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A simple habit that saves my evenings

alikhil.dev

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Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings

#31

Post by al_borland »

pimlottc wrote: post #5

The habit is in the 7th paragraph, after 2 images: > Rather than trying to complete your task in 20 minutes, take this time to write down your thoughts, and a step-by-step action plan of what you think you need to do to finish your task. Then go home. Rest. A feeling of incompleteness will motivate you to come back and finalize your work the next day. Only you will be full of energy, together with a settled plan. No…

Sounds like the Hemingway method[0], with notes.

I do this all the time, quitting when I know what comes next, but noting it down so I don’t forget and become frustrated.

[0] https://bk2coady.medium.com/the-hemingway-method-fb56bf93836...

Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings

#32

Post by al_borland »

usefulcat wrote: post #11

> As a bonus, there is a chance that new, better ideas will come while you sleep or rest. IMO this feature should not be underestimated. Happens to me semi-regularly.

This was a key plot device in almost every episode of House. Stepping away from the problem gives your brain time to work on the problem in the background.

Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings

#33

Post by bluGill »

alpinisme wrote: post #26
rockercoaster wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what the oldest reference is we can find to this practice. I bet it's very old. Oldest I know of is only the late 19th century, but I bet we could beat that by at least several hundred years. Surely it comes up at least once somewhere in Shakespeare?

You need clock based wage labor for that. Which only really starts with the Industrial Revolution

farmers plowing a field do similar even though the sun is their clock.

Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings

#35

Post by add-sub-mul-div »

pimlottc wrote: post #5

The habit is in the 7th paragraph, after 2 images: > Rather than trying to complete your task in 20 minutes, take this time to write down your thoughts, and a step-by-step action plan of what you think you need to do to finish your task. Then go home. Rest. A feeling of incompleteness will motivate you to come back and finalize your work the next day. Only you will be full of energy, together with a settled plan. No…

It's weird how thoroughly people have internalized that tl;dr is supposed to be the default way to take in information now. Not only for themselves, but for others.

Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings

#36

Post by TeMPOraL »

pimlottc wrote: post #5

The habit is in the 7th paragraph, after 2 images: > Rather than trying to complete your task in 20 minutes, take this time to write down your thoughts, and a step-by-step action plan of what you think you need to do to finish your task. Then go home. Rest. A feeling of incompleteness will motivate you to come back and finalize your work the next day. Only you will be full of energy, together with a settled plan. No…

> A feeling of incompleteness will motivate you to come back and finalize your work the next day.

Unfortunately, in between there's sleep, which is the great feelings eraser / emotional cache flusher. So all that'll happen is that said "feeling of incompleteness" will distract me for the rest of the evening, then disappear at night. Come morning, it won't be there, so I'll have to read the plan to hopefully induce that feeling again.

Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings

#37

Post by christophilus »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #35
pimlottc wrote: post #5

The habit is in the 7th paragraph, after 2 images: > Rather than trying to complete your task in 20 minutes, take this time to write down your thoughts, and a step-by-step action plan of what you think you need to do to finish your task. Then go home. Rest. A feeling of incompleteness will motivate you to come back and finalize your work the next day. Only you will be full of energy, together with a settled plan. No…

It's weird how thoroughly people have internalized that tl;dr is supposed to be the default way to take in information now. Not only for themselves, but for others.

Most of what I read these days can be captured— almost entirely— by a good tl;dr. Unless I’m reading for pleasure, I’d prefer to read content that is as direct and succinct as possible.

Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings

#38

Post by TeMPOraL »

rockercoaster wrote: post #30
mistersquid wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Surely it comes up at least once somewhere in Shakespeare? Doubtful because the concept of clocking and clocking out is an artifact of the shift from mercantilism to capitalism and the Industrial Revolution where people sold their time in exchange for money. Before that, in Elizabethan England, people were not free agents but subjects of British Empire. Merchants could control their destinies to some extent but did…

The idea of avoiding work by taking a shit, though. Like I could entirely see Julius Caesar’s Gallic Campaign including a bit about punishing some soldier because he always managed to need to shit during the hardest parts of setting up camp, or something like that.

> The idea of avoiding work by taking a shit, though.

That's not why you poop on company time. Rather, because a) you get paid for it, b) the company pays for water and hygienic products you use up in the process.

Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings

#39

Post by bayindirh »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #36
pimlottc wrote: post #5

The habit is in the 7th paragraph, after 2 images: > Rather than trying to complete your task in 20 minutes, take this time to write down your thoughts, and a step-by-step action plan of what you think you need to do to finish your task. Then go home. Rest. A feeling of incompleteness will motivate you to come back and finalize your work the next day. Only you will be full of energy, together with a settled plan. No…

> A feeling of incompleteness will motivate you to come back and finalize your work the next day. Unfortunately, in between there's sleep, which is the great feelings eraser / emotional cache flusher. So all that'll happen is that said "feeling of incompleteness" will distract me for the rest of the evening, then disappear at night. Come morning, it won't be there, so I'll have to read the plan to hopefully induce th…

I do the same thing as the author does. Moreover, I keep these notes more frequently, to the project's notebook with my other thoughts during the day.

When I return to the task, I get up to speed in ~10 minutes, and things way go smoother because a) I'll be rested, b) My brain would have processed the plan and came up with a refined version of it. When I read the plan I wrote, I automatically recall the refined version most of the time.

Then, I get to work and finish what I have started.

Interestingly, sleep doesn't erase my emotions, but pause them. I just continue from where I left.

Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings

#40

Post by simpaticoder »

A mention of the Pomodoro technique is relevant. It encourages 100% focus on work for 25 minutes followed by a 5 minute break where you are forbidden to work at all in any way. You're supposed to tell a joke, stretch, stare out the window, etc. But no meetings, no email, etc. At first I felt a strong resistance to the "stop work" part, often delaying until "one last thing" was done, but I tried it anyway. What surprised me was that without exception, my thoughts and actions were clearer when I took the break. It never really added a delay, and in fact sped me up considerably. I'm not entirely sure why, or whether its true for others, but that disciplined cadence of 25m 100% focus and 5m 0% focus is like magic.
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