Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#21

Post by mvanvliet » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:28 PM UTC

Having had years of anxiety, stress and also depression I have immersed myself in the topic.

Staying focused or motivated is a goal that shouldn't be a goal in the sense that if you take care of your mental health. Motivation and staying focused will naturally occur. Per person it differs what you need to do to stay healthy, maybe see a therapist if things go bad (e.g. if it really affects your daily living).

But in general it boils down to these things:

-Do work you enjoy, i.e. that relates to the values you have

-Take regular breaks and time-off. No lunch break behind a desk. Take holidays. Don't work 80 hours a week.

-Do meditation/yoga and/or sports to stay physically healthy and lower stress

-Do fun things next to your work that activate/stimulate your body. Playing guitar, painting, meeting friends, cooking. Watching TV / doing computer games is more of the same behind a screen work and thus does not re-energize you

-Take care of your social life, meet friends, family etc.

Hope this helps. Otherwise check Happify for exercises and tracks around this topic.

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#22

Post by sylens » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:32 PM UTC

The biggest change I've had to make this year is to dedicate my working space to just that - work. Before, my desk used to serve as my PC gaming setup as well as the sometimes work from home zone. However, sitting at it all day every day has caused work and personal time to blend too much. I find myself tempted to watch Youtube or fire up a game in between meetings during the day, and at night I find it hard to unwind and get my mind off of work.

I bought a PS5 and have been doing most of my gaming on that in a separate area and it's helped in both aspects.

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#23

Post by dominotw » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

mehphp wrote: post #6

dominotw wrote: post #2

Same here. I tried pomodoro for a while but that was just not sustainable. I have no spark or enthusiasm for work.

Just curious, in what way did pomodoro because unsustainable? I don't use it all the time but mostly when I don't feel the "spark" to work. I've tried many things but I've come to the conclusion that I will never have the same motivation for tasks I'm not interested in. I've found that if I sit around and wait for that motivation to hit, it will never come so it basically boils down to "just doing it". I know how tha…

pomodoro was making me really unhappy, i cannot explain it :)

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#24

Post by ph2082 » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:36 PM UTC

I use this quote occassionaly by Chuck Close:

  "Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself."

Second advice is - Get a routine. Learned about it from a book - Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make time, Find Inspiration and Get to Work.

The book has short paragraphs and anecdotes about world famous artists, writers, novelist, musicians, scientist, painters etc, so some people may find it boring. But I keep reading it intermittently.

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#25

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:37 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#26

Post by dustymcp » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:37 PM UTC

tryauuum wrote: post #16

One thing I wanted to do (but never did) was to get a dedicated pc for work-related stuff. Because on my current pc distractions are one click away, one minute you are waiting for the pipeline to finish and the next one you find yourself looking at memes.

This is funny i actually have 2 windows installed one for gaming and one for work, it works excellent.

The gaming setup doesnt have slack/messenger and all those distracting things so when i boot it up in the evening i know im off work.

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#27

Post by mrwnmonm » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:38 PM UTC

bilinguliar wrote: post #18

Sometimes you are not focused because deep inside, you know that the task at hand is not what you need. If this is the case, and you can admit it, then it is an excellent opportunity to reflect on yourself. Maybe you are at a meaningless job, and it is time to move on. I just want to make a point that lack of focus may not be a bad thing.

I hesitate to give people this advice because most jobs have some meaningless tasks. If everyone who has a task like this would leave his job, no one will stay at his job for a few months. But I deeply understand what you mean.

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#28

Post by jeremyis » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:38 PM UTC

If you're concerned about leaving your house due to COVID, the Oculus Quest 2 ($300) has helped with feeling trapped a little bit. I feel like I'm in the environment when I have the goggles on. And the exercise apps have been a great way to exercise in my room (I use Supernatural and Thrill of the Fight)

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#29

Post by ufmace » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:41 PM UTC

I find it helps to stick to an office-like routine even when you don't really need to. Like do actually wake up on time, take a shower, perform normal grooming tasks, get dressed in professional clothes, make breakfast, and get online on time.

Re: Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

#30

Post by pc86 » Thu, Mar 04, 2021, 4:45 PM UTC

I think it's important to figure out whether or not you're feeling this way because of the work, because of the pace of the work, or because you're home so much.

The work isn't interesting: Depending on your team dynamics you may be able to talk to your boss about this and try to get some more interesting stuff added to your plate. If you work for a toxic org or you're on a very small team this may not be possible. And to add another answer that people typically don't like - just do it. I just saw this tweet yesterday[0] and it was very timely for me as I've been struggling with motivation this week and last.

The pace of the work isn't interesting: I have trouble motivating if I have too little work - "oh I have three days to do this 4 hour task!" I also have trouble motivating if I have way too much - "I'm definitely missing one of these deadlines" and I worry about whichever task I'm not working on at any given moment. Having too little work may be an indication that you're ready for the next level in your career, at your current org or elsewhere. If you have too much, you need to talk to your boss.

You're home so much: Go for a run. Get your own groceries instead of Instacart or drive to get your carry-out instead of using DoorDash. Go for a drive for no reason. There are plenty of ways to get out of the house without being risky about it unless you are high-risk.

[0] https://twitter.com/BStulberg/status/1356330365007355910