Went to my doctor for the first time about what turned out to be undiagnosed/untreated comorbid depression and ADHD. I was apprehensive and avoided it for years but it's easily been one of the best decisions I've ever made. I was losing so much time to the vicious cycle of not wanting to do anything but lay in bed, then feeling crappy that I wasn't doing anything, then trying to focus but constantly geting distracted…
Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
91–100 of 111 posts
Re: Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
#92I ditched my smartphone and opted for a dumb phone instead. For me, having a smartphone made my distractibility even worse than it naturally is (I have ADD). Also, I no longer hear the siren call of the internet calling to me everywhere I go.
I am extremely tempted to do this, but I also benefit from simple positive features like contact syncing, notes, grocery list syncing, calendar syncing, and a few other utilities. I've decided to try one of those micro-smartphones, hoping the small screen will be fine for calendars but miserable for email & web surfing. Sometimes I think what I really need is WiFi but no data. Sync on the nightstand, but no data conn…
I only have 10MB data / month. Perfectly sufficient for chat and the rare emergencies.
Re: Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
#932) I've started unplugging the internet. Like I literally pull the ethernet cord out of my computer and turn off my phone. I do it every night so that when I wake up, I code for about 4 hours without it. This has been the biggest boost to productivity and happiness I've had in a long time.
Two issues with this so far:
a) Sometimes I hit a wall where I need to look something up before I can proceed, but I've never run out of work that I do know how to do. So I just write it down to search for later and work on something else.
b) I'm not sure how this would work with paying clients, managers, and so on. So far I've only done this on my own projects, in between clients.
Re: Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am extremely tempted to do this, but I also benefit from simple positive features like contact syncing, notes, grocery list syncing, calendar syncing, and a few other utilities. I've decided to try one of those micro-smartphones, hoping the small screen will be fine for calendars but miserable for email & web surfing. Sometimes I think what I really need is WiFi but no data. Sync on the nightstand, but no data conn…
> Sometimes I think what I really need is WiFi but no data. Sync on the nightstand, but no data connectivity out and about. I only have 10MB data / month. Perfectly sufficient for chat and the rare emergencies.
Re: Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
#95Something that may help is to use a paper notebook to take notes and keep track of important todo items. I personally feel more productive with pen and paper but your milage may vary. I particularly like either legal pads or the moleskin-type journals.
For those introverts like myself, make sure to set up events to look forward to on a regular basis. Meet up with ex-coworkers, college friends etc. It definitely makes getting up in the morning easier knowing that you have something to look forward to.
Re: Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
#96Meal prep once a week. Once a week I roast ~8 chicken quarters (I quarter whole chickens). M-Th the only meals i eat are 2-4 cups of mixed salad and 1/4 chicken. Takes about 1 hour to prep, saves about 6 hours of time per week. Intentionally do less. I frequently trim back all the things I think I "have" to do and realize they're not worth the marginal time. This includes things like cleaning my apartment (once a mon…
Re: Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
#97If there were any offices left in this city that weren't open plan, that would be the next step.
Re: Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
#98In order of impact: * Stop looking for "opportunities" until I need one. This means entertaining recruiters, personal branding, networking, coupons/free stuff, freelance sites, side projects, meeting sales people. 80% of errands I didn't want came from this. The only exception is helping people who ask for help. * Getting the hardest thing done a day. Sometimes this means getting rest and sleeping at 9 PM. * If it fe…
Re: Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
#99In order of impact: * Stop looking for "opportunities" until I need one. This means entertaining recruiters, personal branding, networking, coupons/free stuff, freelance sites, side projects, meeting sales people. 80% of errands I didn't want came from this. The only exception is helping people who ask for help. * Getting the hardest thing done a day. Sometimes this means getting rest and sleeping at 9 PM. * If it fe…
what is L-Theanine for?
Re: Ask HN: What changes in your life did you make to become more productive?
#100Strengthen my self-discipline muscle. Seriously the ability to self-control ourselves is the biggest and hardest thing. 1) I HATE Running and I would run 3 miles a day around a 1/4 track 5 days a week. I could stop at anytime and just did it. 2) I fasted breakfast and lunch once a week. Just drank water period. This was awesome then I got married and have kids. I am the most undisciplined self I have ever known and l…
Check that you get enough sleep.
Trying to work more than full days (e.g. long days at work, volunteering or moonlight consulting) while constantly getting woken up in the night can be really hard.
I had to give up a lot of my volunteering after I got kids.
I'm also really happy I took the effort to teach my kids to sleep through the night.