Dan on January 18th, 2006
While not a new book, The 48 Laws Of Power by Robert Greene
is still a must read. Greene discusses 48 laws that will help you become powerful or maintain power.
Each chapter covers a different law of power, such as law #33: Discover each man’s thumbscrew. Greene provides at least one historical reference where the law worked, and at least one where it failed. He then reviews why they worked or failed, and when the law should be used or not used. The text is full of quotes and parables, and reading can be dry at times. Despite this I found it a very enjoyable and interesting book. It seemed easiest to read a chapter a day, thus reading it over a period of months. The combination of history, quotes, parables, fables, and poems brings power to a whole new light.
If you are interested in power (who isn’t?) this is a must read.
Dan on January 17th, 2006
I’ve been sleeping polyphasicly off and on for nearly a month now. I’ve come a long way but I have a lot farther to go. It seems that every few days I’ll oversleep a nap for one reason or another. Recently they have been due to issues with alarm settings and placement.
I took a nap at 2:20 AM Sunday morning, expecting to wake up at 2:46 AM. I woke up at 5:30AM to something extremely strange. My alarm clock and timer were moved. I have them sitting on the window sill next to my bed. It wasn’t as if I had brushed against them in my sleep. They were at the other end of the window sill, as if I had put them there. The thing is, I have no memory of doing that. I’m guessing that the timer went off to wake me up. In the process of shutting it off I knocked it and the clock off the sill onto my bed. I then put them back and proceeded to fall back asleep. Now, this is only the second time that I can remember having amnesia. The other was when I had my apendix removed and the anethstesia caused me to forget speaking with my parents as I came out of the OR. Amnesia is a troublesome thing, even when it’s something as stupid as this. I don’t think it has any relation to polyphasic sleep. I seem to remember reading some research that shows we frequently do not remember a short period of time prior to falling asleep. I tried finding it but couldn’t. If you know what I’m talking about I’d appreciate it if you could send me the info. I’d like to blame my memory loss on that 
I had a few other extended naps over the past week. Last night my 6PM nap went for 4 hours. I’m not sure if I slept through the alarm or if I forgot to set it. Luckily a friend called me about something at 10PM and woke me up.
I don’t really look on oversleeps as a major setback. One thing I’m learning is that they help me make it through the late night tired spells I get. However, I think they do interfere with adjustment to polyphasic sleep. Last week I thought I was finally adjusted. Then I overslept a nap and I’ve been tired at night ever since. I think that longer naps may be fine once you’re completely adjusted, however they do seem to reverse progress in the mean time.
I’ve been thinking about what to do with my sleep schedule now that I’m going back to school. My classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 8AM to 4:50PM with a break from 1 to 2. If I take a nap from 7:20-7:45 I’ll be awake for about 5.25 hours before I can sleep again. That’s assuming I can find a place to sleep at school. I may shift my 6AM nap back to 5AM and make it 1.5h long on school days. I think that would help me make it through class a lot better than just a normal nap. Plus I won’t have to worry about oversleeping at 7:45 and missing class. The first few weeks should be extremely easy for me since I know a lot about the classes I’m taking. That will allow for some sleep adjustment since I won’t have to worry about being at my peak to learn. However, if I find that polyphasic sleep interferes with my ability to learn and participate in class I’ll switch back to monophasic sleep on those days or maybe for all days. A 4.5h core with 2 naps could work too.
Dan on January 15th, 2006
The one goal I made that I haven’t been following is #1, to sell something everyday. I have so much junk that I don’t need yet I haven’t been putting in the effort to list stuff on Ebay. I finally sat down and listed 4 items today. I’m going to try to list 2 items everyday this week to make up for lost time. Here’s a list of what I just put on:
Lot of 30 DVDs
CB Radio
Megaphone
Mobile Trunking Scanner
I have a huge pile of books that I need to sell as well. I have a feeling that they just aren’t worth listing on Ebay. I’ll have to do some research into that tomorrow.
Watch for one more post today with a sleep update. I have a few interesting observations to share.
Dan on January 14th, 2006
It’s official. I’m matriculated, registered, and paid. I’m going back to college. Which leads me to…
Goal #8: Achieve a minimum GPA of 3.8 at my new school.
This time I’m going to do it right. This time I’m in a program that I want to be in. I don’t feel like I need to be there, I want to be there. I think that makes a major difference in how I perform. If I don’t want to do something I resist it.
I’m taking the maximum number of credits, 18. All of my academic classes fall on 2 days, running from 8AM to 5PM with a break in the afternoon. It was interesting squeezing it all together but I managed to find enough classes to make it work. I’m also taking Physical Fitness, which is supposed to help the attendee develop an exercise program for themselves. I think everything is fitting together nicely. To top it off, I’ll be getting a significant amount of money back from the government through grants. Most of that money will be going directly into an account at a broker for stocks and options trading.
I strongly urge you to look into your local community college if you aren’t in school already. Take a night class in anything. It’s cheap and a great way to learn new things.
Dan on January 12th, 2006
I believe that I have finally reached the end of the adjustment period. Yesterday was the first day I made it through without feeling excessively tired at any point. Today has been about the same. I’ve been loosely following polyphasic sleep now for 3 weeks. It has been enough time to conclude that it is a very real alternative to wasting your life with normal sleep.
I feel that the nights I slept 8 hours helped my body adjust and refresh itself. I will be using at least one monophasic sleep night a month and I suggest that others on this schedule should try it as well. It doesn’t seem to have any negative effects on the polyphasic cycles.
So what does the future hold? I plan on staying with polyphasic sleep for as long as possible. Since I will be attending school in a few weeks I may have to change it up a bit to accommodate classes. I think I may have to do two nights a week with 4.5h core and 2 day naps. If I do have to follow such a schedule I will track my progress. I think that it will work quite well and shouldn’t disrupt normal 6 cycle days.
