
Ask HN: How do I stay productive at a desk during the workday? - passivepinetree
I just started a new job (first out of college). I&#x27;m finding it relatively difficult to stay focused at my desk for the eight hours or so that I work each day. I have a pretty standard desk chair&#x2F;dual monitors&#x2F;stock keyboard and mouse.<p>Are there habits I should acquire or gear I should purchase to make things easier? Do you all have any tips to stay energized and productive in a desk job?
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cauterized
Use the pomodoro technique. You focus for a finite amount of time then take a
break. You can work up from 20-min sprints to 50-min sprints. It's healthier
for your eyes, body and mind to take a break at least once per hour anyway.

When you break between sprints, make sure you're getting up and walking around
- not just surfing Facebook. Get some water. Stretch. Do a few jumping jacks.
Go to the kitchen and spend 5 minutes talking to whoever else is taking a
break at the same time. Look out the window at the furthest thing you can see,
to let your eyes relax.

Eat your lunch outside the office. Grab a sandwich and take a walk or sit in a
nearby park. The point is to get your brain some variety.

Make sure you're getting enough exercise outside work. Be it jogging every
morning, cycling to work, visiting the gym at lunch, pickup soccer in the
afternoons, a softball league...

And finally, consider a sit-stand desk. Something as simple as changing
posture can go a long way toward reducing physical and mental fatigue.

------
UnoriginalGuy
Have you read about the Pomodoro Technique[0]? I use that, just a simple
software timer in the corner (K.I.S.S.).

Plus regular exercise, healthy eating, getting enough sleep, and avoiding
things that cause you to crash (soda, junk food, sugar in coffee, etc). Some
colleagues have found standing desks useful, but that's very individual.

I use a vertical mouse but that's to avoid RSI, not to increase productivity
(e.g. Anker 2.4G, or 3M Ergonomic Mouse). I also use a keyboard with Dome or
Scissor Switches (think: laptop keyboard) on purpose since the depression
pressure is lower (i.e. your fingers work less hard per keypress) which also
helps with RSI. I also set brightness around 20-30% on LCDs and turn DPI on
Windows up to 125% to help with eyestrain.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique)

------
danso
What kind of distractions are you facing? The frequent visits to HN/Reddit? Or
hearing your coworkers' chatter in the background? What are your expectations
for what a distraction-free day should feel like?

FWIW, I've been using the Qbserve [0] time-tracking app. Even on a day like
this, where I got in at around 6:30 AM and felt like I'd been writing code and
documentation non-stop, it shows that I've only spent 5.5 hours (out of about
9 hours at work) on "productive" tasks (Sublime Text + Terminal +
spreadsheets). I feel pretty drained, but I've apparently had about 3.5 hours
of downtime.

If you don't already have headphones, get a pair, though that seems like
obvious advice. I have some pretty good traditional headphones but I've found
it useful to occasionally switch to wireless bluetooth ones that don't have
the weight of a full set of headphones [1]

[0] Show HN: Qbserve
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11778077](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11778077)

[1]
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GDIUA8Y/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GDIUA8Y/)

~~~
passivepinetree
I have a good attention span and am not easily distracted by sites like HN,
but I've noticed that eye strain is a big problem. Also, like you mentioned,
chattering coworkers (I've only worn earbuds so far; I need to drag my
ATH-M50s to the office) is a big issue.

We're in an open floor plan and so I don't get more than maybe 20 minutes of
focus at most before people talking near me disturbs me.

Maybe it's because of the eye strain difference, but I can sit and read a book
for hours upon hours and not have an issue while something about sitting at a
desk and staring at a computer makes me want start to fidget and look
elsewhere.

~~~
nso95
Consider buying some noise cancelling headphones. You may also benefit from
dimming your screen, installing f.lux and perhaps wearing some Gunnar computer
glasses. It's also important to ensure your monitor is at a proper height, at
no point should you have to look upward on your monitor.

------
eswat
What are you actually _doing_ at your desk and how does it add up to the
bigger picture of your life?

IMHO fancy gear and trying to force new habits are only curing symptoms of of
a more underlying problem: the tasks you’re doing at your new job are too
divorced from what you want to accomplish day-to-day (could also be due to
genuine lack of energy which is covered by another comment).

Take some time figure out some goals for yourself if you don’t have any yet,
connect the dots between what you have to accomplish in your new job to those
goals, then connect the minute tasks you do at your desk to those
accomplishments. If you just keep doing work without tying it to something
bigger it will definitely be an uphill battle to stay focused on what you must
get done.

Though tying your job to your goals is definitely not a silver bullet. There
are other tricks to try out _after_ setting your goals that could help, such
as using the pomodoro technique.

------
afarrell
There are three types of things which you should do in parallel:

1) Make your mind sharper

2) Make your tasks clearer

3) Make your distractions more distant.

\-------------- 1\. Sharpening your mind

Your mind is a part of your body, so you need to take care of your body.

A) Have good sleep hygiene. I need 8.5 hours of sleep a night to be at my
best. Figure out what that number is for you and follow through on it. An
extra hour of wakefulness is a waste of time if it makes you 40% as effective
the next day. Make sure your mattress doesn't suck. If it does, definitely
spend the $200 for a new one[1]. Play white noise[2] on your phone and put
your phone away from you as you sleep so you aren't tempted by it at night.
Spend $10 on a good sleeping mask [3]. Go to sleep and get up at the same
times every day, even on weekends.

B) Eat good food with a high protein content. The very cheapest way to do this
is something like soylent[4] and a blender bottle[5]. Somewhat better than
that is using paprika[6] to plan meals and cook food with a timered slow
cooker[7], but keep in mind that setting up an efficient kitchen takes time.
Another method is to prep all your meals on Sunday[8]

C) Excercise and meditate regularly. A 20-minute intense run is really great
for keeping yourself sharp. Not only that, but when you feel like your head is
full of cotton, this is a good way to clear your mind.

\----------------- 2) Make your tasks more clear.

If your tasks or goals lack clarity, then it is that much harder to figure out
what your next step is, so your brain will seek stimulation and micro-
accomplishment where it can. This is a more complicated topic because it
depends on your company culture. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is a good
read on this topic.

Frequent communication is important. Daily standups are good. Pairing is
great, particularly as you are starting out and you are at the keyboard so
that someone's knowledge flows through you.

With programming, one of the most important things you can do is use Test
Driven Development. It leads you to break down tasks and give yourself a clear
next task: make the failing test pass.

If you are asked to work with an API and the documentation is in a foreign
language, insist that the company hires professional translation.

If you join a company and can't find out whom you report to, start looking for
a new job.

\----------- 3) Make distractions more distant.

Replace the "frequently visited pages" new tab screen with a calming natural
image[9].

Block yourself from visiting distracting pages using Freedom, which lets you
make different sets of urls to block and lets you schedule them to come on
automatically[10].

[1]
[http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90283797/](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90283797/)

[2] [https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/rainy-mood-rain-sounds-
for/i...](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/rainy-mood-rain-sounds-
for/id566752651?mt=8)
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TailoredMu...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TailoredMusic.RainyMood&hl=en)

[3] [http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/bucky-
reg-40-b...](http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/bucky-
reg-40-blinks-ultralight-sleep-mask/1043238446)

[4]
[https://www.soylent.com/product/powder/](https://www.soylent.com/product/powder/)

[5]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5PTTH0ftsY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5PTTH0ftsY)

[6] [https://paprikaapp.com/](https://paprikaapp.com/)

[7] [http://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-slow-
cooker/](http://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-slow-cooker/)

[8]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/)

[9]
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momentum/laookkfkn...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momentum/laookkfknpbbblfpciffpaejjkokdgca?hl=en)

[10]
[https://freedom.refersion.com/c/dbe7b2](https://freedom.refersion.com/c/dbe7b2)

------
zerr
Ask for part-time for proportionally reduced salary?

