At an early age of 23 I declared myself done with all-nighters. Let me explain. I never pulled all-nighters in college but at age 22 I ended up in a high-pressure job that required them about five times a month. Economically, it made sense for me since I was getting paid overtime and the all-nighters more than paid my rent. But in terms of health, not so much.
I declared myself done with all-nighters not because I don’t like staying up all night, but because they are often marks of poor planning and fire drills. Plus, no one performs at their best at 5am. However, there are exceptions. I stayed up all night to see the sunrise on New Year’s 2000. I stayed up all night trying to get another lift when a group I hitchhiked with suffered a broken down van in the dessert. And now, I’m staying up all night with the team at TechCrunch Disrupt. It’s 3am. And it’s fun. What was I thinking at age 23?
