Fabulous news – I have been back on my modified Everyman program since August 8. I haven’t been able to keep it up since March, due to fairly severe work- and relational-stress. Polyphasic simply does not work well, as a rule, in difficult personal situations. I think PureDoxyk’s adaptation to Uberman is extremely unusual in that regard (she adapted well despite a major depression and sleep difficulties going on at the time). This confirms my belief that a good night’s sleep requires peace of mind.
Things are starting to look up, for several reasons. My marriage has straightened out. My internet business, WordPress Academy, is successful, and I have several other very interesting business opportunities. I am gradually relaxing into the realization / certainty that it’s not possible for a smart and determined person to NOT make money in my sector, which is internet marketing, social media and product development. I am actually creating a whole team to support these businesses, of people who are working for equity for the most part, and this is super-fun. I am also engaging deeply with a transformational organization and a business network called Flawless Living, which is meeting my needs for personal transformation and affiliation, my core mission.
So it’s not surprising that with all these exciting events, the quality of my sleep is improving.
I am not doing Everyman in any kind of rigorous way, and this seems to be working for me. I am generally “intending” to get up around 3am and work for 3 hours, and I work a second shift of 3-4 hours from 10am to 1 or 2, followed by my main nap – but if I am too tired or not feeling well, I sleep in. I do try and get to the gym every day, but that also I don’t force myself. I have discovered that if I work the evening before (for instance I teach some evenings), I won’t get up for the first shift. This occurred as something of an “Aha” experience – I don’t WANT TO work at night and be polyphasic, as I don’t really want to work more than 6-7 hours in a day – and the fact that this hadn’t been obvious to me from the beginning confirmed my workaholism, my lack of judgment and perspectives on issues of time-management.
6 or 7 hours of work per day may not seem like a lot of work, but it is for me (especially highly focused creative work, which it is), and it leaves me all afternoon and evening free, which was my goal from the beginning. To say I am delighted is an understatement. I did have to give up coffee entirely, but I can tolerate (need?) one cup of tea in the early morning when I start my first shift. I make a delicious Chai: black tea boiled in water, crushed green cardamon (buy it at any Indian grocery), milk and honey. It gets me very high, and generally works.
I am going to update the rest of the content for this blog shortly as well. This is actually my most popular blog, getting close to 700 unique monthly visits from organic search alone, and I am still pondering whether I can put this traffic to any use. I am envisioning myself developing a series of web businesses, in partnership with others in many different areas, so this is a very interesting exploration for me.
