It is that time again!  The time when college students all over sacrifice sleep for studying.  The most likely offender is the 'all nighter' where students stay up for 24-48 hours prior to a final exam, research paper, or final project to squeeze in any last bit of information.  

"[Researchers] found that people who drive after being awake for 17 to 19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent" (via CNN.com - Sleep deprivation as bad as alcohol impairment, study suggests).  DHH at 37signals wrote in "Sleep deprivation is not a badge of honor" to "... get more sleep. Stop bragging about how little you got. Make your peak mental capacity accessible."

Personally, lack of sleep causes me to perform at subpar, lack creativity, and create mediocre work.  Most of the time, the all nighter is just a seemingly okay solution to a much bigger problem of time management.  I've found that simply organizing my 168 hours in a week better, you can mitigate the risks of having to pull an all nighter.

If you're working on a startup, studying for school, or working a 9-to-5 please take some time to get some sleep.  Everyone benefits from you putting out the best work that you can.

 

1. Be smart about classes: Most classes are never set in stone.  Projects, groups, amount of work are all negotiable and all you have to do is ask.  I got the college to approve getting course credit for working on my startup company.  I also sought out classes that would allow me to work on independent projects that I really wanted to work on (like this).  Seek out classes that will allow you to do what you'd like and if they don't exist talk to your advisor and start an independent study course or have it cross referenced with a different course.

2. 168 hours organization: Everyone has a constant 168 hours in each week; how you manage those hours is what sets you apart.  Plan out your courses, assignments, etc. on a calendar (Google Calendar, iCal, Notebook, whatever) and see what time you have that you can allocate to working on your startup.  I've found it very helpful to mark down all my classes and seeing how much time I actually have.  I've used free time to work on my startup, talk to customers, and brainstorm new ideas.  You can't change what you don't have control over, so try to get in control of your time/calendar.

3. Seek out free resources: Many universities have courses and resources that are free to students, but might be obscure.  Many students might be reluctant to start a business because they don't have servers, office space, or materials when in reality they can get most of that for free just by asking.  Universities have become more accepting in student entrepreneurship and thus are much more open to helping students get what they need to get started for free.  I know that we were able to get free servers and office space for OrangeQC just by talking to the right departments and just asking.  

 

I hope you can find some of these tips helpful in starting your business.  Now get out there and hustle!