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

Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

cpbotha.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 67 posts

Re: Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

#31

Post by derrickdirge »

pcmaffey wrote: post #19
kordless wrote: post #15

As the poster child for this stuff from a few years back, I've lit on the simple intent on being present for a small amount of time each day. There are hundreds of ways to meditate - find one that works well for you and practice it. Work toward sitting and observing without judgement. Work toward quieting the conversations in your head. I would also recommend not over thinking about any of this too much. Thinking abo…

Yes, thinking about productivity is a rabbit hole that devours your productivity.

I've spent years not being able to find a functional organization strategy due to this very trap.

Re: Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

#32

Post by throwaway91111 »

dsschnau wrote: post #4

i've never seen anyone actually use a pomodoro in real life, and the occasional day i've given it s a shot, I end up thinking "this is silly, I'll just focus on my work". I guess my protest is that it seems silly, especially when I'm focused on something and the timer goes off and I'm supposed to stop. It seems like its adding structure only for the sake of structure. Has anyone actually started using pomo, and stuck…

The idea is to evaluate how you're doing every 25 minutes and take a break every 50. You're "allowed" to work as much as you want; if you don't have an issue over or under working, there's not much point to the timer.

Re: Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

#33

Post by shamano »

josephg wrote: post #5
dominotw wrote: post #2

>Extending the length of the 25 minute pomodoro. If I’m in the deep work flow, I’ll continue past the 25 minute alarm. Someone told me that its 25 minutes because it prevents you from building too much context in your head that prevents you from taking a break at 25 min mark. You can't do creative work if your brain is filled with lot of context. eg: TDD goes really well with pomodoro because you are only thinking ab…

I'll be honest; I've never understood this mindset. The idea of purposefully interrupting my flow every 25 minutes, explicitly dropping my context is ghastly. If you could design an ideal hell for me it would involve hard, interesting programming problems and constant (every ~10-20 minute) seemingly random external interruptions. (Its not an accident that I don't have children.) Most of the work I'm really proud of h…

"From a practical standpoint, our research suggests that, when faced with long tasks (such as studying before a final exam or doing your taxes), it is best to impose brief breaks on yourself. Brief mental breaks will actually help you stay focused on your task!”

http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/02/09/taking-breaks-found-...

Re: Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

#34

Post by brachi »

ajmurmann wrote: post #9
josephg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be honest; I've never understood this mindset. The idea of purposefully interrupting my flow every 25 minutes, explicitly dropping my context is ghastly. If you could design an ideal hell for me it would involve hard, interesting programming problems and constant (every ~10-20 minute) seemingly random external interruptions. (Its not an accident that I don't have children.) Most of the work I'm really proud of h…

Do you mind me asking if you are self-employed? The rhythm you describe very exciting, but impossible in most work places. What you are doing though is probably the only work pattern that surely qualifies as "a sprint".

> I just think they should be about 1 week in length. > I usually need a couple of weeks recovery time

And exactly like a real sprint (running very fast) a period of resting is necessary after such an effort, usually longer than the execution time spent.

Re: Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

#35

Post by wccrawford »

>Yes, even after work, he makes the case for structuring your leisure activities in a similar fashion.

I find that this attitude makes it hard for me to relax. I've always been like this, and while I do derive a certain amount of comfort from it, I find it hard to schedule time to sit and do "whatever", and therefore it's hard to relax during that time.

To put it another way: A day at the beach sounds horrifyingly boring to me, but a day at a waterpark sounds awesome. I feel the need to be doing things during my relaxation time, even if I might be more relaxed doing "nothing".

Re: Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

#37

Post by gdubs »

dsschnau wrote: post #4

i've never seen anyone actually use a pomodoro in real life, and the occasional day i've given it s a shot, I end up thinking "this is silly, I'll just focus on my work". I guess my protest is that it seems silly, especially when I'm focused on something and the timer goes off and I'm supposed to stop. It seems like its adding structure only for the sake of structure. Has anyone actually started using pomo, and stuck…

I used it a few years back to great success when I was balancing an indie development project with some freelance work, working out of my home.

Was very effective at taking control of a large task list without getting overwhelmed.

I found over time I internalized the rhythm and didn't need the rigor of it, but might still use it from time to time.

It's a nice proxy for a lot of the healthy work habits this post is talking about.

Re: Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

#38

Post by gdubs »

If you want to get deep on this subject, I highly recommend "The Organized Mind" and "The Power of Habit".

The Organized Mind really breaks down the cost of "task switching" and explores the brain's strengths, quirks, and weaknesses, and how strategies of highly effective people exploit those traits.

The Power of Habit is good for developing a less naive approach to behavior change. It's eye opening.

Re: Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

#39

Post by markeroon »

wccrawford wrote: post #35

>Yes, even after work, he makes the case for structuring your leisure activities in a similar fashion. I find that this attitude makes it hard for me to relax. I've always been like this, and while I do derive a certain amount of comfort from it, I find it hard to schedule time to sit and do "whatever", and therefore it's hard to relax during that time. To put it another way: A day at the beach sounds horrifyingly bo…

I'm the same. I find playing hockey, basketball, etc to be the most "relaxing" of all activities. The only way I can really switch off is by doing something else.

Re: Deep Work: A welcome kick in the butt

#40

Post by imesh »

wccrawford wrote: post #35

>Yes, even after work, he makes the case for structuring your leisure activities in a similar fashion. I find that this attitude makes it hard for me to relax. I've always been like this, and while I do derive a certain amount of comfort from it, I find it hard to schedule time to sit and do "whatever", and therefore it's hard to relax during that time. To put it another way: A day at the beach sounds horrifyingly bo…

I wonder, I used to feel that way, but now nothing is better than a full day at the beach truely relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. I wonder if it's because of age or because my job is really burning me out and leaving me with no energy.
Post reply on HN