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anonaskhn

"If you feel that the only way you can achieve what you want is to take amphetamines then I would hope that what you are working on is very important (for you at least). The side effect from overuse are enough to take years off your life."

It is very important to me, but I'd rather not lose years of my life is possible. Hence, asking for input here.

"And you are no Paul Erdős."

Not many accomplish on that level, but anyone who wishes can aspire to. I do.

But lifestyle judgments aside, I would be fascinated by some personal anecdotes or places to start learning more before jumping in.

20-70 per week, depending on how you define work. These days, my day is almost completely unstructured by nature: I have to structure it myself with scheduling and journals.

Would you care to elaborate on how you put in 10-13 per day? That would be wonderful.

Right now, I'm curious to what the effects will be like. I think my work is important and enjoy doing it. I'd like to do more of it, sharper, faster. I've seen the effects of good diet and exercise: Very big. I've seen the effects of caffeine: Also very big! But scary withdrawl too.

I'd like to slowly wade into other performance increasing things to see how it works for me, how it changes my work and the rest of my life. Hopefully I can do this fully aware of risks and downsides, which is why I ask here. Lots of brilliant people here who have work and lives similar to mine.

Ask HN: I'd like to start taking amphetamines. What do you recommend?

I've just read about Paul Erdos and it made me think about something I've been considering for a while.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erdős"After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month. Erdős won the bet, but complained during his abstinence that mathematics had been set back...

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