Archive for December, 2005
Polyphasic Sleep Week 2
I know it hasn’t been a week yet but I feel that now is a good time to update how my sleep has progressed. As planned Monday was full of family obligations. I took a 6h sleep period Sunday night and no naps on Monday. Monday night I again slept 6 hours in prep for Tuesday’s 5.5 hour drive back to Rochester. I took one nap on Tuesday prior to leaving. By the time I got to Rochester I was tired but not more than normal. Tuesday night I resumed 4h/25min sleep … sort of. When I woke up from the 1AM nap I realized I was quite tired from driving and needed some extra sleep. I ended up taking two longer naps that night.
Overcoming Fear
What are your fears? Take a moment to think about it. Do you have a phobia? Do you fear being alone or losing your job?
Far too many people allow fear to run or interfere with their life. If you have a strong fear of something, step back and evaluate it. In order to become the best person you can be you must overcome or control your fears. If not kept in check they will be a negative influence and hold you back. The general method of overcoming fear is to face that of which you are afraid.
Finally going live on Forex!
I received cash from most of my relatives as Christmas gifts. I decided to use all of the money, plus some of my own, to open a real Forex trading account. I will be starting with a whopping $200. If the account is up after a month of trading I’ll start adding more on a regular basis.
End of Polyphasic Sleep Week 1
It’s the end of my first polyphasic week. I have to say that it went extremely well. I started with 3 days of 6h core and one day nap. Then I moved to 5h core and 2 30 min naps. In both cases I woke up from all of my cores without an alarm. I was pleasantly surprised how well my body did that. For the past two days I followed the 4h awake/30 min asleep pattern (on the 1, 5, and 9 hours) – sort of. Thursday went perfectly, all 6 naps without a hitch. Last night and today were a bit different. I was doing fine and wasn’t very tired. At 3AM I was bored and decided to take an extra nap. I was tired but that wasn’t my motivation. I figured I could use the extra sleep in case I skipped a nap today due to family obligations.
More Letchworth
[photopress:wide_sun.jpg,thumb,centered]
Polyphasic sleep has given me time to finally attend to some photoshoots I’ve had sitting around on my computer. These were taken on November 20, 2005 at Letchworth State Park here in New York. I added them to the Letchworth State Park section of the gallery.
Watch for more photos and entries soon. I may start posting even more frequently since I have more time.
Million Dollar Experiment Psychology
I’ve been observing Steve Pavlina’s Million Dollar Experiment since inception. It’s an interesting concept, however it has quite a few flaws that I’d like to point out.
The idea that you can create money out of thin air is an enticing concept. The promise of something for nothing always draws interest. The act of setting the goal to obtain $1 million alone can increase your income. (1) You may begin to see opportunities that existed all along. However, once you believe that money will start coming into your life due to outside influences you start to apply confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the concept that you will have “the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.” So once you believe that money will appear you will start seeing sources of income that would have happened anyway as fulfilling that prophacy. Confirmation bias also causes you to downplay anything that disproves the concept.
Some photo shoots
Aiman’s Bike and Car
[photopress:carbike3.jpg,thumb,alignleft]
Apartment Christmas
[photopress:reflection.jpg,thumb,alignleft]
I finally got around to uploading some of my other photo shoots. I hope you enjoy them!
http://www.thedanexperiment.com/album
Show Me The Money!
Goal #6: By the end of February 2006 I have developed a Forex trading methodology that I feel comfortable using and am trading it with a live (real money) account. You can view my current strategies and demo accounts here.
I’ve been learning the Forex markets since September. I’ve looked at every indicator I can find, read hundreds of forum posts and websites, talked with traders, and traded demo accounts. Forex trading will play a large part of my income over 2006.
Let The Napping Begin!
I decided that I need to ease myself into polyphasic sleep. Not counting some short car eye resting, I haven’t taken a single nap since I was in Kindergarden. I had no idea how my body would react to napping. I decided on Saturday that I would start with a few days of 6h sleep at night and 1 30min day nap, then move to 4.5h of sleep with 3 naps. After that move to a full blown 4h/30min schedule. Due to family obligations I will be forced to take a few days of monophasic sleep over Christmas weekend. I think this can help me get a feel for how my body handles napping while still providing a cushion of normal sleep during the adjustment.
Polyphasic sleep links and scientific research
Through all of my polyphasic sleep research I’ve had trouble finding real resources about the subject. There are tons of blogs with failed attempts plus a few successful, but not many scientific resources. Since Dr Claudio Stampi seems to be the leading researcher into polyphasic sleep I decided to search for his name on Google and see what came up. I discovered a number of news articles, interviews, and even a video of his research. Here are the links to what I found with information from Dr Stampi’s research and other sources. Please keep in mind that anything coming from blogs, news articles, and forum posts are to be taken with a grain of salt when the do not include a source for their information.
