Ask HN: What helps you focus and get things done?

#2 is right on the money for me. I will spend three days failing to get started on something only to wind up being able to do three days worth of work in 5 hours just in time for a deadline. If I can get hyperfocused on something I am an absolute machine, I just can't seem to get that way until I am under the gun. I tried adderall for a month but it worked too well and scared the shit out of me. I am not going to trade a lifetime of popping amphetamines for the ability to labor more efficiently. I wish I could channel it. I feel like I have a superpower that I have no control over. I will try your trick of making myself a person that I want to do things for, and not letting that person get bogged down in minutia. Come to think of it I don't think I have ever even considered being easier on myself. Great post and you have given me a lot to ponder. Perhaps fighting it headfirst for nearly 40 years wasn't the most elegant solution after all.

Religion/Christianity

Before downvoting hear me out.

We are meat based neural network that evolved for certain conditions (small tribes of hunter). Religion was the way to pass knowledge down generations, things that don’t happen often, dangers to avoid, behaviour that help survival of individual/tribe.

As the knowledge grew we created the scientific method and created an explosion of knowledge in an ever speeding up exponential. Recently we find ourselves throwing away all the knowledge we had accumulated in religious traditions because it doesn’t fit our materialist scientific new ways of seeing things.

But inside of religion, in symbolic form there is knowledge that is deeply relevant to the human condition. How to grieve and let go, how to celebrate life, how to view death, how to get together, how to forgive other and ourselves.

We are at a moment where science is going very fast, improving life in all area, but also dehumanizing our life. We need traditions, a common goal, singing together, grieving together, something anchored in almost immuable knowledge as the rest of our life is in flux.

Another way of seeing it is the chaos/order of JBP. We need a bit of order (traditions) so we can be in exploration (chaos). The more there is changing things around, the more we need order, stability in our life to counterbalance.

So I found out that for me, reconnecting to religious traditions is helping me be more happy, productive, satisfied. I think we are all religion in one way or another, the voice in our head (conscience) and subconscious is guided by this, is this voice into constant reprobation, culpability, fear and anger or is it guided by love?

Edit: some concrete example. - The cycling of day and week. Having "sacred" moment in the day, evening were no work happen, relaxation, connection with others. Keeping sunday without work or any computer/tech to recharge, disconnect, think of the bigger picture.

-Having moment of prayer/meditation to re-center my mind on what is important, letting go of restlessness and stress.

- Link to #1 comment about self love, giving love to other and yourself instead of self judgement or negative internal chatter.

Music with no vocals (classical, chiptune, etc) can work pretty well as long as you don't go down the rabbit hole of "finding music to listen to" every 15 minutes.

Interesting. For me, sometimes I get so in my head, and the problems I work on are so ill-defined, greenfield areas that I am just staring at this massive foggy blob trying to fight my way through it. It becomes exhausting.

haha, yes this one gets me frequently.