To me, the start of a productive day beings with a good sleep the previous night. No need for coffee or other stimulants.
If possible a short nap after lunch (siesta) will also help stay energized for the rest of the day.
Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
11–20 of 73 posts
Re: Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
#12I've recently started doing Yoga (mainly breath yoga - Pranayam) and Mindfulness.
30 minutes - first thing every morning.
It's unbelievable how much my energy levels and concentration have gone up!
Re: Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
#13I like to take walks. Sometimes when there is too much going on, I'm a little too restless or I just can't focus. I'll just get up and go for a short walk, try to clear my head, maybe tire myself out a bit. Usually gets me a little more relaxed.
This is my favorite productivity hack.
If I'm stuck on a problem, I'll go for a walk. My hope is that I'll find a solution, but I often discover that I don't even need to solve the problem.
Re: Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
#14-Waking up really early, before sunrise, with no other distractions than a cup of tea and your work. Knowing you have 3-4 hours of uninterrupted time to get shit done, and someone to show the work after that. Works better for me than burning the midnight oil (which works too but probably isn't as healthy). -Not doing too many things at the same time (hard) -Having a passion in what you are doing and being proud of th…
I'm not necessarily disagreeing but what makes you say working extremely early hours is probably healthier than working extremely late hours?
Re: Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
#15I have a lot of productivity programs, calendar apps, todo lists, mind mapping software etc. etc... But the greatest tool in my arsenal is a notebook and a pen.
Every morning, before I start working, I browse my calendar, Omnifocus, notes from yesterday, and with my notebook, I write down the three things I absolutely want to get done today.
I don't always get those three things done, but I sure do make a lot of progress on them and feel good about my productivity at the end of the day.
Something about the ritual and physical act of writing stuff down with a pen really does it for me. When I forget to do this or start working without it, I feel directionless and will mostly just answer email and get inconsequential stuff done all day.
Re: Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
#16i am using a personal kanban board to organize my tasks and work on them one after another... if someone interrupts, i just add another task and continue working on the previous one
Re: Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
#17Here's what works for achieving extreme levels of hyper-creativity and hyper-productivity for me. Will it work for you? Yes. Will you do it? No, you will find endless excuses to call the below "impossible". Still, for anyone who dares, here it is:
1. Get as much sleep as you can. Consistently. Yes, it's counter-intuitive. Yes, you'll have fewer waking hours. But those few hours will be many times more productive and joyful.
2. Drink more water and eat fresh food. Eat less than you normally do.
3. Get plenty of fresh air and sunlight.
4. Get a good amount of physical activity throughout the day (exercise, walks, whatever works for you)
5. Get plenty of vacation time during the year. Do not do ANY work during your vacation time - focus on enjoying yourself. (Ideally, 1/3 of the year should be spent on vacation time)
6. Make a list of the 20 most important things you want to accomplish (near-term). Sort the list so that at the top you have the things that you feel most passionate about. Keep the top 2 items and scratch everything else (I don't mean de-prioritize - I mean scratch it / drop it / burn it / forget it / it ain't happening.)
7. Focus all of your time and attention on doing those things that are most exciting TO YOU personally. Whether those things have any utility to anyone other than you is irrelevant. You come first.
8. If there is anything else that still absolutely needs to be done - find a way to delegate it to someone who's good at that stuff.
9. You will be unstoppable.
Re: Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
#18Call a friend once a day at roughly the same time. Catch up on what you two have been up to, talk about what you've accomplished in the last 24 hours, and discuss what you'd like to get done before the next call.
No app or self-help book could ever replace the shame from letting down someone you respect.
Re: Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
#19-Waking up really early, before sunrise, with no other distractions than a cup of tea and your work. Knowing you have 3-4 hours of uninterrupted time to get shit done, and someone to show the work after that. Works better for me than burning the midnight oil (which works too but probably isn't as healthy). -Not doing too many things at the same time (hard) -Having a passion in what you are doing and being proud of th…
I'm not necessarily disagreeing but what makes you say working extremely early hours is probably healthier than working extremely late hours?
It depends on your situation but I find that it's easier to focus at the beginning of the day after a good night's rest than at the end of the day when your mind and body can be tired.
I also tend to (for various reasons) get better quality sleep if I go to bed early and wake up early. Human sleep cycles have probably aligned with the sun for a long time which (might) have biological effects favouring this type of circadian rhythm.
Plus seeing/photographing magnificent sunrises feels good :)
Re: Ask HN: Share your best personal productivity tips and tricks
#20-Waking up really early, before sunrise, with no other distractions than a cup of tea and your work. Knowing you have 3-4 hours of uninterrupted time to get shit done, and someone to show the work after that. Works better for me than burning the midnight oil (which works too but probably isn't as healthy). -Not doing too many things at the same time (hard) -Having a passion in what you are doing and being proud of th…
I'm not necessarily disagreeing but what makes you say working extremely early hours is probably healthier than working extremely late hours?
I wake up at 4 most mornings. I'm always at the peak of my energy at the 3.5 hours I have before I walk entirely uphill to work. After my descent I'm usually too worn out to get anything productive done, and since I start wrapping up my evening around 7-8, I don't sacrifice sleep.
My Chinese teacher put it best: "Early to rise, early to bed, leaves you healthy, wealthy, and socially dead."