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

Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 80 posts

Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most?

#1

Post by read »

Some of the most powerful drivers of success are our habits: what we repeatedly do every day. Even the most successful people are defined more by what they do rather than by who they are.

What are these habits? I would like to develop some good ones. And I'm willing to try several out and report back how they work.

Which daily habit has been the hardest for you to pick up (or change) and why?

Re: Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most?

#2

Post by _xhok »

I tried out the trick Jack Dorsey recommended during Startup School 2013: keep a two daily lists of things to do and things not to do. Read it when you wake up, throughout the day, and before you sleep.

Here's what's on my list:

Do: take a cold shower; meditate; throw yourself in; work on hard problems. Don't: be annoyed or upset; lie down unless to rest without computer.

It's working for me pretty well so far. For me the list's main value seems to be in those small, split-second decisions: if I'm choosing between two things to work on, my mind will suddenly remember "work on hard problems," and I'll choose the harder one.

Re: Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most?

#3

Post by kzisme »

The biggest change I have made is drinking a good amount of water each day. Currently I'm a night owl (which I'm working on changing) and instead of drinking pop, I drink water.

Exercise and staying active makes me feel awesome, but sometimes I don't have time to make it to the gym.

Re: Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most?

#4

Post by untog »

_xhok wrote: post #2

I tried out the trick Jack Dorsey recommended during Startup School 2013: keep a two daily lists of things to do and things not to do. Read it when you wake up, throughout the day, and before you sleep. Here's what's on my list: Do: take a cold shower; meditate; throw yourself in; work on hard problems. Don't: be annoyed or upset; lie down unless to rest without computer. It's working for me pretty well so far. For m…

I don't mean to sound rude, but does "Don't: be annoyed or upset" really make a difference? I mean, who objectively and dispassionately decides to be annoyed or upset?

Re: Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most?

#5

Post by gk1 »

untog wrote: post #4
_xhok wrote: post #2

I tried out the trick Jack Dorsey recommended during Startup School 2013: keep a two daily lists of things to do and things not to do. Read it when you wake up, throughout the day, and before you sleep. Here's what's on my list: Do: take a cold shower; meditate; throw yourself in; work on hard problems. Don't: be annoyed or upset; lie down unless to rest without computer. It's working for me pretty well so far. For m…

I don't mean to sound rude, but does "Don't: be annoyed or upset" really make a difference? I mean, who objectively and dispassionately decides to be annoyed or upset?

You may not be able to prevent yourself from getting annoyed, but you can remember to stop being annoyed.

Re: Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most?

#7

Post by subpixel »

If you don't track your time, I suggest you do. Knowing there's a record of what I'm _really_ doing each day pushes/inspires me to make that record a good one.

I started out using Harvest, but since I'm less interested in 'what project(s) did I work on today' and more interested in 'how productive was I today?', I've switched to RescueTime.

RescueTime isn't new (YC 08) but they do have an updated interface, so it feels much better than the first time I played with it years back.

Pro-tip: I created a Fluid ssb pointed at my RescueTime dashboard that I then pinned to my menubar, so I can check my stats anytime. Here's the icon that makes it look good: http://bit.ly/1bhewsA

Re: Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most?

#10

Post by akimc »

The hardest habit to pick up for me was to become a morning person ! I was a night owl going to bed at 3-4 am and then wake up in the afternoon. To break this cycle I tried melatonin, f.lux and trying to eat less before sleeping... nothing worked. My solution was to go 24h without sleep and go to bed really early 8-9 pm and put an alarm for 6:30, then I now go to bed before 10 pm and don't have any problem to wake up really early and I find that my productivity level as increased more than ever ! (The coffee help too ;) )

I feel more healthy now instead of waking up to the night, I start my day with a bright sky !

Post reply on HN