But are you really just spinning your wheels when you work late?

It's also possible that the time you spent the night before was precisely what allowed you to figure out the solution so quickly in the morning.

I've had the same experience, where I've tried lots of strategies that don't work, only to have the solution hit me suddenly, hours (or even days!) later. Perhaps you would've discovered the resolution to your problem without spending time on it the night before, but I wouldn't underestimate the power of putting in your due diligence and then sleeping on it.

I imagine the sophomore slump happens for similar reasons.

Say a writer spends years crafting her first novel, making sure everything is perfect. Upon release, it receives critical acclaim. Soon, said writer goes from thinking of herself as a "hard working writer," to believing that she is a great writer! However, as a result of this change, she struggles to write her second book, all the while wondering where her writing chops disappeared to.

Maybe she realizes the problem in time, and puts in the effort it takes to create another masterpiece. If she doesn't, she's likely headed for a sophomore slump.

While I agree with a lot of this, I do have a couple of qualms:

1) Looking for a shortcut isn't always a fruitless endeavor. Say you're trying to lose weight. Conventional wisdom tells you to exercise more and eat less. That strategy seldom works in the long term. In this case, the shortcut, whether it be veganism, paleo, or whatever, can serve as both a better strategy than CV and as a motivator. Trying new things is fun!

2) Furthermore, what if your system and your end goals no longer align? For example, I used to study Korean because I lived in Korea. I started my studies as soon as I knew I'd be moving there. And though I had a reasonable amount of success, I eventually gave up. Not because I thought it was an impossible language, but rather, I didn't think the time investment would be worth the payoff. So I stopped training and "failed." Yet in the grand scheme of things, I don't see it as a failure.

Like, it's cool that you're eating sardines, but what's the real payoff? If you're enjoying the process, great — that's enough to make it worth continuing. However, if it's an ordeal you're putting yourself through daily for no reason, I have to wonder what the point is. (Perhaps I'm doomed to failure because I ask too many questions.)

In any case, good luck with the sardines :P

This sounds similar to my present philosophy on regret.About a year ago, I made a Facebook post, stating that after that particular night, I could leave my three year stint in South Korea with no regrets. The reason I wrote it was actually fairly trivial: That night I had hung out with a female friend I had once been interested in, but hadn't seen in nearly a year because she'd gone to Australia. Naturally, I was happy to see her again, and we had a fun night out on the town. However, I ultimately came to the conclusion that while she was a cool gal, she wasn't "the one" for me.More than that, I realized that though I had met/dated some cool girls in the country, I didn't feel like I was leaving any "open doors" behind. I think most young, single guys have felt this at some point; the "if I had only tried harder, I could have dated 'so and so'" feeling. I'd felt it in the past, but this time? Nada.So anyway, when I got home, I wrote on my Facebook wall, "After tonight, I can leave Korea with no regrets."I had meant it in a narrow sense, but obviously people reading it couldn't know that. A while later, a friend asked me, "Hey Henry, you're really leaving with no regrets?"Hearing that made me think about what the words I wrote actually meant. And after giving it some thought, I told him that yes, I was leaving Korea with no regrets. Why? Because even if I made mistakes, and even if I didn't do all the things I planned to do, I was happy with the present. And if my past choices led to that result, then why should I have any regrets?Since then, I've done my best to live with "no regrets," and I gotta say, so far so good. Do I think it's possible to truly live with zero regrets? Probably not, given how deeply the concept is woven into our cultural fabric; trying to rid myself of all regret would be like trying to rid myself of the English language - not possible. But simply being aware of the concept has really done wonders.