Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

Assuming you're a programmer working on software, the best way I've found to keep focus is to set up your development environment such that a) it's full screen on a big monitor without any other apps or notifications and b) the feedback loops are as tight and automated as they can be - as soon as you hit save, automatically run the tests associated with that portion of the code. This has the effect of "gamifying" the software development process - every change is filled with the anticipation of how the test will respond. I haven't measured such things but other commenters mention dopamine and I suspect that a tighter development feedback loops produce more of it, allowing you to keep focus.

More generally, I've found that blocking off calendar time for "deep work" is effective if you commit to a plan for each time block. Before starting, I define what I'm trying to do and what the outcome would look like if successful. The first step is always to write a test that measures success in that context - it does not have to be a unit test or even something that you commit, can just be a simple curl command or bash script or a "I hit refresh in my browser and I see the image". Then I iterate until the test passes or time is up (generally because there are bigger issues)

And finally don't be afraid to engage in social media or games or other distractions - but do it in a mindful way. I use time in between deep work sessions to chat with friends, browse HN, write long rambling comments on HN, etc. You have to allow yourself idle time but keep it well and truly separated from deep work.

Know yourself very well.

I shorten my deadlines.

I delay everything, always and I know that working under pressure I'm the best of me (yes, maybe is shortening my life expectations..). At the other side I know that working with me is giving maybe 120% of you, so I set my deadlines earlier for me.

Then I do the shit because that deadline I set is my deadline and I'm very proud guy that wants to do the shit on time.

Then when the thing is done I have maybe 2 to 3 days to review and relax.

But the best recommendation is: to know yourself.

Sometimes your mind (and body) needs to run away some minutes.

I'm a former teacher also and I know that you can't focus too long on something that you don't want and doing that is bad for you and bad for the stuff you are doing.

You needs something that makes you want to focus, for me is the pressure of deadlines.

I need to talk with my psychologist..

Really? I don't think ADHD is a thing in Europe; I know plenty of people (including) myself that would struggle to focus on things their genuinely want to be focusing on. I myself bought a videogame last week... and I haven't yet played it. I don't think I have ADHD, I mean, I think this kind of stuff is normal to some extent. If I have to "wash the dishes" I will. I have to work, I'll work. Sometimes, though, I won't wash the dishes because I just don't feel like it. Sometimes I'll procrastinate at work, but I'll catch up eventually. I think it's just life, some times you struggle with stuff, but that's alright.

100%. Another tool available is to generally move to lower-intensity dopamine producers. Long/slow/thoughtful videos over short/fast/bitesized videos, books over videos, old/clunky/slow games over new/polished/fast games, board games over computer games, and so on.

It's very bad form (and against the rules) to make chat the focus. You will eventually get reported if you do it a lot. A short chat at the end is fine.

The session template is: brief greeting > outline what you're gonna do > wish the other person well > mute mics and get stuff done for the bulk of the session > end of session chime sounds > share how well you did (and here you can chat for 2-4 mins if both parties are keen)