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How I regained concentration and focus

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Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#321

Post by miguelazo »

stevage wrote: post #306
daniel_iversen wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few other suggestions too: - if you need an app, turn off notifications at least (and move it occasionally to another folder) - turn on iOS Screen Time so you have that second to re-think if you want to use the app in the first place (pattern interruption) - turn your phone colors to greyscale - I know it sounds odd but I had it like that for a couple of years or so and it made me reduce phone time, more productive…

This one never did anything for me. But then, I was never into scrolling things with pictures, much more into reading text. Do you know why it worked for you?

Grayscale also worked for me-- even beyond looking at images (only Wall Street Journal seemed somewhat immune). The lack of contrast or something was just so jarring and served as a reminder that I am trying to stay focused.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#322

Post by giantg2 »

TameAntelope wrote: post #309
giantg2 wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything is a tradeoff. Just because someone view the weight of the choices differently doesn't mean they are wrong. Check your ego.

Did I say you were wrong? No, you did. No ego, just facts, and your attitude here is crap, your headspace is so negative I’m not at all surprised you’re suffering such as you are.

Based on your comment history, you seem to be very aggressive and derogatory. I would almost say you're trolling. It's quite pedantic to claim you never said someone is wrong even after you've said several things which effectively say that.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#323

Post by jolmg »

atmosx wrote: post #230
leobg wrote: post #204

Isn’t it funny how much attention these anti-procrastination posts are getting on essentially a procrastination site? (Tongue in cheek! I love HN. I just know that I sometimes do abuse it as a procrastination device.)

It’s also funny how all these posts are so “western” in style: ‘Hey look at me, I did something a bit difficult for 3 days, now I am a guru!’ Not trying to knock the author but the time window is simply too small and this approach is simply too common online. Let’s see if the author can actually change lifestyle for more than 5 years and then we can discuss about “lessons learned”.

I don't see the author claiming they're a guru. I just see them sharing their experience on their own personal struggle, focusing on what ended up working for them.

Also, I'm sure it's been longer than 3 days since they've found these things worked for them. By 5 years, they're likely going to forget their struggle.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#324

Post by giantg2 »

bumby wrote: post #248
giantg2 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might not be. I'm hesitant to admit that because 1) They used to be and I was a high performer at a mediocre non-tech company 2) There's nothing else I can do to earn enough to support my family.

> There's nothing else I can do to earn enough to support my family. Honest question that I know won't be well-received on HN: I don't know your personal details, but do you think there is not anyone else in a lower paid job who has figured out a way to support their family? Frustration stems from when reality doesn't meet our expectations. You can choose to try and bend reality to your will or change your expectatio…

Sure, I can take a lower paying job. We would likely have to sell our house and move to an apartment and give up hope of retirement. The thing is, many of these people in lower paying job still make decent money, but those are skilled jobs. I would have to go to a trade school or apprentice for many of those, but likely couldn't due to needing an income. Because I would be unskilled labor, I would probably be looking at jobs around $20/hr with benefits (if I'm lucky). Without benefits, we'll be bankrupt quickly.

Most of my frustration is because my bosses are assholes. I now expect bosses to be assholes, but it's still frustrating.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#325

Post by ineedasername »

>Since about 2020... There were no external causes, even the pandemic didn’t affect me, thanks to a nice home office and online work options — so no excuses

It seems strange to disregard the pandemic merely because it didn't impact your work environment. It very likely impacted the ability to do any of their usual activities that took place outside of their home. And even if it didn't, having the entire world go through such a disaster is a reasonable possibility for a subtle or subconscious reactions.

This may not at all have been the cause, but neither is it inconsistent with their eventual solution of drastically reducing news/media consumption. If the awful things going on in the world were in some way impacting motivation & productivity then it certainly makes sense that turning them off might help.

Chalking up the mere possibility of that as "bogus excuses" is extremely dismissive for a global crisis as well, and a bit insulting to people who probably had identical issues that were very much linked to society shutting down combined w/ awful news creeping into any glance towards the outside world. The author's next statement of "“You’ve got to do something about that,” is the right attitude to take when faced with a problem of this sort, but a reason for a problem only becomes a "bogus excuse" if it's used to avoid trying to find a solution, not for its own sake.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#326

Post by bexsella »

For me, reddit was a big hurdle. It was such a time hole I didn't realise but I finally got sick of my reply when my partner asked about what I was reading, it was always: "Nothing"

I deleted facebook years ago for the same reason, but I convinced myself that reddit was different in some capacity, and it is in ways, but after one too many evenings of looking at "Nothing", I'm happy I've kicked it to the curb. Even at work now, I have a ublock rule to block reddit. Occasionally, I find the need to temporarily allow it due to searches on a particular topic, but it's gone as a pastime.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#327

Post by jolmg »

vosper wrote: post #296
leobg wrote: post #204

Isn’t it funny how much attention these anti-procrastination posts are getting on essentially a procrastination site? (Tongue in cheek! I love HN. I just know that I sometimes do abuse it as a procrastination device.)

Just in case people don't realise: HN has a built-in anti-procrastination feature. You can set it in your profile. I have mine setup so that I can spend 10 minutes on HN every 2 hours.

> 10 minutes on HN every 2 hours.

That's not exactly infrequent. HN doesn't change all that much in a whole day.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#328

Post by ineedasername »

koonsolo wrote: post #251
tootie wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I don't get it. News is bad for you so become deliberately ignorant? Don't get distracted by the world so you can work more? It's like saying traffic lights distract you from driving.

I much rather want to talk to the person who reads books written by experts, than to talk to the person who watches the news every day. I'm sorry but there just isn't any comparison. Have you ever read news about something you are an expert at? It's just laughable inaccurate. News is entertainment, not information. If you want information, read a book written by an expert at the field.

The world moves faster than experts write books. The US has an important election coming up in a few months. Regardless of which part of the political spectrum a person is on there are issues most will care about a great deal that will be extremely impacted by the outcomes of the elections. Issues that are way too recent to get coverage in books written by experts.

Like it or not, engagement with civic society requires a person to be more current on what is going on in their towns, state and country than a book publishing schedule allows.

Besides, there's a lot of room in between experts' books and passively consuming whatever the top headlines are on any given day. You don't have to choose between infotainment news & a complete vacuum of knowledge about current affairs.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#329

Post by coolspot »

namaria wrote: post #120

Turning off all notifications on my personal phone was a life changer. No longer I feel like I'm wearing an electronic collar. Giving everyone who has your contact information access to your attention is poison to the ability to concentrate. Another big thing for me was cutting down on infinite scrolling, blogs and videos and spending a lot more time with long form content (mainly books). Attention is our most precio…

iOS focus mode added recently is a godsend!

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#330

Post by jdshaffer »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #153
ge96 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My phone is always on mute (no vibrate either) Only alarms to wake up

Having a family and responsibilities made this infeasible for me. Most apps on my phone are denied notifications, but people can still text/call me.

I have family and responsibilities, too. I've so far survived by allowing ONLY notifications from texts and phone calls. The key is that I'm able to ONLY give my text information and telephone information to family.

I know others probably can't do that, but it works great for me.

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