Ask HN: How do you focus?
31–40 of 58 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus?
#32Stop trying to focus. Just do, or don't. It may sound as silly advice; but it's the honest truth. The very fact that you are thinking about focusing when you are trying to focus; precludes you from actually doing it. It's counter intuitive: Sit behind the work to be done, and truly accept whatever happens. Accept the fact that you might be unfocused or distracted. It's a sign that you aren't ready to work. Don't resi…
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus?
#33Block distractions:
sudo bash -c 'echo "127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com" >> /etc/hosts'
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus?
#34I just don't obsessively check or respond to e-mail anymore.*
Peter Drucker had a great piece of wisdom: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."
This implies that before we do anything, we should determine whether it's important enough to do. E-mail let's everyone bypass that filter and gives the world direct access to put unfiltered tasks on your to-do list.
Once I truly internalized that, it became much easier to focus on projects & tasks that I actively deemed important, instead of obsessively checking my inbox subconsciously hoping some life-changing email will appear.
* I still check my e-mail once or twice a day, and flag & act upon any related to my priority projects or people. They rest get left in the inbox unread. Inbox Infinity as opposed to Inbox Zero I suppose. On last count, I had over 2,000 unread e-mails: http://screencast.com/t/EC3VBAxmwM. I think the trick is to not let that bother you. There's no law that says inboxes need to be cleared regularly. It's a remnant behavior from the physical mailboxes overflowed and became unmanageable if left unkempt. However space is practically infinite in the virtual world, and you can search for any e-mail you need in your inbox whenever you need it. Therefore cleaning my inbox seems completely unnecessary. The only kind of cleaning I do is move e-mails to an archive folder every year, which reminds me...
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus?
#35- Only work on something as long as I'm productive on it
- When I stop being productive, it goes to the end of list and I pick up the next thing and repeat
For big tasks where procrastination might be more of a problem, I put something like "work on x for 10 minutes" and make it a repeating todo until the due date. That way I don't pressure myself into getting some big component done. I can make myself feel good about consistent progress.
I also found that diligently tracking my time on tasks has helped. Now I have a better sense, more or less, of how long common tasks take and can better gauge the time commitment before starting. Before I had data, I think I put off a lot of things or let myself get distracted because I thought something would take an hour when in fact it only takes 15 minutes.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus?
#36I normally try to get a few cups of coffee into my system, and start making a list of things that are most important to accomplish within the amount of time I have to work for that day. When I have a defined list of objectives, it makes it easier for me to try to cross things off the list. If that fails, I'll end up watching an episode or two of a tv show, playing an instrument or something away from electronics most…
Agree. A to do list is my go to option.
If I do not complete the tasks on time, the list grows ominously. When the list becomes gargantuan, I get really scared and end up doing everything in one shot.
Also the joy of scratching off completed tasks is unmatched.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus?
#37I set a one hour timer on my phone. The agreement with myself is that i will not stand up, not open a browser for something unrelated, not go to the bathroom, not speak to anyone, not listen to anyone, not do anything but focus on the one task at hand until the timer goes off. This can be planning or actually writing code, but i only work on the task.
By the time the timer goes off, i'm usually pretty immersed. The more i do it the less i use the timer, i just need it to get out of slumps.
And i don't start the timer unless i'm sure i'm ready to commit the hour. Deciding to commit alone helps me get rolling.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus?
#38I wear earplugs next to a running fan or white noise machine.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus?
#39Marijuana and a medium-long walk.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus?
#40I think going somewhere and having a built-in time limit imposes a "better make this trip productive" mindset that's pretty powerful. For example, I go to the super-quiet room in my school's library for a few reasons (some obvious):
1) It's super quiet -- no talking allowed, cell phones need to be off, so fewer distractions available.
2) Being surrounded by other people who are all getting work done => a good kind of peer pressure / vibe to channel.
3) A built-in time limit (library closes at 5pm) causes me to focus on getting things done so that I can feel like my excursion to the library was a productive one.
4) Somewhat counter-intuitively, switching from double-monitor home setup to single-monitor on-the-go laptop means that while I might not be able to do certain things as efficiently as I would otherwise, I am 100% focused on whatever single window is open on my screen at once!