

Ask HN: Do you feel more focused at night? - quantumpotato_

I&#x27;ve been having trouble focusing in the day. I think part of this is having to deal with so much non-work stuff-to-do, plus organizing work, plus managing e-mails. At night places are quiet. People don&#x27;t e-mail. I can focus.<p>Thoughts?
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jlengrand
I do focus better at night, but realized it was a bad trade off because you
have to get early later afterwards. I switched my schedule instead and work
really early in the morning now. I love it because you don't have the "oh f
__* it 's 4am already" if you wake up at 4.

~~~
vonseel
I work nights, and I do feel like I get more done. I also feel sort of guilty
for staying up so late (maybe because I have roommates who work regular hours
in offices).

Regardless, I'm interested in trying out your method...

~~~
jayrobin
I used to be a serious night owl: in university I commonly stayed up till
6-7am working thinking I was at my best. However, since getting into the real
world and having a 9-5 I obviously couldn't keep this up, so recently I tried
to switch to becoming a morning person.

It wasn't easy (especially those first few days), but slowly I managed to push
my weekday alarm back to 6am (from 8am: I live just round the corner from
where I work) and on weekends to 8-9am. The biggest things that worked for me
were:

1\. Make the alarm annoying and put it somewhere that forces you to get out of
bed

2\. Have a good routine that you can follow in your zombified state (e.g. get
up, head straight for the shower, get dressed, have breakfast while _not_
browsing HN/reddit, sit down to work)

3\. Give yourself a good reason for getting out of bed. For me, this was only
allowing myself to work on an exciting new project in the morning before work

I still lapse occasionally, but it has made me realise that being a night owl
or a morning person is entirely my choice.

~~~
japhyr
I fell victim to the snooze button for years. I'd set my alarm early, and then
hit snooze for literally two hours every morning.

I finally started getting up early by ditching my alarm clock altogether. Once
I did that, I just started getting up the first time I woke up each morning.

I think this approach works because you always wake up at the end of a sleep
cycle. I haven't used an alarm clock in over 10 years, and I am way more
productive because of that.

~~~
jlengrand
A simple way to get rid of the snooze problem is simply to put your phone in a
location not accessible from your bed. My alarm clock is in my bathroom. I
have to get up to stop it.

Once it´s done, I am 30 cms away from a hot shower :)

I used not to have an alarm clock in the past. The problem I had is that it
definitely means that you cannot stay up late the day before, not to wake up
too late.

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mattm
Well for one thing, your body is trying to prepare yourself for sleep. So
naturally, you feel more relaxed and don't get as energized by the
distractions that are available to you.

If you're having trouble focusing during the day, you might want to work on
being more present while you work and training your mind to not give into
those distractions. Yes, it can be trained just like anything else.

I have a course that addresses this issue and other issues that programmers
face if you're interested. It's available at
[https://www.programmingspiritually.com/](https://www.programmingspiritually.com/)

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meerita
Totally. I love when you work and you hear only the rain, no cars, no cabs, no
buses, no salesman, no childrens going to school.

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kbart
Definitely. I was doing all my assignments and exam preparations at university
only at nights. It looks like my productivity triples then - no noise, no
phone calls/IM's and you can always take a break and just gaze at the stars
for a moments to relax. Sadly I have a day job now and can't stay with that
life style anymore.

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ghostdiver
On the other hand, at the morning(and that means MORNING :)) I am super
effective for first 2 hours. So if I can go vampire until 1am and sleep until
8am or I can go sleep at 11pm and wake up at 6am, I choose the second one.

6am-8am >>>>>> 11pm-1am (in terms of effectiveness)

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anish_t
Nod in agreement. I guess its about getting that loooooooong stretch of
uninterrupted time. The day is good for getting the usual things done and
brainstorming. But yes, when I am working on something new and exciting, i
start at about 11:00 pm and my thought process peaks between 3 and 4 am

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timhargis
I work far better at night when I'm alone for obvious reasons like you
mentioned - phone isn't ringing, people aren't texting, emails for the most
part are far, far less, etc. etc. Definitely a night owl...

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doubt_me
I don't let it get that far. I focus regardless or try my hardest so long as I
got some good rest I am fine

