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How I regained concentration and focus

innoq.com

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Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#91
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I have side projects. They aren't anything that I could make money on though. If I had a better option I would leave.

Personally, I wish I could have more side projects to post them on my Github and use them as a developer portfolio. I have a few years of experience as a Web Dev, but sadly my GitHub is barren from code.

I have an Angular site, a Python project, and a couple of Android apps. I don't think it matters. The Android apps helped me get a job out of college. But I feel like now that I've been in the industry, nobody cares about dev portfolios. It's all about the current/prior job.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#92

Did he regain concentration and focus? It's more like he just reduced distractions. That's not the same. What if being distracted is not a bug but a feature and his mind doesn't want to continue the path of constantly writing books? Instead of eliminating distractions, it could be more helpful to find the activities that don't create the desire for distractions.

my mind doesn't want to continue the path of constantly working. I've done a lot of kinds of work and am not young, coding is my third career, and I've never found "the activities" that pay rent and don't create the desire for distractions. Want it or not (I don't want it) that's a problem it's on me to solve.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#93

Block websites will help definitely. another "threat" is when you have a few kids, your daily life is cut into pieces with random and sometimes strong background noises 24x7x365, not much you can do there. personally, that impacts my focus the most and there is no cure, and it usually lasts for about 20 years when kids are finally into colleges. obviously there are many good stuff out of raising kids, and I enjoyed i…

Having kids in the house is like being in a damn WWI trench with shells exploding over your head constantly. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it's horrible for your ability to get anything meaningful done. And then by the time they hit the sack and you finally have a few moments peace, you are worn out and ready to hit the sack yourself. My ability to burn the midnight oil has gone to zero basically.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#94
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Go and learn. Skills are not set in stone." Sure, but learning takes time, which I have little of. It's also much easier for some than others (getting significantly more difficult as I age). The main remote issue is that my wife interrupts me to do stuff or answer questions throughout the day. I also feel I'm slower to learn remotely. I think that if I'm an expert in the tech already, then remote could work.

I get it, but you already have a job. I assume you are be pretty busy, but at least you already have a secure source of money and you're not against the clock or anything like that. You don't need to spend all day in a class like a university student. An hour a day dedicated to lectures, practice and taking some notes with pencil and paper* can do wonders on the long term. As for your wife, maybe you can talk to her…

Thanks. I have tried talking to her, but the results weren't great. I do try to learn things outside of work. The main problem is if you don't use it, you lose it. Without constant practice it's hard to build and retain skills. I don't even have an hour a day free for that due to work and home responsibilities.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#95
"...I cancelled my subscription to my formerly favourite online news portal (the German “Spiegel-Online”)..."

Very good. Spiegel Online - unfortunately - became terribly bad over the last years, with click-bait headlines, sensational reporting as well as pushing fear & anxiety throughout their articles.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#96
It is said that Napoleon did not open his mail for 3 weeks after it arrived. His belief was that most issues would resolve themselves and were therefore unimportant for him to attend to.

If you go back and watch the news from 2-3 weeks ago it is amazing how much of it is just nonsense. It's especially hard to go back and watch covid discussions from a year ago and hear just how wrong most information was.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#97

Block websites will help definitely. another "threat" is when you have a few kids, your daily life is cut into pieces with random and sometimes strong background noises 24x7x365, not much you can do there. personally, that impacts my focus the most and there is no cure, and it usually lasts for about 20 years when kids are finally into colleges. obviously there are many good stuff out of raising kids, and I enjoyed i…

I’m curious because I’ve had kids early. Will I ever be able to catch up with peers who’ve decided their focus would be on their job and forego having children later in life?

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#98
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get it, but you already have a job. I assume you are be pretty busy, but at least you already have a secure source of money and you're not against the clock or anything like that. You don't need to spend all day in a class like a university student. An hour a day dedicated to lectures, practice and taking some notes with pencil and paper* can do wonders on the long term. As for your wife, maybe you can talk to her…

Thanks. I have tried talking to her, but the results weren't great. I do try to learn things outside of work. The main problem is if you don't use it, you lose it. Without constant practice it's hard to build and retain skills. I don't even have an hour a day free for that due to work and home responsibilities.

You don't lose it completely, though. And it's easier to relearn and get back on track than to learn it the first time.

I learned C like ten years ago and then I moved on to PHP and then to JavaScript. I'm sure I forgot most of it. But thanks to that, I'm now learning Golang and when it came to pointers it clicked almost instantly.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#100

Block websites will help definitely. another "threat" is when you have a few kids, your daily life is cut into pieces with random and sometimes strong background noises 24x7x365, not much you can do there. personally, that impacts my focus the most and there is no cure, and it usually lasts for about 20 years when kids are finally into colleges. obviously there are many good stuff out of raising kids, and I enjoyed i…

Having kids in the house is like being in a damn WWI trench with shells exploding over your head constantly. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it's horrible for your ability to get anything meaningful done. And then by the time they hit the sack and you finally have a few moments peace, you are worn out and ready to hit the sack yourself. My ability to burn the midnight oil has gone to zero basically.

I find that when I regularly exercise and don’t drink at dinner I can put kid to bed and have a few more hours available. But - big but - spending that evening time working has become anathema to me.

The best rule I’ve put in place is work happens during the day or it doesn’t happen.

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