Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

alexdenning.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–77 of 77 posts

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#71

Post by anotheryou »

ajnin wrote: post #46
anotheryou wrote: post #6

I think self-control should be valued higher than self-restriction. With self-restriction I mean blocking bookmarks (hindering you), not muting the phone (removing outside distractions). To me this self-improvement through shedding responsibility is scary. It's the same for fitness tracker that tell you when to do. (I have to admit there is some grey area in between though. Some habit forming can be beneficial ((e.g.…

I sometimes use the "pomodoro" technique as a trigger, a way to beat procrastination. Often I have trouble starting to work on a problem if I'm unsure about what to do, I think it's similar to writer's block. That technique forces me to start working and once I'm started I can usually continue normally without need to use the timer.

Ah right, I forgot that it times the break too XD

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#72

Post by anotheryou »

mattbettinson wrote: post #62
anotheryou wrote: post #6

I think self-control should be valued higher than self-restriction. With self-restriction I mean blocking bookmarks (hindering you), not muting the phone (removing outside distractions). To me this self-improvement through shedding responsibility is scary. It's the same for fitness tracker that tell you when to do. (I have to admit there is some grey area in between though. Some habit forming can be beneficial ((e.g.…

The way I do it is with a technique from Buddhist meditation. I watch the urge to switch to something, and intercept it by making note of it.

This is such a great principle, just observing what you are actually doing/feeling. But you need to be in the right mindset or trained to do it.

Pain is a good example: If you begin to observe it as a simple reaction by your body, not as a state of yourself, it can become very bearable. If the pain is too strong however or you don't have the relaxation it takes to do this it doesn't work. To become an observer is hard with strong headache on a busy day, first you have to remember to become an observer and than it still might overpower your state of mind.

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#74

Post by [deleted] »

peterbsmith wrote: post #64
smcguinness wrote: post #11

I recently had to go through the process of "re-learning how to work." I didn't realize how bad I was at deep work, as the article references it as, until I quit my job and set out on my own full-time. I found that I was replacing the normal interruptions of the office - meetings, email, phone calls, lunch; with getting distracted on social media, general reading, checking alerts, etc. It was like my brain was condit…

whew! you're nailing it, good thing you're not taking silly breaks like going on hacker news and posting comments instead of working!

[deleted]

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#75

Post by s3arch »

peterbsmith wrote: post #64
smcguinness wrote: post #11

I recently had to go through the process of "re-learning how to work." I didn't realize how bad I was at deep work, as the article references it as, until I quit my job and set out on my own full-time. I found that I was replacing the normal interruptions of the office - meetings, email, phone calls, lunch; with getting distracted on social media, general reading, checking alerts, etc. It was like my brain was condit…

whew! you're nailing it, good thing you're not taking silly breaks like going on hacker news and posting comments instead of working!

Deep work is not only about spending maximum time on what you really want to do. It more on how you get the maximum efficiency out of it.

And oh yes, "deliberate distraction" is highly recommended while doing deep work. So there is nothing wrong posting comments related to deep work on HN. :)

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#76

Post by TrevorJ »

anotheryou wrote: post #6

I think self-control should be valued higher than self-restriction. With self-restriction I mean blocking bookmarks (hindering you), not muting the phone (removing outside distractions). To me this self-improvement through shedding responsibility is scary. It's the same for fitness tracker that tell you when to do. (I have to admit there is some grey area in between though. Some habit forming can be beneficial ((e.g.…

As I get older, I find more value in choosing the most energy-efficient (mentally speaking) solution. Sure, I can simply use willpower to avoid distraction, but if I put the phone out of reach, then I get to use that willpower on other things instead.

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#77

Post by tertius »

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #7

These are tricks and "hacks," which are certainly useful. But they are only band-aid fixes. The external environment will continually evolve to find new ways to blast stimuli at you. The only real defense is training your mind.

I think this applies to escapism in general. Escapism is bad, but stopping it won't solve why you're escaping.

Stopping the escapism is still important.

Post reply on HN