In October of 2012, I wrote about the reverse nap, a self-described practice in which I get up in the middle of the night, work for an hour or two, and then go back to bed.
Later that month, I wrote about how my reverse nap had already been adopted by a handful of readers.
In February of 2014, I wrote about scientific evidence supporting the reverse nap.
In March of this year, in the New York Times Magazine, Jesse Barron writes about the benefits of segmented sleep.
And what is segmented sleep?
Yes, you guessed it. It’s Barron’s name for the reverse nap.
Four years after I write about the benefits of the reverse nap for the first time (and readers think I am crazy), the world is finally catching up to me.
It’s the story of my life:
I have an idea that is new and seemingly bizarre. People make fun of me. They call me crazy.
Years later, the idea is adopted by the mainstream.
I predicted in June of 2015 that Donald Trump would be the GOP candidate for President. Though it hasn’t happened yet, the prediction isn’t looking so crazy anymore.
In this instance, I added four entries to my “I Told You So” calendar for each of the four people who said I was “stupid” and crazy” and “ridiculous” for ever thinking such a thing. I cannot wait to make those phone calls later this summer (though a Trump candidacy is admittedly a terrifying prospect).
I first argued in a speech class in 1994 that women should be eligible for the military draft and that not making them eligible for military conscription was a sexist and demeaning act. My classmates thought I was ridiculous and stupid and pie-in-the-sky.
I still have that speech.
Earlier this year, I reiterated this belief and discussed it on my podcast.
Last week the Armed Services Committee voted to make women eligible for the military draft, just 22 years after I first spoke about this idea in a college classroom. Though the vote is only a recommendation that must now be passed by Congress, the country’s top military brass now agree with the position I first adopted when I was 24 years old.
My only saving grace in all of these cases and many, many others is that I am a writer and often record these “crazy” ideas as evidence of my prescience in the face of naysayers.
It’s no fun to be told that you’re stupid or crazy or ridiculous, but it’s always nice to say “I told you so,” even if it takes years to utter those four glorious words.
