

Ask HN: Share your productivity tips/hacks that worked for you - pavs


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chandru89new
1\. Mono-tasking. Really, this can't be emphasized at all. Right now I'm on
HN, The Verge, Reader, my blog etc.. but when I work, everything (including
email, funny remarks from the guy next to me) is muted. Oh, I work in chunks
and that's why it's okay to mute everything else for that brief time..

2\. Work Editorial: As a writer, a content editorial has helped AMAZINGLY. You
can apply that elsewhere too.. start with a set of 3 tasks with 3 chunks of
time and 2 breaks between them. Work editorial is like planning. Nothing new..
but it's a hack I desperately need. I guess many will do too.

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manishsharan
A good night's sleep ! I have found that if I wake up refreshed and rested, I
can do more work in less time. On days when I wake up after a fitful sleep, my
brain wanders off from work at the slightest distraction.

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onlyup
Yep, an old one but a good one.

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orangethirty
Having a real notebook open next to the keyboard. It allows me to work out
problems with more ease without having to use the computer itself. As I write
this, the notebook has a specific problem I'm working out. Every few minutes I
look at it, make notes, and keep browsing. In less than half an hour I can
break it down with ease. Without feeling guilty for browsing the web, and
without being less productive. Either way, I was going to spend a lot of time
solving the problem. When I can get my mind off it, the solutions come by
quicker. Then its just back to _gedit_ or _vim_ (or *emacs if Lisp), and the
code just flows. That's how I've shipped around 6 MVPs last year without much
drama. Try it out.

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drean
A simple way to increase your productivity is to listen to music while
working. Especially ambient, downtempo and cinematic soundtracks helping me to
keep focus.

Great musicians and bands: Explosions In The Sky, Apparat, Amon Tobin, Tycho,
Hecq.

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OafTobark
I'm the exact opposite. Prefer silence or computer lab like noise (keyboards
tapping).

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jwdunne
In an open-plan office, which is shared with sales and support staff, this is
almost impossible to experience, except on the weekends (I am, however, way
more productive over the weekend).

For weekdays, I've tried the following alternatives with varied amounts of
success:

Rain track - this is like a 4 hour rain sound loop and worked really well. I
think the noise from rain effectively blocks a wide range of frequencies, but
I could be mistaken.

Baroque music - I had a range of results with this. It seemed pieces with
harsh sounding instruments, ones with a sharp attack, tended to do more harm
than good, where as pieces using mostly just softer sounding instruments.

Dance music - this works best for me, but I must vary the playlist and dub
tracks, ones without vocals, work better than ones with vocals. The sub-genres
range from trance to dubstep.

During hectic times, I also ask a colleague to take my calls and I'll get back
to them later. This works tremendously well.

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ScottWhigham
Never put off any task that will take < 30 seconds. It's a small enough chore
that you should just go ahead and deal with rather than letting 100+ of these
chores pile up and trying to do it all at the end of the week.

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bbissoon
EXACTLY! I had to fight with this one. Especially when I started working on
forms.

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zeynalov
When I was in my early 20s I was very interested in self-development books.
I've read dozens of them. Maybe more than hundred. In one of them I saw a
sentence and it changed my life. Whenever I'm bored what I do, I don't work
anymore or not productive I remember this sentence: Whatever you do, please
complete it. Stick it in your mind; if you will not end up what you are doing
now, it'll have no value. Just complete what you've started.

