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PG: Disconnecting Distraction

paulgraham.com

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Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction

#161

Post by aaronsw »

maxklein wrote: post #12
Alex3917 wrote: post #8

I think part of the problem for me is having gone through public school. When you're 13, sneaking out of the lunch room to read Slashdot in the library is literally the most productive thing you could be doing during that time period. Even in high school I would have learned more by reading Reddit, had it existed, than by doing most of the homework I was assigned. The basic issue is that when you're in school you're…

Why are you blaming external factors instead of yourself or your personality?

Maybe because he doesn't want to make the Fundamental Attribution Error?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error

Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction

#163

Post by bb75 »

Paul - moving your i-net access to a separate PC is only avoiding the real issue - yourself and what you're doing with yourself (e.g. your life).

If you get your job done, even with all the distractions included as part of it, then your problem isn't either of 1) getting your job done and on time or 2) distractions of various types.

Your "problem" (allow me to be presumptive to illustrate a point) is you aren't "feeling it" anymore for your job as a techie. You learned the God language - Lisp - you know you can get shit done with it, and above all - you DO get shit done with it. Distracted or not.

What you want is to set yourself up for a bigger game - and when I say a "bigger" game, I mean find something to do where you "know" you are going to fail or something that makes you feel uncomfortable enough to think you might fail at it. Reason I quoted "know" is because you don't know you're going to fail until you do something, however, you have (luxury of) the pretense of "knowing" because the thought of doing something other than what you superbly know how to do and have been doing for a long time, gives you the willies and makes you feel "uncomfortable".

When you begin to feel uncomfortable about doing something you haven't done before, you will cease to be distracted, because you will be preoccupied with overcoming the fear of failing at your new endeavor (and being in that state will offer you excitement without distractions).

Now - does that new game have to be creating yet another Lisp dialect (e.g. Arc, or whatever you called it..?)? No. I know you can write the next Lisp, or whatever...

Try this on - set up a program in your neighborhood where /every/ weekend you get a /firm/ commitment from 5 or 10 people to pick up garbage or litter from the common areas...

Or try to get a homeless guy to 1) shave, 2) clean up, 3) buy some new clothes (or you buy him some) and see that getting a job as a a bagman for 8 hours a day at Wal-Mart or Target pays better than begging on a street corner...

Or use your imagination ... and find something to do that will inspire you and those you are involved with.

I promise you will not be distracted whatsoever when you put your efforts toward doing something like this. You don't have to believe me about this. Try it on. See how it fits. Then come back and tell me you are still feeling 'distracted'.

Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction

#164

Post by aswanson »

mechanical_fish wrote: post #99
aswanson wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As for drinking alone, I suspect it's better on the whole. It reduces the likelihood of violent crimes and car wrecks, anyway. Seconded.

I have a relative who drank alone. He drank himself to death when his kids were in their teens. Apparently nobody knew he was an alcoholic until he collapsed and died of liver failure. I'll see your "seconded" and raise you 3e8.

No thanks, I've suddenly developed a taste for more vitamin water.

Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction

#165

Post by lupin_sansei »

andyn wrote: post #92
noahlt wrote: post #43

That's fine if you're PG and you write all the software yourself, but what if you're using a web framework or other open-source tools and need the web to access documentation or ask questions?

I've found personally I don't need to block the whole internet - just the top few procrastination websites - facebook, reddit, slashdot, bbc news etc. that I'd otherwise be tempted to read. There's a Firefox extension called LeechBlock ( http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html ) that will do that for you, and allow fine control over how long or when the sites are blocked as well as the option to stop you simply dis…

I have got a lot of benefit from Leechblock too. I use it to reward myself my allowing 10 minutes of fun every hour.

Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction

#166

Post by lupin_sansei »

anirbas wrote: post #57
noahlt wrote: post #43

That's fine if you're PG and you write all the software yourself, but what if you're using a web framework or other open-source tools and need the web to access documentation or ask questions?

How about downloading the documentation to your work computer and using that local copy? If the docs fail, you can use the other computer to ask questions.

Or even just installing Google Desktop and searching that when you are offline since it seems to index most HTML files you look at or are on your machine

Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction

#167

Post by lupin_sansei »

mechanical_fish wrote: post #101
tonystubblebine wrote: post #6

I like the separate computer concept. Is there a way to make that more practical for people who are developing websites on their primary computer? I'd like to be able to get at the websites I own and the core documentation at least. I feel like you could co-opt some of these child-safe browsing tools to only let you on to the sites that were necessary for work. Maybe this could be the next step for rescuetime--only l…

One wonders how hard it would be to hack up a tool that enforced a time limit on sites that were flagged (by you, in Rescuetime) as time-wasters. You know, after 15 minutes on slashdot.org the hosts file gets rewritten to automatically rickroll all requests to slashdot. I'm not sure if RescueTime has a public API, but I think it already has the triggers and warnings and feeds that you would need to drive this.

There's already a good Firefox extension for just this: Leechblock

Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction

#168

Post by whacked_new »

nostrademons wrote: post #65
whacked_new wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm particularly interested on your take on various forms of distractions, given your response to my question about frustration. Distraction can be used to kill frustration, but there's likely a secret, a skill, or a science in utilizing it, in the sense that it takes your mind off of something enough to change your approach, reinvigorate your interest, or whatever. You talked about working on completely irrelevant p…

Something I realized after I wrote that comment: all the side-projects mentioned used the same toolset as the main project, but used it for a different purpose. So for example: 1.) Scrutiny was a quick PHP-based course evaluation system, done entirely when I should've been working on a large PHP rewrite of a HP fanfiction site. It took 2 weeks, vs. 3 years for FictionAlley (all part time). 2.) Bootstrapacitor was a q…

Lots of thought fodder, thanks!

Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction

#169

Post by whacked_new »

pg wrote: post #66
whacked_new wrote: post #52

Oh come on people... This one was rougher than the rest. Americans watch 4 hours of TV per day? Source? (Ok, there's Google, but that's not the good-old footnoted style.) Next, a bunch of fairly obvious things (TV is a time sink, so are other forms of distractions, and distractions prevent you from doing work!), then a submarine (plug for a personal investment). The "solution" of separating out a work machine isn't p…

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0929/076.html

Much appreciated; the neilsenmedia statistic is cited on the first Google hit, so I was being anal. Interestingly, some sites are quoting nearly 5 hours now, based on the 2007 stats: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb267/is_200706/ai_n25...

Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction

#170

Post by warrens »

Isn't writing - and reading - articles like this just part of the process of procastination and distraction?

Actually, watching TV, reading email, writing articles etc. indicates you are engaged with your surroundings, not trying to isolate yourself from it. You're trying to gather information you need to know, or contact and influence others.

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