I really needed this! While you know these things, it takes constant reminders to not fall back into bad habits. I constantly skip on sleep and I can see my body falling apart. This was a great and simple article to remind me
I'd make the crazy (/s) argument that the mindset, not the eat well/exercise/sleep is what matters.<p>I tried endlessly during my PhD to eat healthy, sleep well, and such but this only worked when I truly realized 'ok, my normal routine is killing me', like OP did.<p>It's scary because that's how you know yourself to be / work but once you have no alternatives it is easier to risk a productivity deficit (.:. it's also easier when you're more confident about your achievements so far and don't think you have to prove as much of yourself to others).<p>Luckily for me the marginal productivity deficit is totally compensated by living a burnout-free life. (I hope. Ask me again in 5-10 years)
<i>Eat well and rest.</i> -- and exercise. The best natural anti-depressant and life-extension technique (fine, maybe tied with caloric restriction).<p>TL;DR: Exercise.
I thought this
'Brain in a Jar' article was going to be about the philosophical 'Brain in a vat'
question. Disappointed.
<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat</a><p>oh and, don't work too hard young people. Burn out is the worst.
Being smarty pants here, but I wanted to point out that "Brain in a Jar" usually refers to something entirely different: <i>that one is a victim of thoroughgoing error induced by a God-like deceiver</i>.<p>Hypothesis, skeptical argument etc in detail: <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-content-externalism/" rel="nofollow">https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-content-extern...</a>
The common mistake in "hippy philosophy" is assuming that since we are ultimately subsets of the universe, we ARE the universe, here and now.<p>Problem is, things are made up of a bunch of components. And operate due to internal and external mechanisms.<p>Objects exist as causal sets.<p>We all might be one, when it comes to that we are manifestations of electromagnetic energy. But that's a superset of the here and now.<p>We're physical beings at the bottom rung, and maybe more when you take the russian doll nested sets apart. But that doesn't change the fact that each part is just as integral to identity in the here and now, or well, the physical human part might be even more important in the here and now.<p>So yeah, we're all "one" as members of the universe. But don't let that fool you into thinking you're transcending right here and now. Everythings made from components. Everything has supersets and subsets that keep it going. You are not a brain in a jar here and now. But you may be a brain in a jar there and far. So keep a level head. And don't dismiss the philosophy that grounds you.
One person she knows takes care of himself and is successful. She doesn't take care of herself and she's not successful. Now she takes care of herself and we don't know if she's now successful but the added rest fixed some things in her life.<p>Seems like a small sample size. Luck helps some along more than others and it's spotty in its distribution.<p>She doesn't say if her friend is a business owner. She mentioned she wanted to start a business but she doesn't say if that was part of what she was working on.<p>Her friend doing 5 hours of coding in one day is a lot. It's probably more than a typical 9-5 office coder puts in. Especially working from home with relatively few distractions.<p>But when you own a business, once you have finished putting in your 5 hours of coding, you still have the rest of the business to take care of. One full time job is done, then you start the next one.