Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Entrepreneurs Can't Sleep

humbledmba.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 64 posts

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Can't Sleep

#2

Post by corin_ »

I can't speak for everyone, but for some it's a case of never being able to get your brain to shut down properly from a work point of view, which can be both the reason for sleep problems and the reason for success.

My current boss summed it up once when he said "the reason I'm always working outside hours [he works most evenings, will often get an email from him at 3am, most days a call sometime between 8pm and midnight - and this isn't some young startup hacker, he's a successful CEO of 10 years] is that I'm afraid of missing any opportunities".

Another way of putting that is Carpe Diem, one of my favourite quotes.

I'm the same, no matter what I'm doing - including trying to get to sleep - thoughts keep cropping up. Should we be talking to Company X. Do we need to hire Person Y. Why haven't we created Product Z.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Can't Sleep

#4

Post by mapster »

in 20 years we will look back at our "work" and not see a "life" around it. I burn the midnight oil and watch the sun come up once a week, but turning off the desk lamp at 5pm to engage in life is critical for me to be recharged for the next days' opportunities and challenges.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Can't Sleep

#5

Post by achompas »

You'll see links to F.lux [0] occasionally on HN, but I can't overstate how F.lux has changed my life.

Before F.lux, my laptop would suck me in. I would browse HN, Metafilter, and Twitter even as my eyes stung and my head felt like a bag of sand. Eventually I would go to bed at 3am, confused about how time flew by so quickly.

The next morning was always rough. Some days I would wake up at 8am and arrive at work on time with a headache. Sometimes I would jump up at a quarter to nine, arrive an hour late, and chug two tall cups of coffee before noon. I'm embarrassed to say that I called in sick a few times because I was too exhausted to get out of bed. This was a terrible existence.

With F.lux I feel myself getting sleepy. After a certain hour, my body kills any running mental processes and orders me to sleep. I always get sunlight and exercise, but eliminating blue light in this controlled experiment (with F.lux and a Kindle for late-night reading) has dramatically improved my quality of sleep.

My only problem with F.lux is that I can't find the "Donate" link on their page.

[0] http://stereopsis.com/flux/

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Can't Sleep

#6

Post by dgallagher »

corin_ wrote: post #2

I can't speak for everyone, but for some it's a case of never being able to get your brain to shut down properly from a work point of view, which can be both the reason for sleep problems and the reason for success. My current boss summed it up once when he said "the reason I'm always working outside hours [he works most evenings, will often get an email from him at 3am, most days a call sometime between 8pm and midn…

This might sound a little weird, but try putting an large ice-pack on your head while you're lying in bed, ready to go to sleep:

http://healthland.time.com/2011/06/17/tip-for-insomniacs-coo...

I've done it a few times and after about 10 minutes, any racing-thoughts in my brain dissipate, and it becomes much easier to go to sleep.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Can't Sleep

#7

Post by slewis »

corin_ wrote: post #2

I can't speak for everyone, but for some it's a case of never being able to get your brain to shut down properly from a work point of view, which can be both the reason for sleep problems and the reason for success. My current boss summed it up once when he said "the reason I'm always working outside hours [he works most evenings, will often get an email from him at 3am, most days a call sometime between 8pm and midn…

I've found my poor sleep correlates with how late I'm working on a problem. I try to go to bed around 11pm. If I'm done working by 6pm I'm more likely to sleep ok. 8pm is pushing it. Any later than that the problem won't be out of my head by the time I lay down, and it stays there all night.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Can't Sleep

#8

Post by josscrowcroft »

achompas wrote: post #5

You'll see links to F.lux [0] occasionally on HN, but I can't overstate how F.lux has changed my life. Before F.lux, my laptop would suck me in. I would browse HN, Metafilter, and Twitter even as my eyes stung and my head felt like a bag of sand. Eventually I would go to bed at 3am, confused about how time flew by so quickly. The next morning was always rough. Some days I would wake up at 8am and arrive at work on ti…

Oh my god this app is amazing!! How did I not know about it!

It's midnight here, I was feeling bleary-eyed and wide awake, switched on F.lux, and now I feel like I'm being bathed in the warm glow of a nightlight..

three thumbs up.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Can't Sleep

#10

Post by mjdwitt »

achompas wrote: post #5

You'll see links to F.lux [0] occasionally on HN, but I can't overstate how F.lux has changed my life. Before F.lux, my laptop would suck me in. I would browse HN, Metafilter, and Twitter even as my eyes stung and my head felt like a bag of sand. Eventually I would go to bed at 3am, confused about how time flew by so quickly. The next morning was always rough. Some days I would wake up at 8am and arrive at work on ti…

And for Linux users whose distro doesn't have a F.lux package, redshift is often available as a nice alternative in your package tree.
Post reply on HN