[rewind]

Everybody does some of the time, but not everybody does all of the time. I can relate: there is nothing like being tired, going to bed, have a hard/frustrating problem roll around in your head, come up with a solution you were agonizing over, then be wide awake, get up, hit the computer, then crank out code until your body puts you back to sleep.

It's one of the most rewarding (and rare) experiences of a hacker-entrepreneur. Sometimes you don't get this unless you've been head-down, balls-out. When I'm meandering through a problem instead of pouring everything into it, I rarely get these sorts of "eureka" moments.

[dreamdu5t]

there is nothing like being tired, going to bed, have a hard/frustrating problem roll around in your head, come up with a solution you were agonizing over, then be wide awake, get up, hit the computer, then crank out code until your body puts you back to sleep.

If you're going to bed, that's not what I'm talking about. The blog post speaks about working on 3 hours of sleep.

Sometimes you don't get this unless you've been head-down, balls-out.

See this is what I'm talking about. This idea that you're not a "real hacker" unless you enjoy staying up all night.

[rewind]

My comment was an aside. I never implied being a real hacker means staying up all night. I don't enjoy it (although I like fighting off the fatigue when I'm really enjoying my work). I was just relating the circumstances that lead up to memorable moments for me.

[rowaway1]

it's not about working at night, but going balls out from waking to sleep. how long u stay awake doesn't matter, but the passion that engages your every waking moment, and makes you want to stay awake longer, so great is your desire to hack.

[yesimahuman]

Perhaps, but some realize that the mind can control the body in unhelpful ways. For me, my mind races at night. Sometimes I indulge, but I always feel like complete shit the next day.

I've learned my mind doesn't actually want to stay up all night. I had to optimize my own process.

[rowaway1]

i said: "it's not about working at night, but going balls out from waking to sleep."

if you sleep early, ok. but when you're awake, do you want to spend all your time hacking? then you have the passion. if not, then not. that's my point: it's what you want to do with your waking hours, not which hours your prefer to sleep.

[yesimahuman]

I wasn't arguing with you. My point is that even if I have the passion, the passion might not optimize for productivity. A super late night might ruin the next day, for example. I have to harness the passion to make it more productive.

[pgbovine]

Sometimes you don't get this unless you've been head-down, balls-out.

or ovaries-out, i suppose?