Archive for December, 2005
Dan on December 24th, 2005
I’ve been observing Steve Pavlina’s Million Dollar Experiment since inception. It’s an interesting concept, however it has quite a few flaws that I’d like to point out.
The idea that you can create money out of thin air is an enticing concept. The promise of something for nothing always draws interest. The act of setting the goal to obtain $1 million alone can increase your income. (1) You may begin to see opportunities that existed all along. However, once you believe that money will start coming into your life due to outside influences you start to apply confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the concept that you will have “the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.” So once you believe that money will appear you will start seeing sources of income that would have happened anyway as fulfilling that prophacy. Confirmation bias also causes you to downplay anything that disproves the concept.
Take Steve’s most recent million dollar blog entry. He recently received $10,000 as an inheritance from the passing of a grandfather. Would he have received this money had he not created the $1 million experiment? The probability of that is very high. Everything to create this situation has been building over many years. His grandfather saved money, his parents are generous to their children, everyone dies, and his grandfather had willed money to his parents. It is a logical conclusion that he would have received this money no matter what his goal or intentions were. Yet he sees this money as fulfilling his intention to make a passive $1 million. Had he not received this money he wouldn’t have said “My $1 million experiment was a failure because I didn’t receive any inheritance money from my grandfather.” This is a perfect example of confirmation bias.
Wishing to receive $1 million can be an excellent intention. It will have a psychological effect on you that will help you see income that you would have otherwise missed. However, you must step back and watch with an objective mind. If you start blindly looking at everything as fulfilling your intention you will be short changing yourself and ignoring science and physics. There is no magical power that allows you to will money into your life.
1. There has been plenty of research into the effect of goal-setting. Searching the net can find many sources.
Dan on December 22nd, 2005
Aiman’s Bike and Car
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Apartment Christmas
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I finally got around to uploading some of my other photo shoots. I hope you enjoy them!
http://www.thedanexperiment.com/album
Dan on December 21st, 2005
Goal #6: By the end of February 2006 I have developed a Forex trading methodology that I feel comfortable using and am trading it with a live (real money) account. You can view my current strategies and demo accounts here.
I’ve been learning the Forex markets since September. I’ve looked at every indicator I can find, read hundreds of forum posts and websites, talked with traders, and traded demo accounts. Forex trading will play a large part of my income over 2006.
What are your investing goals for 2006? If you don’t have any it’s time to start planning. You can start by putting a certain amount of money into a savings account every paycheck. Do not spend this money! Use it only for investing in your future. Investing is such a large topic there is no way I can cover everything here. If you’re new to the markets a great place to start is Investopedia. Read read read!
Dan on December 21st, 2005
I decided that I need to ease myself into polyphasic sleep. Not counting some short car eye resting, I haven’t taken a single nap since I was in Kindergarden. I had no idea how my body would react to napping. I decided on Saturday that I would start with a few days of 6h sleep at night and 1 30min day nap, then move to 4.5h of sleep with 3 naps. After that move to a full blown 4h/30min schedule. Due to family obligations I will be forced to take a few days of monophasic sleep over Christmas weekend. I think this can help me get a feel for how my body handles napping while still providing a cushion of normal sleep during the adjustment.
My normal sleep schedule has been ~12AM to ~8AM for years now. I never use alarms unless I need to wake up for something vital (maybe twice a year). I wake up automatically. My body is very well adjusted to this schedule and again, I wasn’t sure how it would adapt. I started Saturday (12/17/05) night by going to bed at 2AM with the intention of waking up at 8AM. I woke up at 8:30AM. Not a bad start! I then took an afternoon nap without an alarm. The intention was to wake up after 25-30 min. I took an hour. Not a bad slip up for my first nap in many years.
For the past two nights I went to bed at 1AM with the intention of waking up at 7AM. Both nights worked out perfectly, waking up dead on 7:00. I’m quite impressed with my body’s ability to tell time. Both afternoon naps were taken with an alarm.
Tonight I will be trying 4.5h of core sleep without an alarm, followed by 3 daytime naps with alarms. I’ve decided that daily entries about sleep are really not necessary. I will post a weekly update or whenever I find something interesting.
Dan on December 19th, 2005
Through all of my polyphasic sleep research I’ve had trouble finding real resources about the subject. There are tons of blogs with failed attempts plus a few successful, but not many scientific resources. Since Dr Claudio Stampi seems to be the leading researcher into polyphasic sleep I decided to search for his name on Google and see what came up. I discovered a number of news articles, interviews, and even a video of his research. Here are the links to what I found with information from Dr Stampi’s research and other sources. Please keep in mind that anything coming from blogs, news articles, and forum posts are to be taken with a grain of salt when the do not include a source for their information.
First, a tidbit of information I haven’t seen posted in other blogs. Stampi has done extensive research into competitive sailing and managing sleep. Much of his research has involved sailers or has been done aboard ships. Competitive solo sailers require a reduction in sleep in order to manage the entire ship. Multiple 1st place finishers have consulted with Stampi and followed his advice to victory.
Non-scientific research or research without correctly referenced sources
Wikipedia entry. Currently no sources and some of the information is misleading or false.
Discussion with some scientific references (be warned, no sources)
Good sleep, good learning, good life An interesting article that’s in favor of “free running sleep,” where you go to sleep when tired and wake up without an alarm. Lots of other interesting info.
Scientific resources and articles
Scientific American Frontiers episode 105. Video with Stampi polyphasic sleep experiment. A MUST WATCH!
Transcript from SAF episode
Miles to Go Before I Sleep Interview with Dr Stampi. Lots of good info, A MUST READ!
Slumber like lumber: is your busy schedule sawing your sleep time in half? Here’s how to snooze better, grow more and feel great (article)
Inteverview with Stampi from 12/16/05. Brand new but nothing new.
New Respect for the Nap, a Pause That Refreshes (article)
Sleep expert gives tips for combating fatigue (article)
Blogs and Forums
Yahoo Uberman Sleep Group
Ubersleep.com blog and forum
Polyphasicsleep.com blog, wiki, forum
Sean on Polyphasic Sleeping (blog) Some scientific references
Steve Pavlina’s Blog Polyphasic sleep has been around forever, but Steve popularized it with the blog crowd.
There are plenty of other blogs out there. I decided to include only the ones I found to be most informative. More can be found on the Wikipedia listing.
My personal conclusions
Here’s a list of conclusions I’ve made based on the above resources. The list is here to clear up some common misconceptions.
- Dr Stampi believes NREM sleep is more important than REM sleep.
- When on a 4h polyphasic sleep schedule, your sleep is not 100% REM. NREM and REM phases happen in the same ratios as normal sleep.
- Based on current sources, the only famous person who actually used polyphasic sleep is Buckminster Fuller. Many other people napped frequently, but didn’t significantly reduce night sleep.
