Do you have any tactics that have worked?
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Top comments (58)
I recently removed all social media from my phone and blocked it on my desktop. It forces me to get to work, or get away from my PC. That + a Trello list of all the things I need to do, turned into tiny tasks that all take less than an hour, makes it much easier to get to work when I need to
I didn't delete them from my phone, but I did disable all notifications. I found that the social networks weren't the problem, it was their constant nagging to check them.
I've found now that I only check my social media a couple of times a day, usually during lunch and after work.
Oh... I should turn off Whatsapp notifications, really that app just drives me crazy and makes me lose time like a champ.
Haha :) Good
On this note: I totally removed social media. I've found much more time to study and learn and practice but...I've also learned to create or find new distractions as well xD
Does that mean no social media anywhere, period?
I check all of them once a day for a total of 5 minutes.
Is it correct to consider dev.to as social media for developers? In this case 5 minutes a day are not enough to be an active member 😀
Nah, I see Dev as research and networking, so that's not included. It is however limited to 1 hour a day on work days (when I'm not writing)
It's very simple:
Do I want money in my pocket & time to do what I want with no stress from work?
Then get the work done asap & find the fastest way to do it well. Before long, your 'whole day' of work can be done in 2hrs & you are enjoying things again.
Want to see the world? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to build a hockey stick tech? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to work with the most talented? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to meet celebs, founders, top meetings & parties? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to experience all 'those' things? Work now, hard & fast.
Want everyone to call you a genius? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to not have to go to an office? Work now, hard & fast.
Want sleep in when you want? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to eat organic, go to farmers markets on Thursdays? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to defeat the empire? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to look after the people around you? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to save lives? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to make the world better? Work now, hard & fast.
Want to play video games a lot? Work now, hard & fast.
Results matter. Time is critical. At one point everyone realizes that time is the most valuable thing you can have.
Procrastination is not a real thing. It is ego & insecurity, boredom or confusion. It can be defeated with chocolate.
1 - 4 strike me as being procrastination in themselves. I'll be honest, I'm not sure if you're being serious or not with some of your comments. This doesn't seem like a healthy way to go about things, IMO.
(Reading this after I hit submit, I realized it might come off as a little harsh. That's not the intent. If this works for you, roll with it.)
No offence taken, I appreciate opinions & advice. It's a bit tongue in cheek, yes but with serious points.
1 there because if you need to 'deal with procrastination' then you probably already sat at the screen/did a bunch of nonsense & couldn't get any work done. By definition. So "walk away" & get sunlight/fresh air because you may as well do something good (rather than go to a movie let's say).
2 is because most people use something. I didn't want to add drugs/stress/mental health/panic/bullying/fear/alcohol/caffeine/pharma etc which is what most high level people in tech (& most industries do).
3 Disturbances usually don't help. Plan to not be disturbed.
4 Usually people need to get into what is considered a 'higher state' to go at their fastest in certain disciplines. It's often referred to as 'flow' by the maslow-ted-motivator types.
On the second half: "Work now, hard & fast."
I did all of those & lots more at the highest levels.. With proof (I didn't want to post more as it already looks silly/unbelievable...I don't generally talk online, this is a one off for early 2019).
Mostly due to being really productive.
EDIT: Not empire, working on it.
LISTS LISTS LISTS!
I've created a mindset of needing to complete my Daily To Do List by the time the day ends. So I write everything that needs to be done on the list, and it needs to get done by the end of the day.
I've found creating that mindset super easy, and it's always a good time when everything gets completed. It's brought my procrastination down to such a low level, teenage me would be shocked!
Nice suggestions!
Procrastination is an addiction and it takes hard work, discipline, and many failures before you find what works best for you.
ADHD is killer for me if I do not manage it well... but I feel I finally have a system down that I have stuck to for 3 years with great success... too bad half my career was over before I finally got this figured out.
My laptop is for coding and design only. Only a few sites whitlisted in the browser and usually just for cut/pasting.
My Ipad is only for work/coding related consumption and always with me when I have my laptop ... reading docs, tutorials. No personal social media accounts, personal email, etc. I keep do not disturb on and block all notices.
And everything I could waste time on is on my phone with digital well-being on to limit it, or on my desktop where I never do work.
I plan every day with a sprint + bullet journal hybrid thing I have going. I pull from a kanban for the day, get stuff done hardest and most annoying first, retrospective at the end, migrate unfinished tasks to the next day.
Through the day I use a tomato timer. If I stray from what I should be doing I have trained myself to notice, write it down on my daily sheet, and get back to what I should be doing. Every long break I migrate those distractions to project sheets or my personal notebook. Every break I log what I did, plan the next timer, and step away and do something to reward myself... play with puppies, a quick game on my phone, whatever. It is ok if I run over the 5 minute break if I need to finish that reward, but not more than 10 minutes.
Always using paper for planning... opening an app, for me, is one step closer to a distraction. I use Rhoda reverse notebooks in dot-grid and a fountain pen. A page for every day, tiny sticky notes on a laminated kanban “today” board. I log every timer, every distraction, every accomplishment to hold myself accountable for misses and celebrate wins.
this way of limiting stuff in your computer is great man...
But it seem to need you to have a lot of computers. But this way of organizing your stuff make me think about this new OS (to come), it have been design to help users to stay productive, and it work in a similar way to what you described up there. An article on it:
Introducing Mercury OS
Jason Yuan ・ 12 min read
Your methods are similar to mine in that I use the Pomodoro Technique and Kanban boards. I don't use notebooks or a dot-grid paper, though. I did try a Hobonichi Techo at one point, but it felt less productive than what I'm doing now. Planning can also be procrastinating. So I try to keep it lean.
Really, my primary planning tool is kanban boards (buckets.co, specifically). I've got some project specific kanban boards for detailed tasks. But also a "General Tasks" kanban that tracks my overall task list. I do use a bit of bullet journal methodology in how I setup each column within that board in particular. The great thing about integrating bullet journaling techniques into my kanban boards is that it's updated as I go. I don't have to review anything at the end of the day. And my next workday is basically planned out for me already.
I also use Pomotroid for time management. I've tried other time management techniques, but the Pomodoro Method works well for me. It encourages me to keep very focused for short bursts of time (I use the standard 25 minute pomodoro), then I can take a break for a few minutes. I don't use the 5-minute breaks for anything related to work. I don't plan my next pomodoro interval. I don't look at email. I don't make phone calls. If it's resembles work in any way, I avoid it. When I hear that pleasant "ding", I drop whatever I'm doing-- even if I'm in the middle of writing a line of code. The breaks are "me" time and I guard them fiercely. When I hit the long break (again, the standard 15 minutes), I usually do something away from my office. I go take a walk, grab some coffee, go enjoy an unhurried restroom break (regularity is important!), etc. I don't track the number of pomodoros I've completed in a day, though. That's just more work. I don't need more work.
Last week, I tried going through my workdays without using pomodoros or my kanban boards. It was a hot mess. I won't be doing that again.
I find working from the same location all the time leads to less productivity and focus. I try to mix up my time from a regular co-working space, a couple of coffee shops and random days working from home to keep my focus and productivity high.
Also investing in a decent pair of noise cancelling headphones is a good send. Even using them without music can lead to a deep state of focus. I'd recommend the Sony wh-1000xm3.
In my case I prefer to have my place to study. Not changing it. Just keeping it simple, comfortable. Gives me a sense of security. Because if I change the location I lose so much time putting stuff in the right way and setting all things up.
Those headphones is a good a one!
This is a good call
I employ many tactics, not all work in all contexts
I say to myself "do X in 3,2,1" and just start. Whether I feel like it or not. Easy to employ, difficult to master.
I think and feel of the consequences. Old and good.
If there are no consequences (eg personal projects) I make up. And I also make rewards, because all work and no play makes us dull boys. The only prerequisite is, to be honest with yourself. Don't get the reward if you procrastinated.
I exercise and sleep well (not as much as I wanted to, but above average). If I am tired I am prone to laziness.
Those are the main ones. I can come with more if you want
Lists help a ton.
I have a giant whiteboard, where I'll list out things I need to do. Crossing out items on the list gives a dopamine hit that then snowballs productivity. That'll be why I try to put the easiest tasks first for quick wins. Also, putting the whiteboard/paper/etc somewhere you'll be forced to see it helps a ton. If it's out of sight, it's out of mind. My whiteboard is right next to my TV so when I start to procrastinate I'll see the board and feel guilty. :) It's for this reason I prefer analog lists instead of digital. Digital tools are too easy to forget about, and don't feel as great crossing off/erasing an item (but maybe I'm just old).
Get rid of active distractions. That means disabling everything that produces notifications of any kind. Only failing build results should be a possible notification.
You can read your email 3 times a day, when you get in, when you got back from lunch, when you wrap up your days work.
Reduce time to verified work. Waiting for things like compilers or tests will cause you to wander off. Your builds and unit tests should be small. You should be able to verify your work without too much waiting.
This is something I read from the book, Put More Time On Your Side and that has helped me a lot.
Set yourself a timer for the task and tell yourself that you aren't going to spend any more time on that. Whenever I find myself need to complete tasks that are a priority but boring to do, I set myself a timer for 25 minutes(Pomodoro Technique), I work on it and move on to next task. I don't start another Pomodoro timer for the same task immediately. I pace myself on the task through a number of Pomodoro timers.
If I am procrastinating a task, there's an inherent reason why I don't want to do. Identifying the reason helps a lot. Identifying the reason and weigh it alongside the benefits that I'm going to get when completing the task helps me.
In my case, I tend to procrastinate because I’m overthinking a problem, or worrying about what “perfect” looks like, which makes it really easy to put off getting started. The only thing I’ve found to actually mitigate this is to force myself to just get started, with a focus on completing a “v1”, and therefore, optimizing entirely for progress rather than perfection.
I tend to find that it’s easier to refine something, then it is to create something. So if you force yourself to create something, then you have the luxury of being in a better position to see what’s good/bad about it, and then refine it from there. As long as you create “v1” quickly, you’re likely saving time in the long run, since tangible assets (e.g. code, documents) can be easier to critique than just ideas.
I also tend to find that the refinement process is super enjoyable, and therefore, it’s not only easier to make forward progress based on the existing foundation, but it’s now faster, become I’m more motivated to complete it.
In so many cases, I’ve found that the “v1” thing I forced myself to created, is actually good enough. And therefore, I’ve tried to change my entire mindset to be about making enough progress to get feedback from others (e.g. a WIP PR, a “strawman” product spec, a draft blog post), since it gets me out of my own head, and also, the enjoyment of collaborating further motivates me to make more progress.
At that point, my goal isn’t just to get started, it’s to get to a point that I have something meaningful enough to share. For me at least, that’s a pretty powerful incentive, since I’m naturally pretty social 😁