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For me its some times music, but mostly comedy channels on low volume, so i have some background noise that filters out surrounding noise.
I should be just fine once I've made it through concentration camp . . .
I have yet to see whether the methods are scaleable and replicable for me, but a lot of the content resonated with me, especially the insight that concentration to flow states is a skill that can be learned and brought down from 20 minutes to just one with training.
It was an interesting mix of fundamentals from Cal Newport (Deep Work), plus mind emptying exercises, concentration meditation, exercise breaks and group work sessions.
I'll probably dig more into it.
I think there was a post on hn about l-theanine before.
A few more from Dr. Huberman: ADHD & How Anyone Can Improve Their Focus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFL6qRIJZ_Y How to Focus to Change Your Brain - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG53Vxum0as
The good news is that "sometimes it's effortless". Consider yourself blessed. For a lot of people that is never true and though they may even achieve some professional success by grinding, it will be joyless and likely not lead to real career satisfaction.
Now in terms of optimizing your coding output, don't focus on minmaxing this as if you were an assembly-line manager trying to squeeze out your next ounce of performance. Instead recognize that coding is a creative craft that depends hugely on your state of mind. Focus on finding ways to recognize and harness the energy overall, but recognize you can't force it. This comes in two parts:
First, if you are procrastinating diagnose that by practicing self-awareness at all levels. For me it can range from something as simple as eating the wrong lunch all the way up to existential crisis about how I'm living my life, and everything in between. This is obviously non-trivial, but it can be hugely important. A lot of folks mention exercise here—and I agree—but I would broaden it to include ones overall physical and mental health. By addressing those things holistically one establishes the conditions to allow inspiration to strike.
Once that is established then you need to recognize and harness the energy when it comes to you. It might be on a schedule, it might not. You might have an understanding boss who gives you carte blanche to organize your own deliverable schedule, or you might need to some stakeholder jiujitsu (up to and including finding a new job) in order to carve out space to make your process work for whoever is putting money in your pocket. The point though, is not to adopt some external productivity narrative (I was brought up with the puritan work ethic) but to instead recognize and optimize for the tao of your own abilities.
I have a cushion next to my desk and whenever I can't focus or don't know what to do next, I sit for ~5-10 min with eyes closed and usually the next best task becomes apparent. I then visualize it clearly and think about the sequence of steps needed to accomplish it.
If I don't do that, I usually find myself wasting extra time before I arrive at the next task, or I feel more low-energy / unfocused that I would have otherwise.
Regular exercise pairs well with this to keep your baseline energy up.