In high school and college I was in a vicious cycle of insufficient sleep, lethargy during the day, and panicked heroics the night before deadlines. It worked! I got into and out of a selective institution that way. But my life got immeasurably better once I started working. I would put in an honest day’s effort, leave it wherever it was at the end of the day, unwind all evening, and wake up again when I felt like it (hooray for 11am standup).

Holy shit. The quality of life improvement was unbelievable. It is incredibly tragic to have wasted those years that way.