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

Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 105 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

#81

Post by thobiasse »

dave_sullivan wrote: post #25

I organize my life around not being interrupted. Work from home, respond to messages when I get to it. When I have an idea or thought that might interrupt, I write it down quickly on an ideas board or my notes for later and discard the thought. When I get tired I sleep. When I'm working on something I am in a flow state. When I feel myself leaving a flow state (or bored?) I take a break. Progress is unpredictable. Th…

Thanks! I'll keep in mind to write down more.

Also you are right about the fact that for some tasks/projects "finished" is not a real state.

Re: Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

#83

Post by thobiasse »

tomcooks wrote: post #73

Outbursts of anger, smashing keyboards, hitting furniture, shouting, smashing smartphones. Helps create a company culture based on respect of other people's time, out of sheer terror.

I'll suggest the creation of a rage room tomorrow in my company!

Re: Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

#84

Post by Ensorceled »

kerneloftruth wrote: post #79
adontz wrote: post #16

Therapy. For real. In some cultures it's not welcome, but it affects personal development enormously. It's the best investment in your life. Not that you'll solve all your problems, however you'll learn to analyze your problems and learn to find root causes to fight with, instead of symptoms. Being here and now is not easy. You may be anxious, tired, may have some mild disorders, obsessions you don't even know about.

It's fine _if_ you can find a good therapist... but keep in mind you're putting yourself in somebody else's hands. You might find a good one, or you might find a charlatan who could really confuse, sidetrack, or mess you up. Be very careful when choosing. Don't agree to a lengthy commitment to one, but rather try them out on a session by session basis. Good luck!

> Don't agree to a lengthy commitment to one, but rather try them out on a session by session basis.

This is great advice, you may not "click" or trust your therapist. If you don't feel comfortable or the therapist wants to talk about your childhood all time .. . move on.

Re: Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

#85

Post by thobiasse »

petecooper wrote: post #80

I don't cope well with interruptions, especially since I work from home and the person I live with is very ADHD. I take some pre-emptive measures to limit the impact: me wearing headphones is a visual sign that I am focussing. I have Sony WH-1000XM3 which are a game-changer for me: I can enable the noise cancelling when I need quiet, have music when I need it, and my housemate can see I am focussing. "Headphones on"…

Thanks a lot for the explanations and also for the technical details! Implementing visual cues with people who interrupt you often seems very effective.

Re: Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

#86

Post by thobiasse »

tomcam wrote: post #13

I'm sincerely sorry if this answer doesn't help and it's not meant to be arch or sarcastic. But I have found that the more I like the work I am doing, the less interruptions bother me. I am fortunate to work from home, but it means many more such incidents than an office job. Obviously I would like to be left alone while working, but I have handicapped and mentally ill people to care for my life is acutely interrupt-…

No offense taken! Thanks for your input. My question was not related solely to my work, in fact I enjoy my work quite a lot.

It is more that in my life (and I assume almost everybody's) I have to multitask. Chores, Family, Friends, Work, Personal projects... I don't like to let stuff in an unfinished state because it tends to pile up afterwards AND it stays in my mind as long as I'm not happy with it

Re: Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

#87

Post by cliffwarden »

When you do allow yourself to be interrupted (answering a question, or whatever) just fully embrace the interruption. Nothing is worse (on either side) than only half paying attention. It's very obvious to the other party and can feel very rude.

For me, being able to handle interruptions and then refocus is something that can be strengthened with practice like many other skills. I used to be very much in the camp of trying to avoid distractions and interruptions, but over the years my strategy has changed. My pov now is that it will happen and it will happen at the most inconvenient time, so i try to keep my work in a state that it can retrace my steps easily and make it easier to "load my context" when I resume. Sometimes this is a unit test, a random comment or whatever notes i'm taking at the moment.

I'm really not a multi-tasker and i have horrible short-term memory, so I've pretty much always relied on leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for myself.

Also take advantage of being pulled away and coming back to a work in progress (finished or not). Sometimes, just a few minutes break and change your perspective slightly.

Re: Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

#88

Post by thobiasse »

daniel-thompson wrote: post #31

This has become a huge part of my life since having kids. They're wonderful, and they need a lot of attention, which I'm usually happy to give them. But they do often interrupt me, and that makes it hard to get into anything deep or technical while they're around. I cope by waking up very early each morning (5 AM) so I can pursue my own interests for a few hours without the threat of interruption.

Your totally right, kids are often a great source of distraction event though they are wonderful!

"Sadly" waking up at 5AM every morning will take time (even when sleeping) away from my spouse which won't work in the long run.

However I should try to wake up once or twice a week early and see how it goes. Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

#89

Post by thobiasse »

stef25 wrote: post #40
daniel-thompson wrote: post #31

This has become a huge part of my life since having kids. They're wonderful, and they need a lot of attention, which I'm usually happy to give them. But they do often interrupt me, and that makes it hard to get into anything deep or technical while they're around. I cope by waking up very early each morning (5 AM) so I can pursue my own interests for a few hours without the threat of interruption.

Same. Those hours between 4:30 - 8:00AM are magic. The rest of the day is lost, even without kids. Errands, messages, meetings ...

Even if I think the same, for you the rest of the day is really "lost" meaning you'd rather work on/do the stuff you were doing between 4:30 - 8 AM all day?

Re: Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

#90

Post by thobiasse »

z3t4 wrote: post #27

I used to think of tasks/todos as burning buildings and I had to prioritize which family to save. Now I instead think of tasks as balls, where most balls are made of rubber, so i can just drop them as needed, it no longer feels like someone is dying just because i dropped something, then several weeks later when i go through the todo list i relentlessly remove tasks that are not a must have, all nice to have are remo…

Very nice analogies, thanks!

=> Write down stuff in todos and delete them if they stay for too long without any progress

Post reply on HN