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Comment by willurd | Hacker News Reader

"Coincidentally, you'll find that it is impossible to spend more than ~6 hours of focused time on a single type of task"

I'm not sure who did this research, but I can tell you from personal experience that this is simply not true. Maybe I'm a freak of nature but when I was first learning how to code I would hold one man hackathons in the summer from the moment I got up until deep into the night. Similarly, when I was younger and played a lot of RPGs, I would play quite literally all weekend, pausing only for sustenance and a little bit of sleep, and usually multitasking on the food part, far surpassing 6 hours of focus time.

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When I was younger I could do it easily too, hack through the night with the power of some caffeinated cola drinks, easily doing 12h hackathons. When I was 16 to about 20 years old, that is.

Nowadays it's a bit different. My body just can't take the sitting in front of the computer for so long. Maybe it's a good thing though, but it really makes me want to think about how I spend my time on the computer and seek those creative hours when I am able to get into the zone and just code.

Usually I find myself doing from anywhere to 2 to 4 hours of concentrated creative work a day, and that's it.

After speaking with a couple of people that have ADHD (I've never been diagnosed, though I probably would have been with my behavior and inattentiveness during my school years), I've worked up a pet theory that so-called "ADHD" or "ADD" is what allows people to hyper focus like this. Granted, of the people I've talked to, including myself, that hyper focus really only extends to things they are truly interested in, but it's real nonetheless. I found this out for myself when I got into programming (as stated above).

As for me, I've noticed the amount of time I can focus on something go down a little over the years as well, though I still occasionally get inspired and hyper focus like I used to.

That's not just your pet theory, it's commonly accepted by psychiatry.

One of the defining characteristics of ADD/ADHD is ability to focus for extended periods. The main reasons ADD gets a bad rap is that people (often children) are either focusing on something that adults don't want them to focus on, or there is nothing interesting that holds their attention so they become easily distracted.

300 years in the future kids will be in school, uploading into their brains the story of how in the early 21st century leading psychiatrists and willurd independently discovered the fact that ADHD is actually a super power. Or so I imagine...

You're a freak (your word, so no acting like I attacked you). I used to game all weekend, from Friday night to Sunday night. Most folks were there for, like, part of Saturday. Only a relatively small number of folks could sustain the marathon gaming. The group had a regional reputation and some folks came to town once a month just to participate.

Most folks cannot sustain focus for super long periods.

Maybe you're right :) I really only have me and my best friend to go on (who is exactly like me in this regard).

I have participated in or witnessed multiple gaming groups in different states/countries and read some articles, etc. The first (marathon/hyperfocused) gaming group I participated in was not the norm.

I suspect the "must work 24/7" thing is probably rooted in the fact that some folks are just like that and those folks are often crazily successful. But I think the inference that high number of hours worked is the thing to shoot for isn't really accurate. Some folks don't need a lot of sleep. Some folks can focus for long periods. Someone who has both traits may well be brighter than average.

Their phenomenal success isn't necessarily rooted in any one thing. Putting in the hours if you aren't that bright and actually need more sleep may be a recipe for disaster instead of a recipe for success. However, people like Bill Gates do tend to work crazy long hours. You can't ask to be born with his brains -- you have whatever brain you have -- but you can try to emulate his work habits and hope that's the most important piece. But I see no reason to believe it is. Perhaps long hours are a good idea. I just have yet to see good data which proves that. I have seen more data that for most people job performance improves if they cut back their hours and are working when fresh and focused.

I suspect the "must work 24/7" thing is probably rooted in the fact that some folks are just like that and those folks are often crazily successful.

Are they? What if you just don't notice the unsuccessful ones; they're at home spending ten hours a day drawing pictures of butterflies, or they're down at the gym obsessively lifting heavy things over and over again, or any one of a number of other obsessive activities that don't bring success.

I stand by what I said. But I would be perfectly happy to frame that as running in the other direction: That folks who are crazy successful often have this group of traits. Since we have whatever brain we have, articles often focus on the fact that they work long hours as the thing others have a hope of emulating, as if that's all that really matters. I see no reason to believe it is.

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