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Ask HN: How do you stop screwing around and focus?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you stop screwing around and focus?

#12
post #6

Think long term. I see many people that want to "get it fast and now"... My advice would be: be slow but recurring. Think learning in terms of years, not in term of weeks.

It's been debunked, but 10,000 hours for mastery isn't a bad starting point.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stop screwing around and focus?

#13
Build and learn at the same time. If the building part is pushed out to after all the learning, you run the real risk of losing interest when all you're doing is learning / studying.

Whatever it is you want to build, break it down into very small initial components that don't involve learning ALL the math stuff, just some of it. Then build and learn together.

But breaking down your idea or project like this isn't easy. It's a skill all of its own.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stop screwing around and focus?

#16
If you're doing things purely from the ego, then expect things to get complex and feel tedious. Part of being able to hack your flow state is to get inspired early and often. The word inspire is derived from spirit so you need to think of your tasks as a spiritual act.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stop screwing around and focus?

#17
You need an attention detox. Spend a month hiking outdoors. No electronics. When you get back, don’t tell anyone. Start cutting things out of your life. Mostly people. Us too. You don’t need any kind of news. Be thankful everybody else is here so you can google when you need it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stop screwing around and focus?

#20
For me music/noise always worked. Some good background noise can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSilentWatcherCom

Further, I would try to do meditations to improve concentration.

In the end it's about how much you are interested in the topics you are dealing with. :)

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