A solid 90% of mental health issues stem from the inability to choose where to place your attention. The only activity that I know of that teaches this important ability is meditation. And the only place I know of that teaches it well are the Vipassana 10-day retreats (dhamma.org). They help you by taking away all distraction, giving you a safe, quiet place to practice, and all the encouragement in the world.
Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
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Re: Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
#22i think the fact you are even thinking in terms of an on/off switch suggests you are far from your goal. the brain is not a computer [1]. yet, you projected on it machine characteristics: such as step transitions between states. rather, the biology of brain states is more similar to that of exercise biology: when you finished running, your heart rate, body temperature and numerous other adaptations stay elevated. in fact, metabolic rate stays elevated above sedentary baseline throughout the rest of the day (which constitutes a benefit). likewise, it's unrealistic to expect a discrete switch from on to off of "programmer mind" adaptations. there are many good suggestions in the comments for speeding up the transition, but i thought i would mention this biological context. it's completely normal to struggle with reverberations of the activity which occupied most of your day. above all it takes patience for them to fade away.
Re: Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
#23The method I use is to always leave when you've solved the problem for the day. Don't start another afterwards.
Re: Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
#24Hey I’m in trading - Often we go home with millions of dollars of risk on our books after 12hours at the office, so it’s a common problem switching off in the little time after work. Most of us feel the need to constantly be up to date with market news/price movements/thinking about how to best position ourselves around a certain event. Within the industry there are well known ways for switching off out of work, some have been listed here already.
* Vigorous exercise, especially cardio - ok to let your mind wander here but wary of mentally exerting yourself
* end of day writing down everything you need to do and what you have learnt
* if you have extra learning/coding side projects, do it only at the office after work but before you go home so that home is a work free zone
* have a threshold routine when you get home, e.g. change clothes or have a shower, after which you don’t think about work anymore
* controversial one but minimise talking about work with family - obviously share the nice things about your day but I pretty much avoid grumbling about work or specific stresses at work with family as it means you never get a rest from them
* consume media unrelated to work (don’t read hacker news before bed if you’re a software developer lol)
* some people meditate, never clicked for me but it’s meant to be very good
* work yourself to death when you are working so that you can properly relax guilt free when you’re not working. Honestly WFH makes a lot of these more difficult.
Re: Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
#25Personally, the worst impact of "bringing my work home with me" has been when I'm spending time adjacent to infosec or pentesting. That's a discipline that requires cynicism (engineers are incompetent, can't protect their systems), paranoia (everyone is constantly trying to hack your vulnerable systems) and distrust (any user input could contain a malicious payload). Unsurprisingly, these are not the ideal qualities for fostering strong relationships, especially with a new partner or anyone you met recently.
I don't think this is discussed often enough. The traits that make for the best infosec professional are the same traits that make for the worst spouse. And that's before even considering the tendency to "over analyze" that comes with the baseline analytical mind required for any engineering profession.
So how to manage it? Well, I'm not sure you can really turn it off. But you can be aware of it. Remain cognizant of your own biases, and redirect some of that analytical energy into introspecting and analyzing yourself, before you take it out on someone else. But don't take it too far - sometimes your gut instinct is right; maybe she really is cheating on you, maybe you're not just crazy. But take a second to think about it. And make sure to communicate your biases to anyone whom they might affect, so that they're prepared to recognize when they emerge - that's when a good partner will sympathize and bring you back to earth, and a bad partner will take it personally and exacerbate the situation.
Re: Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
#26Personally, the worst impact of "bringing my work home with me" has been when I'm spending time adjacent to infosec or pentesting. That's a discipline that requires cynicism (engineers are incompetent, can't protect their systems), paranoia (everyone is constantly trying to hack your vulnerable systems) and distrust (any user input could contain a malicious payload). Unsurprisingly, these are not the ideal qualities…
Spouse needs to be well aware of it. My current spouse fully understands that the same thing that makes me successful is also something incredibly annoying that she needs to pull me out of occasionally. Sometimes the person just needs to remind you of what's important, and your brain can snap to a different mode of operating. Sometimes it is just gonna be a point of contention.
Re: Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
#27Hey I’m in trading - Often we go home with millions of dollars of risk on our books after 12hours at the office, so it’s a common problem switching off in the little time after work. Most of us feel the need to constantly be up to date with market news/price movements/thinking about how to best position ourselves around a certain event. Within the industry there are well known ways for switching off out of work, some…
> Vigorous exercise ... threshold routine ... change clothes
Do something that takes a good amount of concentration/coordination physically, so there's no way to think about work.
Ex: go to the gym, change, circuit train and focus on good form, breathing.
Make it a routine, so that the motivation barrier won't stop you from going.
Re: Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
#28Ive had mostly terrible jobs before I got into programming and I learned to leave work at work. At my last job(non-tech) I got so good that the second I drove out of the parking lot I forgot I had even worked.
I also exercise after work and it really helps kill negative energy.
Re: Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
#29Hey I’m in trading - Often we go home with millions of dollars of risk on our books after 12hours at the office, so it’s a common problem switching off in the little time after work. Most of us feel the need to constantly be up to date with market news/price movements/thinking about how to best position ourselves around a certain event. Within the industry there are well known ways for switching off out of work, some…
I can't see how working from home could effect anything here. I have a work laptop that I close when work hours are up.
Re: Ask HN: Turning off the programming mind during non-work hours
#30Kids?