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Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

#21

Post by encephalos »

malux85 wrote: post #12
pkoird wrote: post #7

A tangential question. What exactly does it feel to be like in Adderall? I'm intimately familiar with the 15-minutes venture into Reddit/HN etc so if I were to, say, take Adderall, just what exactly inside me would change?

Look at some code, hold your attention on it, think about the methods and types and interactions with other objects. Hold all of this in your working memory to the exclusion of anything else. See how long you can hold it for. Now start loading more into your working memory, after you get N classes deep things will start to get fuzzier, you won’t be able to hold it all in your mind at once, you’ll get unfocused, and t…

Those headaches can be hydration-related. A "life hack" (I guess addy/adhd hack) borrowed from the keto groups was to find a way to intake potassium a few hours in to it, in combination with your likely more than usual water intake. The suggestion I once found was low sodium V8s since they’re high in potassium to offset the sodium but keep a level of taste. Life changing to say the least for those days I would take adderall.

Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

#22

Post by bamboozled »

9/10 the problem I'm trying to work on isn't sufficiently broken down and feels impossible to even start on.

The more I break down a problem into small solvable problems (a pen and paper is all you need), the less obscure the issue / work becomes, then I can be there for 20 hours coding/designing whatever from the point I've understood what I need to do.

Also writing down where I finished and where I need to start from the next day helps me get back into work easily.

TL;DR you're probably overwhelmed and it's easier to watch sexy people doing yoga on Instagram than to actually build something.

Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

#23

Post by wnolens »

If I care about some aspect of the thing to be done - even if it's just for my own ego - then sometimes I'll give myself less time to do it in, such that if I don't focus and it doesn't get done (or done well) then something I don't want to happen, will happen (be harshly criticized, lose money, let myself down).

Provided I value the thing, my body/mind will come around when demanded of, often slowly.

If I don't care that much, or the downsides don't feel so bad, then I try to practice giving up that thing (in whatever way I can) or just not doing it well.

Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

#24

Post by snthpy »

ppjim wrote: post #15

So far, the solution that has worked for me has been Focusmate ( https://www.focusmate.com/ ). It's like Omegle for focus. Pick a time slot and pair up with someone to be accountable together. You can get more information on how it works here https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46624137 You can also book a session with me if you like. https://www.focusmate.com/i/nLUDAIR5oh/calendar

I've been curious about these kinds of services for a while.

Genuine question: do you not end up just chatting with your paired partner?

Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

#25

Post by Toadtoad »

encephalos wrote: post #17
agentultra wrote: post #14

Rituals. There’s one highly specific genre of music I listen to while I code. Nothing else. If I take a break, I turn it off. If I get distracted, I turn it off. I only listen to it when I work. I use the sandwich method of booking meetings; only at the beginning or end of the day. Also the times when I look at my emails. Slack is harder to turn off because ops so I let that one slide. When I need to concentrate, fli…

Was really hoping you’d share the playlist or even the genre as I was reading your comment.

I'm not OP, but I'm pretty sure the point is the ritual of it, not the genre itself. Anything will work as long as it's specifically for working, and you don't play the music elsewhere. If you can get a subconscious link in your brain between that music and working, ideally you can be more focused when listening to it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

#26

Post by sanman811 »

Here’s a few things that I have found really helpful recently:

1. Put your phone in another room and only check it at scheduled periods. For me, after breakfast I put my phone out of sight until lunch and then back in the other room it goes until 3:30 PM.

2. Try to keep separate spaces for entertainment and focus. For example at your desk only do productive work like development or paying bills. If you want to watch a youtube video then take your laptop to your couch and watch it there or just watch youtube only on your TV.

3. Check out this podcast from Andrew Huberman called Focus Toolkit on focus cycles, focus music and more.

Also don’t be afraid to take breaks (without a screen), we aren’t machines. Just walk around and daydream sometimes

Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

#27

Post by tjohns »

I use the Pomodoro Technique. Given that it divides the day into 15 minute work blocks, it might work well for you too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique

It's worth reading through the original Pomodoro Technique PDF, since planning and tracking is an important part of the process:

http://friend.ucsd.edu/reasonableexpectations/downloads/Ciri...

Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?

#29

Post by nestorD »

I found that I am good at long periods of focus but tend to have a hard time getting into them without falling into distraction.

My current solution is to:

- minimize distractions (I mute websites and use an extension to block youtube/reddit/facebook), - have a background music that drown out noises (there are online generators[0] but I found a particular song plus rain noise combination [1] to be a great fit for my brain)

[0]: https://mynoise.net/ [1]: https://youtu.be/9kgRHg3TaAI

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