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Thank you this is very helpful

Biphasic sleep - take a 20-30 minute nap just before you have lunch if you can. Alertness drops in the afternoon (right around lunch time), scientists found it with EEG brain activity, melatonin level in saliva, cortisol levels and so on. NASA found midday naps of 26 minutes improved crew performance by 34% and overall alertness by 54%. Make napping a habit, it will change your life.

I would read books and whenever I came across a word I didn't know I would search its definition and write it on the back of a cue card with the word on the front. I separated all my words into three piles labelled daily, weekly, and monthly. I would attempt to recall the definition of each word daily and if I got it right I would upgrade it to the weekly box which I would test each sunday. If I got it again on sunday I would put it into the monthly box. Every time I got a word wrong it would go back to the daily box. I've found this to be the most efficient way to retain declarative memory

I used it for a couple of months during my last semester at University, I slept for 4.5 hours overnight and had two or three 20 minute naps each day. Works great in the short time if you really need the extra time to get shit done, but from experience I can tell you that it doesn't work as a lifestyle despite what everybody else claims on the internet. This dude called Claudio Stampi did a study about 30 years ago that found 3 hours of Polyphasic Sleep will leave you more alert and refreshed under sleep deprived conditions compared to 3 hours of monophasic sleep - but he doesn't recommend it as a lifestyle. Like what Neill said above - if you are going for peak creative output you are probably better off just getting more sleep. With that said however a biphasic sleep schedule has been proven to improve creativity, as the midday nap tends to 'clear the cobwebs' and break any preconceptions you might have about a problem or creative endeavor. From experience I would say that it is worth a try so you an at least see for yourself what it is like. I would suggest trying the 4.5 hour core with two 20 minute naps. Humans like all great apes are naturally biphasic and hence this 4.5 hour core schedule is pretty easy to use because it isn't all that different to the natural cycle. I'm pretty passionate about this stuff and ensuring that people use it safely and appropriately, if you want more information about the whole polyphasic thing and how to use it effectively etc. I have written a heap about it here; http://www.hypercapable.com/blog/polyphasicsleep.html Message me if you have any more questions man

@MIA.RIVEL Inspirational story, thank you Mia. I can definitely resonate with what you are saying about learning becoming much easier when you are passionate and interested in what you are learning. Once upon a time my degree in science was the ideal career and the best path of action I could think of, now after a bit of personal development and reading a stack of books I have come to realise that there are much bigger and more meaningful dreams out there to pursue. I was good at school but I am literally orders of magnitude more productive and effective when I am reading books and learning my own way on the side. After reading your comment a week ago I got thinking about the sacrifices I am willing to make to ensure that this transition happens - it made the entire thing seem a lot more manageable and reasonable. Not much else matters when I really think about it - all I really need is food and enough money for rent in a shitbox of a room. Earning the freedom to spend my time learning and working on whatever I choose is important to me and is worth the struggle. Thanks again for sharing your story - it really got me thinking

@JuliaEliza Thank you for your in depth and honest opinion - your story makes you somewhat of an inspiration I think I am definitely underestimating how far I have got to go until I can financially sustain myself from online business, but in all honesty I love the idea of the challenge. I can really understand and resonate with what you are saying about how much you grew from the entire experience - I have been at this for a couple of months now and I must say even though the surface level achievement may still be in its infancy, the journey has pushed me to grow so much more than any other endeavor I can recall. I guess I will just keep pushing at it and do what I need to do to sustain myself in the meantime. I'm more than okay with the 60, 70, and 80+ hour weeks (i'm essentially just trying to monetize what I would otherwise be doing all day anyway ), but you are right i'll need some sort of short term crutch to hold myself up in the meantime. Thank you again for your thoughtful response . Best of luck with your future travels and I would love to stay in touch

@DreamSpirit Your voice on this topic is a breath of fresh air. Thank you. Bless.

I'm 20 years old. I live in Sydney, Australia. I am about to commence my third year (out of four) in a Chemistry degree. I have always been passionate and enthusiastic about science, but over my two years at University my heartfelt interest and deep curiosity for it has been sapped. I still love science, but my eyes no longer light up when somebody asks me about what I do. I don't have the freedom to follow my natural inclinations nor get deeply involved and invested into something that I find meaningful and exciting. I am being pushed along a conveyor belt to get a degree and I am growing more restless by the minute. There is nothing I love in this world more than learning, and I am grateful for the opportunity to get a tertiary education - but I know that it is holding me back. I want to learn, but in a different way. I want to learn about the world and science in my own way - unchained and free to pursue the things that really make me come alive. I've launched a website on my summer break where I have started to write about life changing books I have read along with other stuff that I genuinely find meaningful and important. This is the work I want to be spending my time doing. I want to be learning my own way and genuinely helping people - not memorising organic chemistry reactions for the sake of passing a test. I have big plans for this page, and I know that I will get it to the point where it can sustain me financially and I will be free to invest my life into it. The problem is the time factor. The semester starts in approximately a months time, and once it does I will be back in the grind spending majority of my time trying to survive the endless juggernaut of assessments and bullshit. I want to leave, but I don't think the page will make me enough money to support me by the time I am required to resume studying (I get student support bonuses while studying which is the only reason I can afford to live in Sydney). What I am looking for is practical suggestions and wisdom regarding how to approach this situation and how I could lever myself into the life I want to life. I know this is the work I want to be doing, I am just struggling to find a way to position myself in order to do it. I have no intention of pursuing a career in science at this point, but I may need to play the game for a bit longer to ultimately get to where I want to go. I know that I will find my way there eventually, I am just done with delaying it. Apologies for the essay - I truly appreciate your curiosity and I am sincerely grateful for your thoughts and wisdom. You guys are awesome.

I'm 20 years old. I live in Sydney, Australia. I am about to commence my third year (out of four) in a Chemistry degree. I have always been passionate and enthusiastic about science, but over my two years at University my heartfelt interest and deep curiosity for it has been sapped. I still love science, but my eyes no longer light up when somebody asks me about what I do. I don't have the freedom to follow my natural inclinations nor get deeply involved and invested into something that I find meaningful and exciting. I am being pushed along a conveyor belt to get a degree and I am growing more restless by the minute. There is nothing I love in this world more than learning, and I am grateful for the opportunity to get a tertiary education - but I know that it is holding me back. I want to learn, but in a different way. I want to learn about the world and science in my own way - unchained and free to pursue the things that really make me come alive. I've launched a website on my summer break where I have started to write about life changing books I have read along with other stuff that I genuinely find meaningful and important. This is the work I want to be spending my time doing. I want to be learning my own way and genuinely helping people - not memorising organic chemistry reactions for the sake of passing a test. I have big plans for this page, and I know that I will get it to the point where it can sustain me financially and I will be free to invest my life into it. The problem is the time factor. The semester starts in approximately a months time, and once it does I will be back in the grind spending majority of my time trying to survive the endless juggernaut of assessments and bullshit. I want to leave, but I don't think the page will make me enough money to support me by the time I am required to resume studying (I get student support bonuses while studying which is the only reason I can afford to live in Sydney). What I am looking for is practical suggestions and wisdom regarding how to approach this situation and how I could lever myself into the life I want to life. I know this is the work I want to be doing, I am just struggling to find a way to position myself in order to do it. I have no intention of pursuing a career in science at this point, but I may need to play the game for a bit longer to ultimately get to where I want to go. I know that I will find my way there eventually, I am just done with delaying it. Apologies for the essay - I truly appreciate your curiosity and I am sincerely grateful for your thoughts and wisdom. You guys are awesome.