Ask HN: What helps you to be productive? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What helps you to be productive?

3 pointssvirelka6 comments

Hello guys, I want to little update my life. Sometime I feel procrastination and I'm exhausted because of it. How do you deal with such a condition?

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For some it may help to understand the root cause of procrastination, but that in itself can lead to procrastination by trying to understand...procrastination. So don't.

First off, don't reward yourself. What I mean by this is don't make a good cup of coffee to settle in and get the work done. Start the work with a set timer, say 15 to 30 minutes. Once the timer goes off, then get the coffee. You may find yourself in a groove and go past the time. This is good. Second, remove your distractions. This is easy to say, but it is much harder to achieve. Turn the phone off, lock off the social media. Set yourself up with a schedule to check your email. Turn off notifications.

Sounds help, but don't let the need to find the right one turn into procrastination. I like http://rainycafe.com/ as it drowns out office noise, or at least mutes it a little. Here is an interesting article on this topic: https://medium.com/life-learning/how-music-affects-your-prod...

Curious to see what others put here. This will be my procrastination today :)

thank you, I'll try :)

It took me a long time to realize that procrastination, not work, is what's been draining me. The Pomodoro Technique is what really brought it to light: I noticed that on days when I complete 6+ pomodoros (25-minute work sessions) I'm energized to hack on stuff when I get home; when I only get 4 or fewer done, it's a struggle.

I use a little desktop application [0] that pops up whenever a work session or break is finished. Just that little prod is usually enough motivation to switch before I start feeling worn out.

[0] Tomighty (http://www.tomighty.org/)

Thank you so much! I heard good reviews about Pomodoro Technique, I'll try it absolutely.

I find the best way to fight it is I try to do at least one thing per day towards my work, no matter how small. This usually puts me into a mental state where I make lots of progress. I wish I had also taken this tactic in high school and college. I remember usually delaying the start of assignments until the last minute. Simply starting is the most difficult part for me.

I agree, usually, I try to do something. Thank you!

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