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When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

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Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#21

Post by danShumway »

appleiigs wrote: post #18
jakeinspace wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don’t mind, I’d love to hear a bit more. I feel like I’ve been pushing hard against my ADHD tendencies as well, very curious what it means and looks like to give in and flourish.

Working from home really helped me. I use the Tomato/Pomodoro technique, but backwards. I let myself be distracted for 10 minutes first, then I work for 20 mins after. Distractions such as laundry, reading news come first, which relieves the feeling that I need to do something else, calms me down. Then I can do 1 work task for 20 mins. Then when I feel restless again I spend another 10 mins doing what my mind wants (…

> For me the point of the timer is to snap me out of the distraction or I’ll be on Hacker News for an hour.

Timers are such a big deal with ADHD. It's not news to anyone that people with ADHD suffer from time blindness, but even knowing that I'm constantly underestimating how much it affects me. Even if I'm not doing a scheduled task, having something that regularly beeps or vibrates to shake me out of whatever I'm focusing on so I can ask, "how am I feeling, what am I doing, when was the last time I drank water, have I eaten today, what should I be doing right now" is very helpful -- at least until the brain learns to tune out the beep and you have to find a new sound.

I highly recommend people having trouble with focusing or distracting to get a cheap wristwatch or some kind of timer and setting it to beep or vibrate every 10-30 minutes. Doesn't solve every problem, but helps a lot with staying just a bit more rooted in reality.

Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#23

Post by adasdasdas »

pdmccormick wrote: post #20

Over the past year, I’ve made a deliberate effort to improve my “personal computing”, which for me is about how I use the shell. I start by trying to notice when I’m doing the same task multiple times and getting tripped up on the specific syntax or sequence of commands (i.e. what’s the Git command again to split certain files out of a previous commit into a separate one?) I will then create an alias, a shell script…

I thought everyone does this haha

Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#24

Post by keyle »

pdmccormick wrote: post #20

Over the past year, I’ve made a deliberate effort to improve my “personal computing”, which for me is about how I use the shell. I start by trying to notice when I’m doing the same task multiple times and getting tripped up on the specific syntax or sequence of commands (i.e. what’s the Git command again to split certain files out of a previous commit into a separate one?) I will then create an alias, a shell script…

Everyone does this. Otherwise you'd go bat sh*t crazy trying to remember every intricate details of common tools.

also using ctrl+r and filter through older commands (ctrl+r to cycle) is also necessary for good mental health.

for example

    alias ll="lsd --icon never -l"
    alias lla="lsd --icon never -l -a" # all
    alias llr="lsd --icon never -l -r -a" # reversed
    alias lls="lsd --icon never -l -r -a -S" #by size
    alias llt="lsd --icon never -l --tree" #tree
    alias lld="lsd --icon never -l -d -a --tree" #directories tree

    alias m='micro'
    alias ss="git status"
    alias diff="git diff --color | cat"
    alias log="git log --graph --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit"
    alias lz="lazygit"
    alias dc="docker-compose"

    # rust
    alias cr='RUST_BACKTRACE=1 cargo run'
    alias clippy='cargo clippy'
    ... many others
Soon enough, when you start piping these, you end up with your own bash language, cca. of that time you thought it was a good idea to augment C with macros (sic!)

Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#25

Post by [deleted] »

keyle wrote: post #24
pdmccormick wrote: post #20

Over the past year, I’ve made a deliberate effort to improve my “personal computing”, which for me is about how I use the shell. I start by trying to notice when I’m doing the same task multiple times and getting tripped up on the specific syntax or sequence of commands (i.e. what’s the Git command again to split certain files out of a previous commit into a separate one?) I will then create an alias, a shell script…

Everyone does this. Otherwise you'd go bat sh*t crazy trying to remember every intricate details of common tools. also using ctrl+r and filter through older commands (ctrl+r to cycle) is also necessary for good mental health. for example alias ll="lsd --icon never -l" alias lla="lsd --icon never -l -a" # all alias llr="lsd --icon never -l -r -a" # reversed alias lls="lsd --icon never -l -r -a -S" #by size alias llt="…

[deleted]

Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#26

Post by Izkata »

keyle wrote: post #24
pdmccormick wrote: post #20

Over the past year, I’ve made a deliberate effort to improve my “personal computing”, which for me is about how I use the shell. I start by trying to notice when I’m doing the same task multiple times and getting tripped up on the specific syntax or sequence of commands (i.e. what’s the Git command again to split certain files out of a previous commit into a separate one?) I will then create an alias, a shell script…

Everyone does this. Otherwise you'd go bat sh*t crazy trying to remember every intricate details of common tools. also using ctrl+r and filter through older commands (ctrl+r to cycle) is also necessary for good mental health. for example alias ll="lsd --icon never -l" alias lla="lsd --icon never -l -a" # all alias llr="lsd --icon never -l -r -a" # reversed alias lls="lsd --icon never -l -r -a -S" #by size alias llt="…

I actually find it easier to memorize the flags than to memorize the commands I created myself, because they're a lot more descriptive than short commands like in your examples.

The few times I do come up with my own stuff, it's a 2+ line function (or full shell script) that can't be duplicated in a single command and can't be done as an alias.

Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#27

Post by cosmojg »

pdmccormick wrote: post #20

Over the past year, I’ve made a deliberate effort to improve my “personal computing”, which for me is about how I use the shell. I start by trying to notice when I’m doing the same task multiple times and getting tripped up on the specific syntax or sequence of commands (i.e. what’s the Git command again to split certain files out of a previous commit into a separate one?) I will then create an alias, a shell script…

Welcome to Unix! :)

Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#28

Post by cosmojg »

keyle wrote: post #24
pdmccormick wrote: post #20

Over the past year, I’ve made a deliberate effort to improve my “personal computing”, which for me is about how I use the shell. I start by trying to notice when I’m doing the same task multiple times and getting tripped up on the specific syntax or sequence of commands (i.e. what’s the Git command again to split certain files out of a previous commit into a separate one?) I will then create an alias, a shell script…

Everyone does this. Otherwise you'd go bat sh*t crazy trying to remember every intricate details of common tools. also using ctrl+r and filter through older commands (ctrl+r to cycle) is also necessary for good mental health. for example alias ll="lsd --icon never -l" alias lla="lsd --icon never -l -a" # all alias llr="lsd --icon never -l -r -a" # reversed alias lls="lsd --icon never -l -r -a -S" #by size alias llt="…

Fish's autocomplete makes life a lot easier, too. It's delightfully well designed.

Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#29

Post by brailsafe »

appleiigs wrote: post #18
jakeinspace wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don’t mind, I’d love to hear a bit more. I feel like I’ve been pushing hard against my ADHD tendencies as well, very curious what it means and looks like to give in and flourish.

Working from home really helped me. I use the Tomato/Pomodoro technique, but backwards. I let myself be distracted for 10 minutes first, then I work for 20 mins after. Distractions such as laundry, reading news come first, which relieves the feeling that I need to do something else, calms me down. Then I can do 1 work task for 20 mins. Then when I feel restless again I spend another 10 mins doing what my mind wants (…

I've been reflecting on how the last few years have been going for me, regarding my tendency to have no structure, no consistency, plenty of burnout, and no job lasting longer than a year and a half, and have consequently been reversing course on what you describe, especially now that I have medication. Long, long before I had an ADHD diagnosis, I struggled with the same pattern of working intensely for whatever amount of time it took to get any arbitrary thing done, and with the impulse to get up and do something else, watch a video, or check the news. Naturally I came across similar suggestions, just embrace the impulses a bit. But there are too many traps and too many addictions that we all just take for granted, and don't take seriously enough.

So, I've been going in the opposite direction, and prioritizing the things that I feel are important, including finite but not periodic windows of arbitrary entertainment, and a cutoff to my work day; I'm essentially experimenting with aspects of deep work and systems thinking. The phone stays out of sight or completely off unless I'm expecting a call, or it's scheduled downtime, and the rest of most days are spent deliberately on things I get the most value out of.

For things like laundry and basic chores, I just don't consider those distracting, and have been batching them at the beginning or between periods of focus during the day. They're not distracting because they don't necessarily take me out of any state of immersion. I'm still thinking about the code or decision or whatever, whereas an email or text message or internet argument fully put my brain resources somewhere else.

Any videos I need are mostly downloaded for offline viewing beforehand, articles saved to pocket, but realistically I never read them anymore, and most break time during focus periods is an actual book or silence, not for the purpose of productivity, but because I want to read books and the way I've been living hasn't enabled me to have the space to focus on them. One chapter at a time. Any random ideas or searches I try to just note for later. Sometimes I revisit them, sometimes not, it usually doesn't matter.

It's also not worthwhile in my opinion to measure short term progress, so in terms of how these systems work for me, I'll see where I am in a few months or years, assuming the specifics will change gradually.

Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#30

Post by appleiigs »

brailsafe wrote: post #29
appleiigs wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working from home really helped me. I use the Tomato/Pomodoro technique, but backwards. I let myself be distracted for 10 minutes first, then I work for 20 mins after. Distractions such as laundry, reading news come first, which relieves the feeling that I need to do something else, calms me down. Then I can do 1 work task for 20 mins. Then when I feel restless again I spend another 10 mins doing what my mind wants (…

I've been reflecting on how the last few years have been going for me, regarding my tendency to have no structure, no consistency, plenty of burnout, and no job lasting longer than a year and a half, and have consequently been reversing course on what you describe, especially now that I have medication. Long, long before I had an ADHD diagnosis, I struggled with the same pattern of working intensely for whatever amou…

I see what you are saying. You can indulge too much. There is a certain amount of discipline required. In my method, I have to work for the 20 mins. Essentially practice focusing, work through the restlessness.

I also have things during the 20 mins to help me stretch it out - such as sitting outside while working (or have window wide open) or TV and music on for the background noise.

For the 10 mins of distractions, definitely have to be strict about it. Can't stretch that. It goes by very fast. Can't go out to do errands just because I feel like it.

As an aside note, doing 10 mins of house chores multiple times a day really adds up. Lot of satisfaction, and more importantly focus gained!, when the house is tidy.

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