HN Explorer

Ask YC: What to do if burned out, and have dozens of deadlines for tomorrow

7 points by burnedouthacker ↗ HN
Just wanting to ask for your advice, on how you deal with this problem. I pulled an all-nighter yesterday in order to meet with my deadlines for today, but have a dozen more for tomorrow. I can't seem to find the focus and concentration needed to get something done due to my lack of sleep. What other options do you think I could opt for besides going to bed and missing those deadlines?

10 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 22.9 ms ] thread
earl
Take a nap, feel better, then triage. Do things in priority order and don't stop working on item #1 until it's finished or you're blocked.

In your spare time, read Getting Things Done. Even if you don't like the book, it's decent advice.

s_baar
Sleep or take a shower, and slip into something comfortable. See if you can do it listening to music.

If that fails, re-evaluate your life and introspect how all these deadlines mean that something is ending, giving you an opportunity to either do something better or just give you more free time/sleep.

physcab
When my roommate gets stressed he has 4 glasses of Carlo Rossi and passes out. Does the trick every time.

In all seriousness though, just take a nap and realize that in the grand scheme of things what you're working on is probably not that important. I always recall one particular chapter in Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" where he outlined the fact that the human race somehow survived something like 7 extinction periods. That always puts things in perspective for me.

Just be happy.

critic
Get drunk or stoned. A solution will come to you!
mannicken
That actually works like a charm.
whatusername
If it's a once (or twice) off:

* Go for a run.

* Then take a cold shower.

* Then dose up on caffiene of your choice.

But please don't do stuff like this often - if you're always working like that - then just go to bed.

lacker
If you are too tired to work effectively, first sleep, then work. Set your alarm clock very early. Then hopefully the adrenaline will help you work. If you still miss your deadlines, be honest, apologize, and try to work something out.
blhack
What city are you in? Go get some Yerba Matte, the loose kind.

But about 1cm of it in the bottom of a french press, and about 2cm of milk in the bottom of a 20oz glass. Mix.

Then add a few squirts of peppermint. (like 4 squirts).

I'm serious, this concoction has gotten me through more all-nighter-afters than anything else ever.

albertsun
Getting off of HN and any other news site would be a start.
Shamiq
Is finding help possible?

Living with a pair of hackers, I frequently run about asking technical questions or getting them to review bits of code. It makes the process a lot faster, and speed helps getting things done.

Good luck to you, mate. I would keep working and only refresh this page every hour or so -- only other people with insane workloads are still up ;)