Four Hours of Concentration • Hacker News Board

Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#21

Post by mercuryrising » Tue, Feb 05, 2013, 11:36 PM UTC

I don't intentionally try to structure when/where/how I think about things, but after 23 years, I've gotten pretty in tune with knowing how things 'feel' inside.

I know if I'm going to have a shitty day or a great day the moment I wake up, the first interaction I have with a person (knowing this may make it more likely to happen, but short of that...).

I know when my brain is running on all cylinders, and when it's choking for more air. Tuning into these signals (I have no idea what they are, only 'feelings'), I can lay out the things I want to do in the next few days, and roll with the punches. It'd be interesting to see the amount of time idlers and time progressors (I'm at my computer most of the day, looking at my google search history would give a good indication - I generally don't google that much when I read articles on HN or Reddit, but when I'm doing something I'm googling up a storm).

No sense fitting a square key into a round hole when tomorrow the round key will be sitting in my hand.

Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#22

Post by cerebrum » Tue, Feb 05, 2013, 11:37 PM UTC

Another good argument for working from home as opposed to a corporate environment.

Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#23

Post by incision » Tue, Feb 05, 2013, 11:43 PM UTC

I've have great success with something similar to The Pomodoro Technique. Alternating activities every few segments helps me go a lot longer than I would trying to plow through on one subject.

1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique

Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#24

Post by ErikAugust » Tue, Feb 05, 2013, 11:48 PM UTC

minikomi wrote: post #15

stephengillie wrote: post #3

If you practice something 4 hours per day, 365 days per year, you'll hit the legendary 10,000 hour mark in about 6 years and 10 months. --- Does this mean that each of us has a reservoir of about 4 hours of intense concentration per day? When we perform a less-intense task, like driving or facebooking, are we using those 4 hours at a reduced rate? This sounds like it could feed into another idea - that each human has…

Sounds quite similar to the concept of ego depletion : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion

Agree - Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast & Slow is a good book that addresses the topic. Understanding how the brain works a bit really helped me to get "in the zone" a lot more often and I have certainly seen gains in focus/concentration (which translates into learning/ability) because of it.

Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#25

Post by Dove » Tue, Feb 05, 2013, 11:49 PM UTC

Oh, it can be done. Just not every day. I once went on a hacking run in grad school that was over 24 hours sustained. I was a gibbering mess for the next couple days, but I think it was worth it.

I wouldn't do it for a job, though. I think that can only be done for love.

Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#26

Post by ErikAugust » Tue, Feb 05, 2013, 11:51 PM UTC

Implications: People are not going to be great at their second job or at night school. It's probably better to quit a tiring job and find a quiet one where you can study something you want to do with your life.

Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#27

Post by LearnYouALisp » Wed, Feb 06, 2013, 12:09 AM UTC

ojbyrne wrote: post #11

In my experience this is what happens with programmers in corporate environments and produces excessive hours - 2 hours concentrating in the morning, 2 hours concentrating in the evening, and 8 hours of bullshit in between.

Incidentally, would the 2 hours of concentration take place at home? See: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-09-15/?CmtOrder=Rating&...

Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#28

Post by gwern » Wed, Feb 06, 2013, 12:09 AM UTC

rthomas6 wrote: post #18

Are there any peer-reviewed studies on this? This looks like purely anecdotal evidence. It makes sense on the surface, but I don't think I can trust that four hours of intense concentration per day is some sort of "cognitive limit" without an actual scientific study.

I don't know about writers and the morning, but there is plenty of evidence that the ideal block of learning or studying is pretty small. For example, you have spaced repetition ( http://www.gwern.net/Spaced%20repetition ), where a few short minutes of studying spread out over time is vastly more efficient than a few big blocks of studying with no subsequent review sessions. And I believe there's a bunch of research on lectures becoming a waste of time after around 15-20 minutes (IIRC, FAA-sponsored).

Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#29

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 06, 2013, 12:18 AM UTC

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Re: Four Hours of Concentration

#30

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 06, 2013, 12:23 AM UTC

Gobitron wrote: post #9

By and large I agree with this, but I think there is another element to consider, which is your overall energy levels. If you exercise, eat right, laugh, spend time with family and friends, then you're more likely to be able to consistently put in this kind of effort. I don't think you can or should aim to do much more than 4, but I think a very large proportion of the world isn't capable of even coming close to 4, b…

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