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Ask HN: How do you deal with your brain not being “on?”

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Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with your brain not being “on?”

#21

Post by superdeeda »

I switch to “lower intensity” tasks that could still be useful, like tweaking our Datadog dashboards and monitors, writing or editing some documentation, going through old company announcements, Googling some things, etc.

Or I go take a walk, make coffee or do household chores when I’m working from home.

If you’re able to get a few hours of productive work done in a day (let’s say 3 to 4 hours) and spend the rest of your time recovering from that and recouping your energy, I think it’s okay.

However, if any work is completely draining you, it might be a good idea to take some time off.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with your brain not being “on?”

#22

Post by kierenj »

dachrillz wrote: post #20

I recently had a period of intense stress, stomach aches and all of that. I'm normally pretty stress tolerant so feeling these feelings was very uncomfortable for me. Being this stressed obviously impacts your mental clarity. This led me to discover Andrew Huberman, a renowned neruo-scientist at Stanford that talks publicly alot about well being. Learning some things from him I came to realize that "feeling bad in an…

Anything specific? He has a looot of content!

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with your brain not being “on?”

#23

Post by adoga »

eurasiantiger wrote: post #16
jakedata wrote: post #12

I turned my college career around by studying when I was alert instead of trying to force a "normal" study schedule. The 3 hours from 2:30 AM to 5:30 AM were the golden hours. When the music started playing in my head it was time to go back to sleep. Can you flex your work hours so that they align with the times that you are able to focus on technical tasks? 30 years later I still get productive things done in the we…

You have ADD. Source: I have ADD.

Curious what "mild" ADD looks like?

I've not necessarily had issues impacting my life but can be very forgetful (top of the stack always takes priority) which drives my wife crazy, and I often describe my work as "loading up for a few days to do a weeks worth of work in a 3-hour flow session" (which has worked well for me).

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with your brain not being “on?”

#24

Post by rrgok »

I don't believe this is a solution for all. I'm not even suggesting you have an unhealthy lifestyle. It might sound funny, but increasing the amount of protein helped me stabilize my focus for long period of time. It was amazing realizing how each macro-nutrient regulate the mode of focus differently. For example, carbs+coffee gives me multiple small bursts of focus throughout the day. While, protein+coffe gives me a single, long and steady focus for 5-6hrs a day and that's it. Sometime, I have hard time stopping and getting out that 5-6hrs of intense focus. Having said that, I don't believe that you can have 24/7 steady focus, it is not reasonable (it is not even needed)

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with your brain not being “on?”

#25

Post by baremetal »

nathants wrote: post #9

it’s easy to change jobs into exactly the same job. if so, nothing actually changed. try to find a way to work on things you’re actually interested in and excited to work on. you should wake up excited to play in the problem space. if you are able to, be open to moving and taking a paycut if it makes it easier to access interesting problems.

>try to find a way to work on things you’re actually interested in and excited to work on. you should wake up excited to play in the problem space.

This is how I recovered from burnout. That and taking a few years off.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with your brain not being “on?”

#26

Post by VU3ATG »

rrgok wrote: post #24

I don't believe this is a solution for all. I'm not even suggesting you have an unhealthy lifestyle. It might sound funny, but increasing the amount of protein helped me stabilize my focus for long period of time. It was amazing realizing how each macro-nutrient regulate the mode of focus differently. For example, carbs+coffee gives me multiple small bursts of focus throughout the day. While, protein+coffe gives me a…

What foods do you consider protein for your purposes

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with your brain not being “on?”

#29

Post by rrgok »

VU3ATG wrote: post #26
rrgok wrote: post #24

I don't believe this is a solution for all. I'm not even suggesting you have an unhealthy lifestyle. It might sound funny, but increasing the amount of protein helped me stabilize my focus for long period of time. It was amazing realizing how each macro-nutrient regulate the mode of focus differently. For example, carbs+coffee gives me multiple small bursts of focus throughout the day. While, protein+coffe gives me a…

What foods do you consider protein for your purposes

Mostly lean protein from meat. I've been trying collagen peptides too, and it helps.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with your brain not being “on?”

#30

Post by Idk__Throwaway »

dazc wrote: post #27

'I feel like if my job were just to cut wood in the forest all day, then I'd be golden.' I imagine there is a guy cutting wood somewhere right now, thinking the exact opposite?

Yes, and? People are different. There are Europeans who dream of living in the US, and Americans who dream of living in Europe. There are short people who wish to be taller and tall people who wish to be shorter.
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