of my friends took it for studying, and being a pill that increases deep focus of course it helped with used correctly. Even for those without ADHD.
I know a small handful of founders on a personal level and none of them take modafinil or adderall.
ITT: literally everyone saying "I'm the only one who does this"
I don't know of anyone in tech who takes these things, except for myself. I also don't know anyone who microdoses LSD, although I doubt those people would tell anyone. If I wanted LSD, I don't know anyone I could ask. I get my modafinil online. This could also be a part of the media's unfortunate tendency to conflate "tech founder" with "software engineer", and "San Francisco" with "Silicon Valley" -- I wouldn't be s…
There is a documentary on Netflix called "Take your pills" about Aderall (and it's cousin Ritalin). According to it a lot of people under 25 take it, they feature a student, a software developer, a financial analyst. After watching it my understanding of Aderall is that it makes you capable of intense focus (a sort of anti-procrastinator). It doesn't make you smarter or capable of solving stuff that you couldn't befo…
> It doesn't make you smarter or capable of solving stuff that you couldn't before. Probably the biggest surprise for me since starting my own company has been how little "hard stuff" I've done. I've learned a whole lot of new skills but the hard part is keeping nose to grindstone, not emitting flashes of brilliance. Versatility and average engineering skills applied persistently are more than adequate (in my experie…
it's so easy to fake it
I consider myself relatively well connected, and chat regularly with hundreds of different founders, both inside and out of YC. I’ve never met anyone that takes those. I have certainly met many founders that could be prescribed them.
Most people will never admit it to someone they aren't extremely close with, especially if it pertains to work/business. I certainly wouldn't.
I gave my extra pills to another friend who was interested; both my friends stopped using them after a while, saying they made them feel different but not more focused or anything.
It was a mildly interesting waste of time and money for all four of us.