True, that could be one way of framing the whole "using adderall/modafinil for productivity" issue. What is a "regular user" though? Someone with ADHD taking adderall in the morning to boost the "executive function" of his/her brain during the day? (as someone with ADHD, adderall sedates my hyperactive brain as opposed to its intended effect, look up the stimulant paradox for more on this) Someone who takes adderall the night before a big test to pull an all-nighter of productive studying? I've personally never heard of anyone (without ADHD) who regularly takes amphetamines to boost waking-hour productivity. Modafinil has related but different effects, regular modafinil users take it to offset the reduced mental performance brought about by sleep deprivation. There might be some nootropic effects of modafinil unrelated to its wakefulness promoting effect (cognition-wise), but like all nootropics, whether there's any actual increase in waking-hour cognitive ability is debatable.
Someone who uses a few days a week (not necessarily daily) as opposed to, say, occasional all-nighters before an exam. For example, mrleinad's comment:
> I take modafinil on a daily basis each morning, and have a regular sleep pattern of 7-8 hours a night.
It even helps with going to sleep earlier, because I feel depleted by 10 PM, so there's less incentive for me to stay up and waste time that I could use resting for the next day.
- Figure out how many hours of sleep you need, figure out how long it takes you to fall asleep (usually ~15 min), add those up, and work backwards from the time you need to wake up - this is when you should be in bed
- Sleep and wake up at the same time everyday, at least in the beginning
- Avoid eating a lot near your bedtime
- 300mcg (micrograms) of melatonin can help make sleeping earlier at a certain time easier - helps me reset if I get into a stretch of sleeping late
- Clear your head before bed; if you have stuff on your mind, you'll probably be thinking or worrying about it - write down what you need to do the next day
- Get one of those sleep tracking apps like Sleep Cycle to wake you up when it thinks you're in a lighter sleep phase
- Get a Wake-up Light alarm or rig some lights to turn on; light is key and is pretty effective
I really appreciate the advice I just got my income tripled so I want to make a good showing and both get there early but also be effective and productive. I'm about to exit the early stage startup I've been at for work coding for hollywood/vr. I have a background originally in anthropology so I'm aware I'm entering a very different work culture, both getting there early and being productive early are really important in Hollywood.
I used to always wake up around 9:30am and now I have to be up at 6:45am everyday. Truthfully I was just sleep deprived for the first 2-3 weeks because I couldn't sleep before 10pm. Now I'm just so tired out.
I recommend not drinking caffeine after 12pm or so (depends on you of course) to ensure you can get a good night's rest. You will probably have no problems being productive as you should be excited the first week or two at work. Otherwise, grats on the new job and good luck!
I use WorkFlowy (YC S10). It's not as robust as Evernote or OneNote and updates are lacking, but it's pretty flexible and works for my needs. Text-only.
Ah thanks, it's been a while. I met some of the founders and thought the space was a capital-intensive, uphill battle without a biz model defensibility-component on its own. Also, I think the brand has to be crystal clear, and PathJoy / HomeJoy didn't do that. HomeJoy was again unclear as opposed to MerryMaids and the other million maid services. CleanJoy was nice, but I don't think they got the 0->1 solid first before pivoting the brand to something more general. Then, there's the threats of Amazon and Google are dropping in to offer all sorts of home services, WalMart and Costco will also want in, either acquiring established players per vertical or building their own.
It's a double-ended marketplace of getting customers and providers... it takes big bucks/hustling to inform customers and loads of sales time convincing small/medium providers to prenegotiate fees, terms and conditions. (Small business people can be a PITA to sell to, but it's possible with obvious, immediate examples of bringing them more business.). And, how do you vet thousands of suppliers meaningfully and keep only the good ones (feedback, reviews, certifications, training, etc.)? Google, Amazon, AliBaba have the scale to do this where a startup would be hard-pressed to match the meatcloud scaling of human-involved business processes where automation isn't quite there yet, but it's getting better (and lots of startups should focus on automation of service industry and white-collar corporate processes).
For sure - there's a ton of these services but not a lot of differentiation. There's even a subreddit[1] with over 10k readers based around home services like this mostly copying the same model.
I had no idea about those big players wanting in. Very interesting. Thanks.
From a business point of view, and like any company, they're matching a need with a service at a profit.
But everyone has their own preferences and boundaries. Society generally frowns upon affairs, but if your own morals allow you to create that sort of business, it's your choice.
Ok, I think people are misunderstanding what I've said. I'm not taking any sides here. What I'm saying is that everyone has their own moral codes which can differ from what's dictated by society (morals aren't the same as ethics). There are going to be people who cheat but that doesn't mean everyone does. Look at laws. People break them. But not everyone.
As for AM as a business, I mentioned that everyone has their own preferences and boundaries. Some people won't create anything involving gambling, adult, etc. but others are okay with it. The same can be said for what the AM founder created. We don't have to like what he's made. We don't have to agree with the business model.
I think some people are just naturally more productive than others. They can just get going. I need to lay things out and plan. Some tips:
* Create some sort of system for capturing and organizing your tasks (like GTD)
* Immediately do something if it takes less than 2 minutes to do
* Prioritize all your tasks. I prefer using the Eisenhower Matrix. Prioritizing also includes delegating and eliminating tasks.
* Start waking up earlier (like 5:30). It's quiet, there's few distractions, and it's empowering to get a ton done and then realize it's not even noon yet.
* Decide what your Most Important Task (MIT) is and do that first thing in the morning (important!)
* Make your tasks specific and actionable. Not "Study for exam," but "Review chapter 2 notes on X section." You can also break tasks down until it sounds stupid, but much easier to do.
* Batch similar or small tasks together and set a time to do them
* Schedule your day on a calendar. If it doesn't go on, it doesn't get done. You don't have to get super specific with tasks. Just block out chunks of time to do work. Also schedule your breaks and your not-working times (important!)
* I like listening to background sounds. Either classical music or using Coffitivity/Noisli. Also helps train my brain so that whenever I hear it, I know it's time to work.
