Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day • Hacker News Board

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#41

Post by el_benhameen » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:06 PM UTC

Atrine wrote: post #31

> Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day Years ago a sr. eng on my team would find root causes to bugs late in the afternoon and then just go home. When asked why, they said that they knew exactly what they were going to do first thing in the morning and that it got them straight into the flow state for the rest of the day. I like this example better because understanding a root cause and not hav…

I like this, too. “Slightly unfinished, but fully understood” is a great place to pick up. A “slightly unfinished understanding” of the problem or task at hand is a great way to nuke one’s mental model and end up stuck trying to recreate it in the morning.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#42

Post by sys_64738 » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:07 PM UTC

notatoad wrote: post #22

this is great productivity hack, but personally i'd rather sacrifice the productivity and finish the workday (or even just go for lunch) feeling like i've finished something.

This is me. I finish the day with a success so I don't go home and continue thinking of a problem. I leave work at work nowadays.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#43

Post by sys_64738 » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:08 PM UTC

QuercusMax wrote: post #33

k__ wrote: post #14

For me, this only leads to sleepless nights.

Do you leave yourself enough breadcrumbs that you can pick things back up in the morning? What's causing you sleepless nights? I find it helps me sleep better as I know I've dumped the context out of my brain and don't need to put effort into retaining it until I can get back to the task at hand.

If I do have a problem then I write down every thought so it's out of my head for sleep. Nothing worse for me than trying to solve the problem mentally when trying to sleep.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#44

Post by betenoire » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:09 PM UTC

I don't like this tip at all. I get the sentiment, getting started is the HARDEST part of the day for me. But if I can finish something now, why wait until tomorrow?

It's a golden rule sort of thing. I'm imagining the HR person saying, "It will only take a few minutes to fix this for you, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow". Examples are endless.

There are better ways to get myself going in the morning, than to leave myself softballs from the previous day. Learning to make myself a realistic and attainable plan for the day works better for me.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#45

Post by user568439 » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:12 PM UTC

Doesn’t work for me. There are chances that I will be trying multiple ways to finish it in my head while attempting to fall asleep. Causing insomnia some days and therefore very tired the next day.

If I can, I avoid this situation.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#46

Post by pinkmuffinere » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:25 PM UTC

el_benhameen wrote: post #41

Atrine wrote: post #31

> Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day Years ago a sr. eng on my team would find root causes to bugs late in the afternoon and then just go home. When asked why, they said that they knew exactly what they were going to do first thing in the morning and that it got them straight into the flow state for the rest of the day. I like this example better because understanding a root cause and not hav…

I like this, too. “Slightly unfinished, but fully understood” is a great place to pick up. A “slightly unfinished understanding” of the problem or task at hand is a great way to nuke one’s mental model and end up stuck trying to recreate it in the morning.

But how do you really know if the problem is fully understood? I often think I’ve understood a problem multiple times, and only reach a true understanding through repeated testing and fixes.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#47

Post by atsuzaki » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:26 PM UTC

Atrine wrote: post #31

> Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day Years ago a sr. eng on my team would find root causes to bugs late in the afternoon and then just go home. When asked why, they said that they knew exactly what they were going to do first thing in the morning and that it got them straight into the flow state for the rest of the day. I like this example better because understanding a root cause and not hav…

A professor I worked with liked to stop work in the middle of typing something. “As if I fell asleep or passed out while working on it”, he said. And the next morning, kickstart the flow state by doing the very simple task of typing the rest of the unfinished word. Followed by the less simple but still straightforward task of finishing the sentence/line of code. And so on.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#48

Post by MatthiasWandel » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:29 PM UTC

Atrine wrote: post #31

> Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day Years ago a sr. eng on my team would find root causes to bugs late in the afternoon and then just go home. When asked why, they said that they knew exactly what they were going to do first thing in the morning and that it got them straight into the flow state for the rest of the day. I like this example better because understanding a root cause and not hav…

I have done something like that at times. I find the bug in the afternoon. Now I have the satisfaction of having found it and don't want to risk the frustration of it not actually being the actual bug I found. So I saved it for the next day, to milk the satisfaction again, but also to be more fresh at it to fix it right and test it, or to better be able to deal with it not being the actual bug! Though my boss at some point was puzzled "why don't you just fix it now?"

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#49

Post by campbel » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:34 PM UTC

betenoire wrote: post #44

I don't like this tip at all. I get the sentiment, getting started is the HARDEST part of the day for me. But if I can finish something now, why wait until tomorrow? It's a golden rule sort of thing. I'm imagining the HR person saying, "It will only take a few minutes to fix this for you, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow". Examples are endless. There are better ways to get myself going in the morning, than to leav…

I like the closure so I can take my mind off the task and onto home life. Leaving stuff hanging just means I'll be performing the task mentally all night.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#50

Post by spaceywilly » Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 10:34 PM UTC

betenoire wrote: post #44

I don't like this tip at all. I get the sentiment, getting started is the HARDEST part of the day for me. But if I can finish something now, why wait until tomorrow? It's a golden rule sort of thing. I'm imagining the HR person saying, "It will only take a few minutes to fix this for you, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow". Examples are endless. There are better ways to get myself going in the morning, than to leav…

I’ve had good luck as well with the practice of leaving myself a “head start” to pick up in the morning. It seems like it wouldn’t help that much, but in practice it makes the task of getting back into the programming zone much easier. Seems like just one of those ways to trick our brains into working a little better.