How to get stuff done, automatically | Hacker News Reader

How to get stuff done, automatically

alexpcoleman.com

59 pointsacoleman61624 comments

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I get a db error with the query string referrer

http://www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-done/ works for me

Yup, same here. Upvoted.

Looks like it went under and the sites down for me.

Always something fun and new with the server when on HN. Working on getting it back up now...

I'm sure the irony of reading these sorts of blog posts isn't lost on you all. However, I do believe that some of these strategies and techniques can actually work. I even wrote about it on the post 'how to make time for your side-project'.

The key is not just to break things down and to create tiny, regular actions. It's also to start. Most of us like to talk and talk and not actually do anything at all.

This procrastination and hyperbolic discounting means that we often go for the quick fix rather than the ongoing journey to success. Starting and overcoming our own psychology is often the hardest part.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_discounting

http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/make-time-side-project/

Personally, I've found that the process of breaking down a task and writing it down is incredibly useful. As I multitask throughout the day I forget where I am in a particular task item, and having a list of things I'm supposed to do all I need to do is go to the next list item and do that.

I also try to have high-level items for the day so that I know what I'm focusing on. Anything that I need to do but can't do today I put on a list for the next day.

It seems to be working out alright for me.

I currently just throw it all into OneNote, although it's not the greatest for dealing with lists the way I use it, but the freeform writing surface and search it provides makes up for it.

I forget where I am in a particular task item

Forgetting is my number one problem right now. I also noticed there's some kind of unconscious filtering going on in your mind. Even if you write down the tasks your mind prioritizes them on its own.

What I wish list software had was a way to push those less important tasks in the background.

Be religious about writing down what you're doing, make a habit of referring to this list when you find that you're bouncing around from task to task.

Sometimes I'll hit HN if I'm waiting for something to finish, and if I was in the middle of something complex I've needed to write down what I was doing, even if it was only for literally a minute.

Also, when incrementally learning something it can help. Writing down in your own words how something works can help you if you only have small chunks of time to learn something.

Thanks for this, I'll try it.

I found writing down things I learned (or typing them in) makes them more likely to stick in my mind. Particularly small phrases that pop out.

I have always struggled with automating my life habits.

It's not that I don't have goals, I have them in plenty. I have problems with the dehumanizing, machine-like feeling it puts on life.

Doing the same thing everyday at the same time sounds horrible. I don't want to program myself. I want to live my life according to how I feel at the moment.

But, as you can imagine, this has created problems. You don't keep jobs by living for the moment or doing what you feel like doing.

I am not sure if I have a point, but I think there is more to life than becoming a programmable robot.

Maybe balance is the key. Have good habits, but try to build some flexibility into them.

So you say that you want to live as you feel, but this also creates problems. Emotions are the problem. Better stated, lacking control of your emotions is the problem.

You are in control of your thoughts and how you react to them. Knowing this and practicing control has been life changing for me. /r/stoicism, my friend.

I think you're missing the point.

Here's the thing: Do you want to choose your emotions? Because you can. How you feel at the moment is up to you. And yes, it does take planning, and building habits. But you get to choose. With the right effort. With "programming."

Doing the same thing everyday at the same time sounds horrible

Wait -- are you opposing repetition or the thing that you do?

If you could do something you like everyday at the same time, wouldn't you want to do it? Are you protesting against not having found something you want to do?

Although I agree with your point on balance, you may want to revisit this "dehumanizing" feeling you mention, because some of the world's most touching work came from creative minds that were fiercely disciplined. The surprising thing is you might turn out to like it:

  Happiness is the longing for repetition.

  - Milan Kundera

Site's down with a 404 for all pages right now. Cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LwUoGcd...

Good article.

Ben Franklin's schedule shot was interesting. 8-6 workday with a two hour lunch (so 8 hours of work). For some reason I always assumed people toiled very long hours back in those day.

Franklin was a privileged person to have these sorts of hours.

he wasn't always privileged. I'm guessing this schedule is from later in life, after the bulk of his accomplishments. He worked his way up from next to nothing.

Most people did toil very long hours back then, but Franklin was one of the first to make the jump from common class into pseudo-nobility. Class mobility was a new thing back then.

The idea of "work" was considered very uncool at the time, especially to upper class, or social climbers like Franklin who mixed with them. I heard somewhere that this is why old school scientific publications have names like "Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c." Because we're not working, we're just observing.

A few counterpoints:

"These images are backward projections of modern work patterns. And they are false. Before capitalism, most people did not work very long hours at all. The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed. Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure. When capitalism raised their incomes, it also took away their time. Indeed, there is good reason to believe that working hours in the mid-nineteenth century constitute the most prodigious work effort in the entire history of humankind."[1]

But also:

"Based on the amount of work performed — for example, crops raised per worker — Carr (1992) concludes that in the seventeenth-century Chesapeake region, “for at least six months of the year, an eight to ten-hour day of hard labor was necessary.” This does not account for other required tasks, which probably took about three hours per day. This workday was considerably longer than for English laborers, who at the time probably averaged closer to six hours of heavy labor each day."[2]

[1] http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_w... [2]http://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history/

> If you only come away with one thing after reading this, let it be this: focus on the process. Don’t focus on your output.

That kind of flies in the face of the hacker mentality and lean startup methodology. The growing trend seems to be: focus on creating value; not how many hours you spent working today. And I must agree with the trend in this case.

The author added a "?hn" to the URL to track referrals from here - I believe that this violates the HN ToS and should be removed by the mods.

why would a referral parameter even be needed in this case? can't a person just go into their analytics and look at all the referrals from news.ycombinator.com without the need for a parameter in the URL?

Any ideas about the habits of the brilliant programmers of past and present? e.g. Trovalds, Sysoev etc etc?

There's been posts about daily habits of other accomplished persons (not necessarily programmers), and the conclusion from that discussion was that although these techniques work for them, they would not really apply in general. For example, some would have a glass of wine before starting work on a project, whereas that would put me to sleep. Some athletes eat a big steak dinner before a game, while with others it would hamper their performance.

My take on it, is that people that are good at what they do are good because they are good, not because of any rituals.

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