Forgoing sleep is a bad idea. Sure, you get those extra hours right now, but you
pay in spades later: You destroy your creativity, morale, and attitude.
Once in a while, you can pull an all-nighter if you fully understand the
consequences. Just don't make it a habit. If it becomes a constant, the costs start
to mount:
Stubbornness: When you're really tired, it always seems easier to plow down
whatever bad path you happen to be on instead of reconsidering the route.
The finish line is a constant mirage and you wind up walking in the desert
way too long.
Lack of creativity: Creativity is one of the first things to go when you lose
sleep. What distinguishes people who are ten times more effective than the
norm is not that they work ten times as hard; it's that they use their creativity
to come up with solutions that require one-tenth of the effort. Without sleep,
you stop coming up with those one-tenth solutions.
Diminished morale: When your brain isn't firing on all cylinders, it loves to
feed on less demanding tasks. Like reading yet another article about stuff that
doesn't matter. When you're tired, you lose motivation to attack the big
problems.
Irritability: Your ability to remain patient and tolerant is severely reduced
when you're tired. If you encounter someone who's acting like a fool, there's a
good chance that person is suffering from sleep deprivation.
These are just some of the costs you incur when not getting enough sleep. Yet
some people still develop a masochistic sense of honor about sleep deprivation.
They even brag about how tired they are. Don't be impressed. It'll come back to
bite them in the ass.