I hired an intern. Pair programmed with him for a couple months straight out of a code bootcamp. Nothing will keep you in the zone like pair programming, especially on boring tasks.
Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
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Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#12A tangential question. What exactly does it feel to be like in Adderall? I'm intimately familiar with the 15-minutes venture into Reddit/HN etc so if I were to, say, take Adderall, just what exactly inside me would change?
Look at some code, hold your attention on it, think about the methods and types and interactions with other objects. Hold all of this in your working memory to the exclusion of anything else. See how long you can hold it for.
Now start loading more into your working memory, after you get N classes deep things will start to get fuzzier, you won’t be able to hold it all in your mind at once, you’ll get unfocused, and then go to hacker news.
Imagine if that fuzziness didn’t start, but you kept that sharpness of working memory easily. Imagine it was effortless to keep reading, and imagine other thoughts (biological needs or whatever) never distract your working memory.
That’s what it’s like for me, unfortunately I get terrible headaches after, and the amount of time it takes to recover causes a loss in productivity that is greater than the productivity I would have got working at a comfortable pace.
Much better is diet and exercise, with diet and exercise I have vastly increased my ability to focus and remember, much better than any artificial chemical enhancement.
There are no shortcuts
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#13I would try to understand why you can't sit for the task for long. Maybe it's too boring, or too hard. Maybe it's unclear what the task even is.
A somewhat spiritual take on the whole issue is Steven Pressfield's "The War of Art". One of my favourite books, and I'm as non-woo-woo as you can be.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#14Rituals.
There’s one highly specific genre of music I listen to while I code. Nothing else. If I take a break, I turn it off. If I get distracted, I turn it off. I only listen to it when I work.
I use the sandwich method of booking meetings; only at the beginning or end of the day. Also the times when I look at my emails. Slack is harder to turn off because ops so I let that one slide.
When I need to concentrate, flip on my playlist, and go to town.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#15So far, the solution that has worked for me has been Focusmate (https://www.focusmate.com/).
It's like Omegle for focus. Pick a time slot and pair up with someone to be accountable together.
You can get more information on how it works here https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46624137
You can also book a session with me if you like. https://www.focusmate.com/i/nLUDAIR5oh/calendar
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#16When I used amphetamine salts I had a few rules for myself:
Don't overdose, keep to low, clincally useful doses.
Don't drink coffee and take amphetamine at the same time - too much stimulation, plus I don't eat breakfast.
Try to eat and sleep, it's very important for your brain functioning.
Stay disciplined, if you find yourself distracted try to calm down. A lower dose often helps me focus. I couldn't do work on more than 10mg of speed.
Amphetamines worked well for a while but they started having all kinds of messed up side effects so I quit them and I'm glad I did.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#17Rituals. There’s one highly specific genre of music I listen to while I code. Nothing else. If I take a break, I turn it off. If I get distracted, I turn it off. I only listen to it when I work. I use the sandwich method of booking meetings; only at the beginning or end of the day. Also the times when I look at my emails. Slack is harder to turn off because ops so I let that one slide. When I need to concentrate, fli…
Was really hoping you’d share the playlist or even the genre as I was reading your comment.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#18I hired an intern. Pair programmed with him for a couple months straight out of a code bootcamp. Nothing will keep you in the zone like pair programming, especially on boring tasks.
Maybe that's why there are so
many pair programming zealots?
You can't focus unless you bring someone?
It totally doesn't work for me, I can retain max 5m out of every meeting including pair programming.
Most pair programming end up being someone doing the work while the other browse Twitter and pretend to follow.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#19If you can already focus on a task for 15 minutes, try using the Pomodoro technique.
Set a kitchen timer for 25-30 minutes (just 10-20 minutes longer than current!) and focus singularly on your task. You can check Reddit, HN, etc after.
If you can get into flow, keep going. Otherwise, keep increasing your timer by 5-10 minutes until you've trained yourself to work for 60 minutes straight. Remember to take breaks though!
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#20Sounds exactly like ADHD.
I can focus for as much as I want to. I start having lack of sleep problems before I lose focus.
I worked with people with ADHD (not diagnosed and diagnosed) and they all had the same problem of being unable to focus. Pairing with them was quite the experience.
Some of them switched to being product managers to retain a good pay even if they can't code.
I think you have to deal with it but don't stress too much over it (stressing about it will make it worse). In today's bs corporate world in which nobody does crap you'll be fine. Average performance around medium large companies is terrible.