Study skills--what worked for me

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As a recently graduated engineer, I've written a text at my blog about how I succeeded at the university. Some of the advice might be unorthodox, but at least it worked.

http://www.tobiesen.com/?p=52

Thank you very much for sharing. It's kind and generous of you.

I was just about to post these questions for anyone with such success in continual mental work...

Do you ever feel like you've not just burnt out, but fried your brain and can't go on, but somehow manage to? How do you spend your breaks? What do you tell yourself to keep going? How do you rest and recover, and keep churning it out?

Some of these have been touched on in your blog, but any elaboration here by anyone with such success would be much appreciated. ...besides coffee--I drink plenty of it already... I'm about to have one now...

(btw, a little typo in the last paragraph: you wrote "stribe" but I think you meant "strive". )

Yes, this is what I needed to be told. Thank you again. I wrote the post above with an assumption that it was my brain's inability to continue doing what I needed it to do, whereas it's really quite easy work. In your reply you take it as given that it's a motivational problem, and your suggestions helpfully address that. You're right. It is motivation. Thinking about people to prove wrong is actually a very good idea because it's a self-confident, assertive attitude to take, and this is an effective remedy because it's directly counter to the self-doubt and assumptions of inability which were paralyzing me. A good sleep has been great medicine as well.

I've found all over the place the suggestion to use caffeine to support intellectual work, so started thinking about why it's effective, which has led me to consider nutrition to support the particular neurotransmitters involved... found that I was lacking iron and vitamin C to produce the catecholamine neurotransmitters and I'm also trying little bouts of exercise between work sessions in attempt to release them.