Ask HN: How do you get into the mood of productivity?

9 points by dnohr 10 years ago | 11 comments

Some days I'm really fighting with getting "into the mood" of super productivity and other days it's just no problem at all.

I'm very result oriented so for me it's definitely the results that matter to make me feel good.

How about you? Do you use ambient sounds or a special type of coffee to get you going super productive?

meteor 10 years ago |

Everyday, when I wake up in the morning I always have tasks to accomplish that are overwhelming. But, I make sure I complete most of them. I use certain tools and processes to stay productive.

1. Getting up early - I get an extra hour early in the day. This hour is very special to me as there is no distractions during this period. I use this time mainly to plan for the day.

2. Meditate - I use calm.com to meditate for 10 mins. I would call this best 10 mins of my day.

3. Prioritize tasks - I use wunderlist for tracking my tasks. I use pomodora to keep myself focussed on my current task. It also helps me to take regular breaks.

4. Read,Walk and Play - Some days tend to be productive and some don't. No matter how productive my day was, I will not miss reading a book for an hour, I will not miss my long walks and I ll never miss my playtime with my kid.

1_player 10 years ago |

I have a very hard time getting in the flow and really productive. It's mostly a matter of starting, when I've started I get in the zone.

Let me stress this again: the hardest part is getting started.

Also necessary, for me at least:

1. Caffeine

2. Music - no vocals, steady rhythm. My preferred kind of music is psytrance/techno during the day, ambient electronic during the night. The steady rhythm is to my brain like the clock to the CPU.

3. Diet - I've started being serious about understanding the cause of my lethargy and not feeling up to doing anything most of the time, and after ~30 days of a clean albeit strict diet (I'm cutting out _all_ possible allergens) I'm feeling more productive than I've been my whole adult life. Probably placebo, probably unrelated. But it's been a long time I wasn't hacking in the middle of the night like these past few days.

soulbadguy 10 years ago | |

Do you mind elaborating on your diet ? Did you followed a particular book or something ?

1_player 10 years ago | | |

None. I had experimented with low carb/keto diets for years for no more than a few weeks at a time, I find the theory is quite interesting. Never had the willpower to power through it for longer but it left me that empirical sensation that I function a lot better when cutting carbs.

A month ago I started keto again, and I've started to notice that some keto-friendly foods still give me some kind of physical discomfort, like bloating and other digestive issues. I've never been diagnosed with anything, but I wanted to get rid of everything that may cause gut discomfort, since many scientists espouse the idea that mental health is directly correlated to gut health and the main purpose is to understand if I can function better.

So I got rid of:

* all FODMAPs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP), recommended against for all IBS sufferers

* all sweet stuff, especially fruit

* foods containing histamines (http://www.histamineintolerance.org.uk/about/the-food-diary/...)

This list is mostly experimental: on keto diet I feel myself shrinking down (i.e. the opposite of bloating), and it helped me to see the real effect of some kind of foods that I've always eaten but I've never been able to see the real effect they have on my body.

Anyway, this restriction doesn't leave very much, but I mostly live on unprocessed meat, eggs, butter, zucchini, bell peppers, olives (technically containing histamines but whatever), good quality cheese, some cream.

It's an interesting ride, not very scientific but I'm not trying to write a paper here, I'm just trying to eat what my body likes and avoid what my body doesn't handle well. And as an anecdote, yesterday, I ate onions again after 2 weeks of restriction, a vegetable I've probably eaten once a day for all my life, and I instantly felt like I was exploding from the inside. How haven't I noticed till now?

Some seem to joke that cutting out food groups is the reason for food intolerance: you are fine all your life, you get in the no gluten craziness and now you can actually feel sick when you reintroduce it in your diet. It's funny and it's also partly true: I could eat anything without any problem and now I feel measurably different on a lot of different nutrients.

Nutrition is rocket science.

jimsojim 10 years ago |

For productivity, I try to practice intense focus. I use small hacks/tips to keep me from getting distracted- such as, closing all the tabs. Chiefly, I just try to build this mental image of myself of being someone with exceptional focus. It helps me keep going (or just get started for the day). Basically, self-reinforcement. And, whenever I feel out of mood or jaded I just take a break, goof around, listen to minimalist electronic music (deadmau5 style^^). This helps me relax and refocus my brain on my stuff.

So tldr: Practice Focus and make sure you're goofing around/having fun when you're jaded/not in the mood. With practice you'd be able to have a good control over your mood and emotional state.

Vendan 10 years ago |

Personally, I tend to "start" working, then all of a sudden stop to do something else. It's not on purpose or anything, it just happens. I've started "stopping" myself when it happens, and trying to identify why I don't feel like working, and built up a profile of things that I seem to want in order to work. For me, it's:

- Dual monitors - Good music - Actual mouse

For the longest time, I was just never able to work on a laptop, until I realized that the problem was screen real estate and an actual mouse.

dmfdmf 10 years ago |

I think routine is important. If you launch the same routine before sitting down to get to work then you can use the routine to get rolling even if you don't actually feel like. Also, the mind is inherently lazy. (Unfortunately "lazy" is the closest word we have, but it does not capture the emotion/state of dismotivation). In any case, you have to consciously choose to focus and ignore any self-generated distractions (I should check my email again) or false fatigue that will fade in 5 minutes once you start working.

teaneedz 10 years ago |

For me, I drink tea. Sometimes I just need a change in scenery - I'll jump on the bike, explore a different route, treat myself to something special and dig in to whatever project is on my plate. As long as I have WiFi, I'm good. I find the local library conducive to finding the right mental state.

benlaud 10 years ago |

I would pick a very small sub-project. Just for jun and it should be very small. May be just write an article to explain something. It make me feel achieved something and get into mood.

sova 10 years ago |

Na man you need to go on more walks.

Coding doesn't happen at a kiosk.

sova 10 years ago |

addendum: yerba maté