Introducing Project Cookbook series

Hello everybody,

I have a feeling that sometimes I am running in circles and face the same issues repeatedly. What pisses me off is the fact that it takes a lot of time and thinking how to tackle a certain situation over and over again as well. That drives me absolutely crazy -- when we all were in a certain problem-solving event 1 year ago, this time it should take 50 % less time to solve it based on the previous experience, right? Right, but that's not happening. Without blaming anyone I found myself running in circles and trying to invent the solution that has been kind off FORGOTEN over time; probably due to workload or too wide focus on various issues flying around at the same moment.

I will write a small Project Cookbook -- mainly for my personal purposes and hopefully with a decent smile on my lips while doing so.

As for usual meal recipes you will ideally need quality ingredients and not forget anything from the full list otherwise the result might not be as tasty as you would expect :)

My recipes: 

One tough product decision appetizer

Overwhelmed soup by too many ingredients (preparing)

Main course from release blockers backlog (preparing)

Baked project triangle served with one vertex fixed (preparing)

Well done QE steak with customer satisfaction dipping sauce (preparing)

Do I suffer or benefit from polyphasic experiments now?

Hi readers!

It's been a while I didn't write a word. Not because I don't like you... I simply like League of Legends a bit more than you :) Just kiddin'.

The topic for today is again: polyphasic sleep. I want to share my very recent day-to-day experience and try to think loudly whether this is a benefit or a serious drawback.

So what the hell is happening? Actually nothing except the fact that I am not able to sleep more than 4,5 hours in one solid block.

Yes, every single night I regularly wake up after 4,5 hours of a sleep. For example when I fall asleep around midnight today you can very probably see me playing LoL or writing posts like this around 4:40 AM tomorrow early morning.

I can't control it. I open my eyes around 4:30, look at my mobile phone, realize it's 4:30 AM for real, sit on the edge of my bed, slowly stand up and go to the bathroom to wash my face. Turn on my PC and quickly decide what I will be doing.

1) Programming -- I am able to be very productive for next 2,5 hours.


2) League of Legends -- I am able to succeed in more matches than usually because I stand against players who has been playing for the whole evening and night and they are tired. I am very precise during my game play, make less mistakes, decide faster -- win more games. That's something which ensures me that e-sport is a real thing.

Wasting of a time bro! You say? Uhm, not really. I relax the same way how you watch TV but this is much more active way of relaxation and gaming is improving cognitive brain functions. Good for me, not for you, passive TV watchers :)

Then I usually go back to bed and sleep another block. 1,5 - 3 hours. Then I wake up, do my morning routines and go to work.

I am not tired, I am fresh, full of energy, I have very good mood.

What is the drawback then? Why am I writing about this?

Later during the day this thing will catch you. Tiredness usually strikes hard around 2 PM (after lunch + circadian rhythm). That's the time you need to do your 20 minutes long power nap which is not always possible and you end up struggling with your own brain and body that desperately need their power nap.

Also, sometimes, I am tired after long day, after party, after whole day long volleyball tournament and I want to sleep at least 8 hours. But I can't. This is crazy and you feel a bit weird. You have to do something for that damn 1,5 hour and then fall asleep again. Or try to...

Taking caffeine in any form (even a green tea) after 6 PM is NO-GO for me. It totally destroys my rhythms and I am unusable next day.

I still don't know whether this is a problem, or not. Still investigating. Overall I feel that I have more free time. At least +2 hours approximately every day and I am still productive at work and at a time I need to.

Will see in the future, I will keep you in a loop.

Seeya! 

How to overcome tiredness which blocks your training

Hello again :)

I was thinking about publishing short post highlighting one life-hack and I can't come up with anything else than my very recent experience around physical training activities connected to regular working day.

(Before you start reading this post, note that the key point is at the very end.)

Things were easier when I was student and/or working part time. You can adjust your schedule pretty dynamically with respect to your body needs and except examination period there is (generally) pretty much "free time" -- so you can sleep well = regenerate well and you also don't perform too much psychical work at once so you don't feel such "drained".

Almost every single day is the same. After more than 9 hours at work (lunch, commuting included) you feel like used sponge thrown in a thrash can. Literally. Exhausted -- that's the right word.

And there is a training ahead of you. It's always better when you already "signed" your training attendance. It usually happens when you play team sport and you said -- yes I will attend. So you will attend, case closed.

But! What if you have planned just individual training session? Swimming or running. Who will force you to really do it? No one. That's true, no one.

Now you will have to fight yourself. Brace yourself -- excuses are coming!

The problem is that you are tired from work and the best thing you want to do is fall on your bed and sleep.

And this is how it usually ends. You arrive at home, take a snack (or dinner) and you feel tired and go sleep. There are SO MANY BAD things here!! Let me elaborate.

1) It is around 5 or 6 PM now and that's your body's performance peak time. Ideal time for training and you are wasting it.

2) You cook and eat food (maybe not very healthy food) and now you have a food coma, again. This will kill you together with work tiredness.

3) As you fall asleep, without setting up your alarm clock for 20 minutes nap, you will probably woke up in your deep sleeping phase (hello Murphy's law). There will be some kind of interruption, trust me... and now, you feel even worse than before it. 

4) Any training is not possible now and you will waste your time in front of a computer, again.

So, as a conclusion -- I will not go for a training session. Damn!

How to do it better? 

1) If it is possible eat light snack in your work 1 hour before you are leaving. You will be ready for training in sense of food consumption and stomach fullness/emptiness.

2) If you are really tired, take a nap before your training. It works like a charm somewhere around 5 PM. Make sure you set up your alarm clock properly for 20 minutes.

And now THE BIGGEST AND THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT EVER!!!

Visualize and imagine your feeling after your last training when you were exhausted before it. 

How did you feel after that? YES! Full of energy, satisfied, strong again, full of endorphins, positive, unstoppable... now you know this is worth and rewarding enough to take it. Now you have very strong logical argument which should help you fight your laziness/tiredness.

And that's it. When everything seems to play against you, just recall that brilliant feeling you have after training which shouldn't be done, but it was. Fortunately.

Cheers,
Tomas :) 

It looks like a ruined day, what now?

Hi readers,
after a while I am finally back and want to quickly share some of my very recent thoughts.

Let's imagine -- it's 2 AM "yesterday" and you are falling asleep, thinking about ruined "tomorrow". You know that you need something around 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, you know that you will have problems to get up soon, you somehow know that your "tomorrow" will be completely sucks, because you will be late at work, you will spend the whole day there and you will be sleepy as hell.

You are maybe a little bit drunk, you maybe lost a few League of Legends games, it's maybe too hot in your room so you can't sleep, whatever...

Now, you are lying on your bed and thinking about ruined "tomorrow", full of negative emotions, anger, dissatisfaction -- you know that feel, bro ;)

Here is my medicine! It tastes awfully but it works.

1) Set up your alarm clock around 6:30 AM

Am I mad? Maybe. But you will most probably hit end of your REM sleeping phase and this is 100 times better than be "interrupted" somewhere in the middle of your deep sleeping phase. Note that I suppose you lying in a bed at 2 AM (and you add 4,5 hours).

2) Exercise -- NOW!

Am I totally mad? How can you exercise after 4,5 hours of sleep and at 6:30 AM morning? You are asking: "WTF dude?" Shut up, do it... swim, run, joga, whatever works for you.

3) Breakfast

You think you can omit it? Poor you. Eat some rich and complex carbohydrates. You will need it more than anything else today.

4) Do the most unpleasant work immediately

Actually this shouldn't be a big problem now because you are warmed up after your exercise and you had delicious breakfast. What a beautiful day. Sure, you don't want to make it less awesome and that's exactly why you need to complete your work instead of reading emails, handling your calendar etc. This is the most rewarding part of your day and you need to make sure you will do it ASAP.

5) Take a nap 

I fully understand that this is not possible for everyone to take a nap after lunch. If you are lucky and you can take it, do it. Don't be sleepy, go nap. Alarm clock for 20 minutes and that's it. It is always better to have 20-minutes long nap instead of 3 hours of mindless staring at your PC display and doing nothing productive.

Substitution: Take a coffee, 2 cups of green tea, matte...

Extra-powerful-unstoppable man version: drink your green tea just before your nap. Caffeine needs about 20 - 30 minutes in order to start working for your body. That's a time you will be napping. Can you see that trick? :P

6) Enjoy rest of your brilliant day

Let's sum it up. You got up pretty early. You did your exercise. You had a brilliant breakfast. You did a very great portion of your work and you are proud of yourself. You took a nap (coffee) in order to be able to work even more! Now you are enjoying your day.

This time, you will go sleep around 10 PM to help your body catch up again. No more party, no more PC gaming, no more movies. Sleep, sleep, sleep as much as you can. It will pay in the end.

Seeya!

(I wrote this post using DO-IT-NOW-AND-DON'T-BE-PERFECT method)