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Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

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Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#21

Post by monkeynotes »

rhizome wrote: post #4
andy_adams wrote: post #3

Rather than setting a timer + starting/stopping music, I'm a huge advocate of Focus@Will[1], which is basically a combo of the items mentioned in this article: No need to select music (they have an extensive library). You just set a timer and you get a "ding" to start work, which is oddly effective at getting you into the zone. I've found it also helps to build a list of tasks _before_ you start working for the day.…

It's not dispositive, but googling "go2cloud.org" does not reinforce legitimacy, i.e. "risky click."

Dammit, I thought YC was a safe place. After signing up I guess I can now expect some spam in my inbox.

Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#22

Post by SanFranManDan »

eckza wrote: post #12

I feel like while all of these productivity "hacks" and systems (like Pomodoro) may have some merit, they're completely unnecessary. It's really not too hard to: * Work. * If you lose focus, be mindful of the fact that your attention is wandering, and focus on your work again. This part takes some discipline. Discipline takes time to develop. Be patient. * If you feel that you cannot focus on your work, get up and wa…

It reminds me of how last year (and still ongoing) we saw heaps of meditation apps.

It just seemed completely counter intuitive to me (as a Zen practitioner) to introduce something needlessly complicated on probably the simplest (not the easiest) thing you can do in your life.

There is a significant amount of learning involved in focus and meditation, by and large the people reading and buying these want a short cut and do themselves a disservice. Work is part of your life. Trying to have certain hacks to focus to work then pull up an app for more hacks on how read, then a different app for hacks on how to meditate to cast out the stress of work, misses the connection between why you cant focus in the first place. Not being able to read, work, relax are all symptoms of a problem: you are terrified of being bored.

The Pomodoro method seems like a good start, but in my opinion mindfullness should be applied to every part of your life.

Learning to focus on work will help you focus on work. Learning to be mindful will help you with relationships, sex, reading, work and pretty much every part of your life.

My best advice is to get comfortable being bored. Stare at a blank wall for an hour every few days. It will profoundly change your life.

Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#23

Post by Bukhmanizer »

dllthomas wrote: post #15
eckza wrote: post #12

I feel like while all of these productivity "hacks" and systems (like Pomodoro) may have some merit, they're completely unnecessary. It's really not too hard to: * Work. * If you lose focus, be mindful of the fact that your attention is wandering, and focus on your work again. This part takes some discipline. Discipline takes time to develop. Be patient. * If you feel that you cannot focus on your work, get up and wa…

> It's really not too hard What's hard for others may not match what's hard for you.

Also, what counts as "work" might not match up. For some people, "working" means just sitting in front of a computer for a set amount of time. Especially with intellectual work, it's hard to balance the amount of time thinking about how to solve a problem, vs. actually implementing the solution. For all we know the person who says "you just have to have discipline" spends 95% of their time falling into random rabbit holes, and 5% actually coding, and so never gets anything done. Or otherwise, maybe they spend 99% of their time coding, but never actually stop to think about ways to solve the problem better.

I'm not saying that productivity tools solve all your problems, but I find that it makes it easier to choose how much time I spend on each thing.

Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#24

Post by rconti »

chipuni wrote: post #13

I've found that http://mynoise.net offers better sounds for concentration than most music. Using https://brainaural.com/ with brainwaves at about 13.5 Hz - 14 Hz also seems to help my concentration. (I have no idea whether it's a placebo, tied to habit.)

I haven't tried these sites yet, I'll take a look. Do you use noise-cancelling headphones? The best feature I've found with my QC35 is not so much the noise cancelling but the combination of noise cancelling and audio. Obviously with noise cancelling on, I can hear most of what's going on around me, just a bit dulled. But add in a VERY small amount of quiet music and the rest of the world disappears in a way it doesn't with just NC.. or that requires MUCH louder music without NC.

Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#25

Post by ambicapter »

dllthomas wrote: post #15
eckza wrote: post #12

I feel like while all of these productivity "hacks" and systems (like Pomodoro) may have some merit, they're completely unnecessary. It's really not too hard to: * Work. * If you lose focus, be mindful of the fact that your attention is wandering, and focus on your work again. This part takes some discipline. Discipline takes time to develop. Be patient. * If you feel that you cannot focus on your work, get up and wa…

> It's really not too hard What's hard for others may not match what's hard for you.

Maybe its hard for them because they're being led astray by all these blogophytes looking for a piece of their mind-share.

Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#26

Post by chipuni »

rconti wrote: post #24
chipuni wrote: post #13

I've found that http://mynoise.net offers better sounds for concentration than most music. Using https://brainaural.com/ with brainwaves at about 13.5 Hz - 14 Hz also seems to help my concentration. (I have no idea whether it's a placebo, tied to habit.)

I haven't tried these sites yet, I'll take a look. Do you use noise-cancelling headphones? The best feature I've found with my QC35 is not so much the noise cancelling but the combination of noise cancelling and audio. Obviously with noise cancelling on, I can hear most of what's going on around me, just a bit dulled. But add in a VERY small amount of quiet music and the rest of the world disappears in a way it doesn…

I do use noise-cancelling headphones. I use some inexpensive Sony headphones that have basic noise cancelling, and they have helped a LOT in the open office.

Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#27

Post by eckza »

dllthomas wrote: post #15
eckza wrote: post #12

I feel like while all of these productivity "hacks" and systems (like Pomodoro) may have some merit, they're completely unnecessary. It's really not too hard to: * Work. * If you lose focus, be mindful of the fact that your attention is wandering, and focus on your work again. This part takes some discipline. Discipline takes time to develop. Be patient. * If you feel that you cannot focus on your work, get up and wa…

> It's really not too hard What's hard for others may not match what's hard for you.

Fair. 'Hard' was the wrong word.

'Complicated' is a better word. It's not complicated to develop some mindfulness. It just takes time and effort, which may or may not be 'hard'.

Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#28

Post by itamarst »

Focus is nice, but it'll only get you so far. Much more useful is prioritizing your work, and avoiding unnecessary work.

Focusing on bad implementation: a waste of time.

Focusing on bad solution: a waste of time.

Focusing on solving wrong problem: a waste of time.

Choosing the right problem, the right solution, and not wasting time during implementation (e.g. by spinning wheels without asking for help) will give you order of magnitude improvement. Focus will get you smaller improvements, though it is useful.

More here on what it takes to be productive here: https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/10/04/technical-skills-pro...

(And my personal take on staying focused, which is a lot more about goals and less about distractions: https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/08/03/stay-focused/)

Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#29

Post by stopnamingnuts »

eckza wrote: post #12

I feel like while all of these productivity "hacks" and systems (like Pomodoro) may have some merit, they're completely unnecessary. It's really not too hard to: * Work. * If you lose focus, be mindful of the fact that your attention is wandering, and focus on your work again. This part takes some discipline. Discipline takes time to develop. Be patient. * If you feel that you cannot focus on your work, get up and wa…

Unfortunately, this solution lacks a self loathing component.

Re: Build a Focus System for Better Work/Life Balance as a Web Developer

#30

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

eckza wrote: post #12

I feel like while all of these productivity "hacks" and systems (like Pomodoro) may have some merit, they're completely unnecessary. It's really not too hard to: * Work. * If you lose focus, be mindful of the fact that your attention is wandering, and focus on your work again. This part takes some discipline. Discipline takes time to develop. Be patient. * If you feel that you cannot focus on your work, get up and wa…

I felt very much like this when the work being asked of me was less than 8 hours worth of productivity.

Once the requests started coming in for significantly more than that, I needed a system of rejecting requests and creating project timelines based on very consistent output.

I feel like these two things go hand in hand. But if you only have 4-5 hours of work to do, go ahead and be disorganized. The cost of the productivity system is bigger than benefits you receive.

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