Slash Sleep, Step Sooner:
IntroductionSlash Sleep, Step Sooner: Introduction

Snap up an hour of sleep a night. Scare people.

When projects energize you, keep going. Skip bed, slip in a catnap sitting up, and seize the time. Sleeping by midnight must be sick. Sloth till six is so slippery. You’re no slacker. Why slumber all night? You might stay up to create music, to mull, to clean, to hammer. I did it for politics. It frightens mortals.

Serving around 95 hours a week, keeping my day job (albeit part-time and easy), napping an hour a night and catching ten minutes here and there on trains and at my job (which I still did at above-average levels), and crashing at home on weekends, I zipped through six, twelve months.

Pushing the keyboard back in the middle of a check, I nodded off, awoke, and finished the same check. My supervisor was a smidge speedier, but only slightly, and I was more thorough and more accurate. I was volunteering in a nonprofit, and if I’d wanted a paid job out of the experience, I’d probably have been hired on the spot.

Subway to another office, right upstairs: I stalled. Standing, I leaned on a beam. Slept and dreamed while standing. I don’t know why I hadn’t fallen to the concrete floor. Or to the tracks. Grabbed a train home; caught up on missing sleep. Folks had to find their own key; they weren’t used to my absence. I got everything done anyway, and on time.

You’ve probably had that experience, too. Something like it.

Staying up lets me work undisturbed. The neurotics are snoozing. They stir and I’ve already delivered as promised and beyond. You, too, yes? We get to be manic without the depression. I’ve repeated this practice over several years. I might do it again. Or I might not.

Maybe you can do this. A slew of steps ensues to so nearly sleepless. But don’t try it just because you have a total emergency, or your body will tell you off. Method matters. There’s a professional way to do it. I assure you: This is not fiction. Here, on these pages, are some steps to going nearly sleepless.

About me: I’m not a doctor or a professionally trained allied health professional.

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