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Productivity Is About Attention Management

nytimes.com

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Re: Productivity Is About Attention Management

#71

Post by bschne »

ianmcgowan wrote: post #48
cven714 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the exact same problem. When I know what needs to get done, even if it's tedious, it's not so bad to put my nose to the grindstone and work through it. But when I'm not sure how to approach a task, suddenly every distraction in the world is more appealing. You often see the suggestion to break up big tasks into smaller, baby step chunks to avoid this analysis paralysis. Doesn't help when I'm not even sure what…

I struggle with this too, and two things that help me are: 1) Start screen recording software and dictate your thoughts as you go through the research/brainstorming phase. Don't often go back and view the recorded sessions, it's the act of recording and speaking out loud that helps. 2) Comment driven development. Stub out functions just with comments, write deeper comment blocks inside a procedure where you have a ro…

I also the second approach a lot and it's helped my focus immensely. Sketching things out in comments and detailing / changing as you go along first helps curb that initial perfectionism of feeling like you need to write the right code on the first try. YMMV, of course, but worth trying out.

Re: Productivity Is About Attention Management

#73

Post by iLemming »

I've tried many different things and I finally have a solution that (I think) works for me:

It's Emacs' Org-mode in combination with Org-pomodoro

- First, using org-capture I would create an org heading with a description of the problem. If there's a Jira ticket I would attach the ticket number (I have a trivial elisp function that converts a regular number into a complete jira-ticket link)

- Then I would start a Pomodoro cycle. If I'm on a Mac - it would create an OSX menubar item with the title of the heading (using Hammerspoon). Org will "clock" me in for the task for the next 25 minutes

- I just realized that I can probably even programmatically switch Slack to "do not disturb" mode while Pomodoro is active

- Activated Pomodoro cycle is like a sacred ritual for me. I do not pick up my phone or check email or (if possible) even talk to anyone. After Pomodoro is done I would take a break, check email, get some water, etc. If I can get done 5-7 pomodoros during a day - I consider it a very productive day.

- Org records everything. At the end of the day I know: exactly how long I worked on every single story, the number of pomodoros I did, notes that I took while working on each story. Whenever I changed the status of the story from "todo" to "in progress" and back to "to do" or when I flipped it to "done" or "canceled", reasons why the story was canceled, etc.

And this is all done with a minimal context switching.

Re: Productivity Is About Attention Management

#74

Post by AnthonBerg »

atemerev wrote: post #70

As a person with diagnosed adult ADD, this is one thing I cannot do — manage attention. Medication and meditation help a little, but I probably will never reach the productive capabilities of a regular person. Sigh.

I know this sadness. However, one thing which has helped me has been the opportunity to work with supremely effective people. It somehow lifts your perspective or shapes your intuition. Somehow monkey see monkey do also works for monkey see high-level executive function and execution. I didn’t expect that. I thought it might just make the sadness worse. But immersion helped.

Re: Productivity Is About Attention Management

#75

Post by Scarblac »

jayalpha wrote: post #53
wtvanhest wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes it even more complicated is that in a big org, knowing which tasks are important changes over time and with managers and manager's managers. Surviving and thriving over time requires constant reevaluation.

"What makes it even more complicated is that in a big org, knowing which tasks are important changes over time and with managers and manager's managers." No, they don't. There is only one task in your job, to make your boss happy. Strangely, this is rarely achieved by good job performance but often by social skills or idiotic metrics. "How to manage your boss" is worth a read.

My boss is the boss of 30 people and he can't really tell in detail who is doing good work and who not so much. The bar is higher than that.

Re: Productivity Is About Attention Management

#77

Post by ivanhoe »

cven714 wrote: post #22
revskill wrote: post #14

For most of technical works i do, concentration only happens AFTER i figure out what i need to do to solve the problem. Else most of the time, the "researching phase" is the most daunting task.

I have the exact same problem. When I know what needs to get done, even if it's tedious, it's not so bad to put my nose to the grindstone and work through it. But when I'm not sure how to approach a task, suddenly every distraction in the world is more appealing. You often see the suggestion to break up big tasks into smaller, baby step chunks to avoid this analysis paralysis. Doesn't help when I'm not even sure what…

We're all different... I enjoy figuring out the things, but when it's time to start implementing it I've already lost my grit partially and that's when I start procrastinating the most. Once I move past that milestone and start doing the actual work it gets much easier again.

Re: Productivity Is About Attention Management

#78

Post by apatters »

mjburgess wrote: post #61
tylerhou wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is quite similar to the cognitive and decision fatigue principle which indicates that each of us only has a limited pool of cognitive resources and so we must be very selective in choosing what activities we engage in. Watch out — many of the studies which displayed “cognitive fatigue” (I assume you actually mean ego depletion) have not been replicated successfully. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_sci…

The general idea even in a loose, more metaphorical sense, holds however. 'Mental fatigue' is well established, and your volition along with mental faculties generally become harder to exercise the longer they are used without break. The specifics are disputed, but we needn't be so specific for the advise to hold.

I don't have a citation for this, but I read something recently about a study where people who had been introduced to the concept of decision-making fatigue experienced it, while people who weren't aware of it didn't.

The mind is a wacky thing, I think we know a lot less about it than we believe. One idea I like which seems to have some real world support is that your mental models make all the difference -- if you believe that something's hard and unpleasant, your belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and you'll experience distress when you do it. If you're able to somehow reshape your beliefs, that distress may diminish. Cognitive behavioral therapy is based on this model and has a strong clinical track record.

Re: Productivity Is About Attention Management

#79

Post by tsjq »

dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #19
mhluongo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want HN to look at your stuff, post a Show HN ️

I considered that but at the same time I would like incremental feedback at this point. But maybe I should do a Show HN. I don’t want to bother people. Should we do a Show HN?

yes, please do a Show HN.

Re: Productivity Is About Attention Management

#80

Post by JrProgrammer »

> I’m pretty sure there’s an eighth habit of highly effective people. They don’t spend all their time reading about the seven habits of highly effective people.

I think this is often overlooked. What works for other people might not work for you and the time spent looking for the right way is better spend on doing the tasks.

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