I want to start off by saying that (for me at least) writing a thesis was extremely rewarding, and I’m extremely glad that I decided to try it. I learned a lot about research throughout this process, met a lot of amazing people, and even had a little bit of fun on the way. No really, I’m serious (don’t judge me please)! It’s super empowering to realize that you can, in fact do meaningful research, right now. Nevertheless (in case you hadn’t heard), it is a lot of work to write a thesis. Many have said that it’s better to work smarter, not harder. Still others say why not both? But I would like to emphasize the “work smarter” part in this blog post.
If you’re like me (or, as I happen to know, some of my peers), you will be tempted to sacrifice sleep during this journey. At first it may be just an hour or two, every few days. Then it’s every day. Eventually, you may decide you’re behind, or not as ahead as you’d like to be, and you’ll go 2 or 3 nights back-to-back with more of a nap than a good night’s sleep. Maybe you’ll even start pulling all-nighters every week or so, just for kicks! Is this a good idea? From personal experience, absolutely not. I don’t care how hard-working you are or how much caffeine you can stomach at a time: sleep sacrifice is not your gal.
Did you know that research demonstrates a relationship between the amount of sleep one gets and one’s lifespan? Just food for thought.
It turns out that the amount of caffeine I can stomach is near zero. This is primarily due to personal choice, but in any case for all you fellow non-caffeiners (the few, the proud): you will fall asleep in class. In fact, you will fall asleep in every class, especially the afternoon ones. You won’t be able to stop it. Your notes will sound really funny the next day when you read them back though! Caffeine people: I can’t speak from first-hand experience obviously, I’ve just heard that it’s similarly miserable for y’all – IF, that is, you’ve decided sleep is for the weak.
Sleep is for the smart. Work smarter not harder, right? It turns out that sacrificing sleep makes you more productive in the short term (more time to get stuff done) and less productive in the long term (zombies work slower than people). Short term gain, long term and net loss. This is frustratingly easy to say in hindsight. If your literature review is looking dicey and it’s due tomorrow, submit a dicey literature review. Just accept it. Deal. Hold that L. It’s better than the alternative, I promise you. Some of us are more ok with that than others of course. If you’re like me, you hate even thinking about such an outcome. But once I started on the sleep-over-irrational-pursuit-of-perfection grind (far too late I fear), I felt magical. It was like having my own personal Hallelujah chorus suddenly following me around.
Ultimately, the best solution here is to eliminate as much work as possible as early as possible, because the real issue at hand is of course procrastination. If you’re ever feeling particularly grumpy about getting started on figuring out interview questions or analyzing data, just remember, you’re saving your own life by starting now! Think ahead, plan ahead, schedule everything if necessary. It often was for me. But if worse comes to worse, be ok with turning in something other than your best work, because sacrificing sleep is not the answer (unless you’re Noah, he actually had no choice, shoutout). Get some sleep!
David Orth is an environmental science major who loves the outdoors. Outside of school, he has an unreasonably strong passion for soccer, especially for the US men’s and women’s teams, his hometown youth club Cutters, and the professional club Chelsea FC.
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