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Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#61

Post by RobertRoberts »

FWKevents wrote: post #23

-- Limit your time on social media to 20 minutes or less a day (LinkedIn/Facebook/Discord use that's related to work is an exception.) No studies exist yet to support this hypothesis, but it's my observation that longtime exposure to social media impedes overall focus. -- Limit your TV watching to one or two hours on the weekends, per week -- Limit video game use to one or two hours per week -- Find an activity you l…

Self control, this is really what you are saying. (I agree) And I would add, you just have to start somewhere, it doesn't matter what or how you do it.

You just need to start, and get yourself to do something different to really see a difference with yourself. (seems redundant, but your actions have a direct relationship to your life experience)

Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#63

Post by gexla »

Do you have full time employment? I think you have to be aware of how limited our time is. If you have a full time job, there is very little time outside of that to do anything. The trouble is that a job also drains a lot of your energy, so working on anything on the side after work is going to put you at the edge of overdoing it. It's really hard to focus on this state as it is.

Personally, I can get 4 good hours out of a day and then anything after that is gravy. Sometimes I struggle to do 4, sometimes I can go longer. But 4 is about what I can count on.

Given that time block, I then just have to project manage. Lay out a road map and start making estimates of effort required. Map that against the time you have in a given day to work on it. You then have to make the choice of what projects move based on your available resources and which get pushed off into a "someday maybe" folder.

Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#65

Post by nont »

I think Jordan Peterson said it that in order to have attention (to me this translates to focus) is to choose your sacrifices.

Your plate is limited, even your brain can deal with just a few things at a time (4 i think from most researches).

I guess you have to mindfully and aggressively say no to certain things or ideas, but that is never easy.

Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#66

Post by ChildOfChaos »

FWKevents wrote: post #23

-- Limit your time on social media to 20 minutes or less a day (LinkedIn/Facebook/Discord use that's related to work is an exception.) No studies exist yet to support this hypothesis, but it's my observation that longtime exposure to social media impedes overall focus. -- Limit your TV watching to one or two hours on the weekends, per week -- Limit video game use to one or two hours per week -- Find an activity you l…

-- Wake up early and try to accomplish something significant before 8am

I always hate this piece of advice, if i wake up early, even if I am able to struggle through getting 'something significant done' before 8am i'm going to feel terrible for the rest of the day since i got up early, it's not worth it at all. This advice is nonsense and not universal, yet the same nonsense is constantly repeated. I understand it can work for some, but that is because you are following your own rhythms and really that is what you should be doing and that should be the advice

or maybe taking your own advice more generally "Crave out a block of time for yourself dedicated to doing something significant, finding the time that works best for you in your schedule'

Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#68

Post by spencerf »

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #11

Meditate. Expose yourself to the feeling of letting go. Meditate: Literally train your mind to focus. It's going to the gym. Won't happen in a day, week, even month. Consistently do it and you'll eventually see progress. Letting go: I have a long track record of starting while not going deep. Eventually, I just had to jump in the cold water and start letting things go. Literally put away physical gear for hobbies I w…

I recommend transcendental meditation. It’s very basic. Pick any nonsensical phrase. I chose “oohm chah kahh.” You close your eyes for twenty mins and repeat that phase in your head. You can repeat parts of it and change up the rhythm by elongating the vowels or whatever. Focus on the phrase as much as you can. Your mind will wander but always come back to it. You do that once or twice a day.

There is a bit of controversy of the science and spiritual side but I find that the way to improve focus is to limit stimuli and practice focusing.

Outside of that, sleep is probably more critical.

Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#69

Post by [deleted] »

FWKevents wrote: post #23

-- Limit your time on social media to 20 minutes or less a day (LinkedIn/Facebook/Discord use that's related to work is an exception.) No studies exist yet to support this hypothesis, but it's my observation that longtime exposure to social media impedes overall focus. -- Limit your TV watching to one or two hours on the weekends, per week -- Limit video game use to one or two hours per week -- Find an activity you l…

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