Changed my eating habits to something I never, ever thought I'd do--
- black coffee for breakfast.
- no simple carbs for lunch.
I feel great and get more done in the morning, and then I also feel great and don't want to fall asleep in the afternoon.
Tell HN: My best productivity hack
21–30 of 76 posts
Re: Tell HN: My best productivity hack
#22Pomodoro, for sure.
Work and play do not mix but are both important.
Re: Tell HN: My best productivity hack
#23Step 1: sudo nano /etc/hosts Step 2: Type at bottom: 127.0.0.1 facebook.com 127.0.0.1 youtube.com 127.0.0.1 twitter.com 127.0.0.1 instagram.com Step 3: ctrl+"O"
I see this kind of thing from time-to-time, and it baffles me. Surely, I know how to restore access. Why not ... just not go there? And if it's a problem (again, this baffles me, but no judgement - I binge drink on weekends which is surely worse), delete your accounts there?
Re: Tell HN: My best productivity hack
#24Schedule your todo list on your calendar. Identify the tasks you want to complete for the day or week, and block out time on your calendar for each task.
Re: Tell HN: My best productivity hack
#25A while back I set a goal to have a happy, fulfilling life, and then asked what five elements were individually necessary and collectively sufficient to produce that. Then I went one level deeper, taking care to be strict with the boolean logic. I eventually got to actionable items.
The surprising part was the amount of priorities I had in my life that weren't in that life graph. Stuff that was urgent but not important, and counterintuitively unnecessary when subjected to first-principle analysis. As I started letting those things go, I started to feel more productive since I had more confidence that my actions were aligned with my purpose.
It was tedious and time-consuming, and the closer you get to the leaves, the easier it is for the graph to feel "out of date" as your priorities and circumstances change. But the root of the graph (or the top... for me the actionable stuff was at the bottom) has hardly changed at all since those were my core principles. So I'm still not sure it is worth the time to keep it "accurate", but it was a good exercise to do at least once.
Re: Tell HN: My best productivity hack
#26This is similar to a post back from 2013 titled "Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most?"
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6851384
I'll repeat my answer from back then:
1. If you're a programmer I recommend looking at http://wakatime.com
2. I know a guy who swears he is more productive by starting his mornings with: coffee, restroom, have something ready to work on
Re: Tell HN: My best productivity hack
#27Step 1: sudo nano /etc/hosts Step 2: Type at bottom: 127.0.0.1 facebook.com 127.0.0.1 youtube.com 127.0.0.1 twitter.com 127.0.0.1 instagram.com Step 3: ctrl+"O"
I see this kind of thing from time-to-time, and it baffles me. Surely, I know how to restore access. Why not ... just not go there? And if it's a problem (again, this baffles me, but no judgement - I binge drink on weekends which is surely worse), delete your accounts there?
It’s easy to fall into the habit of hitting ctrl+t when a browser is open and typing in some website that distracts you from what you should be focused on. That brief cannot-be-opened page is often enough to stop you so that you can reset your focus back to what it was you were supposed to be doing.
Re: Tell HN: My best productivity hack
#28I've recently started using http://www.beeminder.com
I'm finding it very helpful for sticking to my goals. Their blog is a wonderland of productivity research and knowledge, as well. I highly recommend checking it out.
Re: Tell HN: My best productivity hack
#29The single thing that has had the largest impact for me has been simply making a list of things I need to do the next day on the night before. In the morning, often the hardest thing to do is just to get going. Having a ready made list takes out a lot of the factors that lead me to procrastinate.
Whenever I pack my bag in the morning, even if I have 4-5 hours before I leave, I forget something. The phone, the wallet, the cash I plan to carry in the wallet, the keys, the pencil case, the books... I just have to make it the night before. And generalising this and what you say, simply preparing for the day ahead is a very very useful thing. Maybe for a certain type of people though, because I've known some of those people which just remember the things when they need to, without any effort nor any notes.
Re: Tell HN: My best productivity hack
#30I'm finding out that using Org mode's clocking combined with recurring tasks for long running tasks that should be done in bits helps me progress on them. I've only recently started using it, and seeing since how many days I haven't read some pages from that 2500 page book which I was supposed to have finished reading a year ago, and how little time I've spent on it than I'd otherwise believe I had, definitely has a positive impact. No revolution, at least in my case, but certainly an improving transformation.