
Living in the zone - swombat
http://jacquesmattheij.com/living+in+the+zone
======
lionhearted
Very, very good post.

Some other thoughts -

If you notice some habitual thing you do when feeling initial frustration
(surf to a website, turn on the TV, whatever) - then try changing your
environment slightly to make it harder. If you use Google Chrome, delete or
move a site you go to habitually. This can help a lot for not bailing out
during that first 15-30 minutes of warmup when working on something a little
frustrating and a little beyond current skill level.

Silence is good, but if you have a hard time finding it, try to find music
that drowns out the outside world for you. Electronic music helps me - a nice
mix of Benny Benassi, David Guetta, or John Digweed and I can ignore
background noise. Also, if lyrics distract you and you like electronic, maybe
try looking up some "minimal techno" - it's kind of weird, but very cerebral.
I work very well to it, it's zone-getting-into music for me.

Silence or kill your phone entirely.

Make very clear to people when you're about to work on something important and
don't want your concentration broken, let them know you're going to be an
angry cave bear woken up from hibernation if they bother you, and let them
know exactly what to bother you on - "Don't disturb me from working unless
something is on fire, and maybe not even then" tends to get the point across.

Also, you've kind of got to regular your caffeine/sugar/food a little bit so
you don't totally spike and crash. It takes a while to get this down, but
there's very few things that are as much of a bummer as having your blood
sugar crash, caffeine withdrawl, and hunger kick in all at the same time when
you were doing good work. Knowing your own rhythms and
eating/drinking/caffeinating intelligently during your work helps a lot.

~~~
chrishenn
Ever listen to Ricardo Villalobos? It's some of my favorite background/work
music, it's very minimal. I often find listening to long mixes (Fabric CD's or
something similar) works really well for helping me concentrate.

When I sit down to do work, it's usually around 7pm and it's homework. I don't
like homework, but I dislike spending too much time on it even more. Often
I'll go to check Facebook or HN after typing out a sentence or so, because it
feels like a reward. It took me a while to realize how miserable it made the
whole process.

Now if I want to get stuff done I'll remove distractions. No computer if
possible---if I do have to use it I'll turn off Internet or edit my hosts
file, which is usually a big enough roadblock to send me back to work. I turn
off my phone. I also find that Tea helps me tremendously, in addition to
tasting delicious :)

~~~
redthrowaway
I deleted my reddit account a few days ago and added reddit.com to hosts, but
I've found its effectiveness very sporadic. Firefox and Opera can't connect,
but Chrome and Safari can. I'm confused as to why "127.0.0.1 reddit.com" works
for some browsers but not for others.

~~~
ivank
Are some browsers going straight to www.reddit.com, perhaps?

------
snikolic
I've recently started using VMs to help get me into my zone faster and keep me
there longer. I keep a separate VM for each project I'm working on, and I keep
all other activities (browsing, music, chat, etc.) out of them. I've found a
few advantages:

1) Easier to get into my work. When I restore a VM, it's still in the exact
state it was in the last time I worked on that project. Terminals open,
commands still partially typed in, working files open, notes typed to myself,
docs/references still open, etc.

2) Easier to avoid distractions. The logical sandboxing of work and play has
really been helpful for me - once that VM opens up, everything else gets
hidden and drowned out. There is no temptation to "just peak at HN" - I'm
either completely in my work VM or completely out of it. When the divide
between work and play is blurry, I err, but this keeps that divide very
crystal clear.

3) It's easy to recover from distractions when they do occur (and they are
inevitable). I just minimize the entire VM I'm working in, and all of my work
is kept in its exact state: positioning of windows, files open, etc.

~~~
tedmiston
I think the same idea applies to creating multiple user accounts or working on
a computer you don't own.

The extra bit of effort separating _doing_ your work from consuming Internet
junk food is significant. I've noticed this myself when I'm coding for school
projects. I tend to be much more productive on a frozen system* in a
public/private lab, rather than on my own laptop at home.

*For the unfamiliar -- DeepFreeze removes any changes made to a disk from the frozen state at each restart requiring you to save work on a flash drive, Dropbox, etc.

------
MortenK
There is a psychological term for that state of mind, which I'm sure most of
the readers here know already. It's been investigated thoroughly by the
psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (try saying that 3 times fast).

It's called Flow (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29>) and to
me is a really interesting topic, as well as a mental state I'm sure most
programmers are experiencing regularly. At least unless they are sitting in a
hectic environment, like say, a home office with 3 cats and a frequently
insisting girlfriend (theoretical example).

~~~
eliben
Totally agree. When I read Flow a couple of years ago, it's like a bulb
lighted in my head. I then told my wife she should read this book to really
understand me in some situations.

------
pmjoyce
Interruptions collapsing the mental model into fragments reminds me of a pg
quote about interruptions that has always chimed with me.

 _But the time quantum for hacking is very long: it might take an hour just to
load a problem into your head. So the cost of having someone from personnel
call you about a form you forgot to fill out can be huge._

 _This is why hackers give you such a baleful stare as they turn from their
screen to answer your question. Inside their heads a giant house of cards is
tottering._

<http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html#f1n>

~~~
frankus
It really is like someone tripping over your brain's power cord.

------
billybob
"An interruption - no matter how short or slight - collapses that whole mental
model in fragments on the floor. I literally have to re-build it before I can
continue to work and that typically takes anywhere from 15 minutes to over an
hour."

One thing that helps me with this is to "sketch out" my plan in comments
before I start. That way, if I get interrupted, I have comments to jog my
memory of what I was doing.

This also helps when I have to chase a rabbit trail. Maybe my comment for a
particular step just says "capture the substring and replace it with foo," but
to actually do that, I have to look up the method documentation. When I finish
with that detail, I don't want to have to say "now where was I?" My next
comment helps me get back on track.

~~~
ww520
Some research has indicated that there are only a few slots for short term
working memory, like people can only hold 6 to 7 items in their working
memory. Being in the flow is like using all the slots in the working memory.
Interruptions flush your short term working memory to use them to handle the
interruption. It takes time to re-construct the working memory again. It is
very annoying.

------
geoffw8
I have this, and I'm not a coder. I started life as a designer, working on
mobile campaigns and the similar. When I came out of this "constantly sit in
Photoshop" mode, I found it really hard to work. In a management role its
impossible to have a "zone" thats comparable to my Photoshop days.

I beat myself up because sometimes I don't feel like I'm working hard enough,
whereas what I actually think is happening is my brain has associated "working
hard" with being in "the zone" - something I find hard to do with this type of
work.

I'm currently sitting in Photoshop doing some logo resizing for our homepage,
and its nice being "back in the zone"!

~~~
jgarmon
As a writer, I have the same experience. There are days I can't type fast
enough. They're rare, but they happen.

The corollary to this is that you can't wait on the zone to do your job. Muses
have no respect for deadlines.

~~~
flamingbuffalo
"Muses have no respect for deadlines"

This phrase is wonderful.

~~~
cema
The reverse is also true (deadlines have no respect for Muses).

------
atlei
Two golden oldies by Joel Spolsky:

Where do These People Get Their (Unoriginal) Ideas?

\- <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000068.html>

Human Task Switches Considered Harmful

\- <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000022.html>

+1 to "Flow" by Csikszentmihalyi

~~~
bmccormack
Don't forget "Fire and Motion" -
<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html>

------
daoudc
I almost missed my train stop yesterday because of this. I think the train
works particularly well for me because:

    
    
      - It's a routine, so I can plan a difficult job to work on
        as I'm walking to the station
      - There's no internet, so no HN/other distractions
      - It's normally quiet
    

One thing I've noticed is that I can only get into the zone if I've got a hard
enough problem to work on. I don't seem to be able to do lots of easy problems
as efficiently as one large one.

~~~
Tycho
I'll raise you one: yesterday I headed out to the local library for a change
of scene and to get some work done. I was going to plan the refactoring of my
web app, so I was already thinking about it on the way there. Now here's the
thing, I didn't go straight to the library, I walked _on autopilot_ to the
newsagents instead. Missing your stop is one thing, actually _walking_ to the
wrong destination and not realizing until you're literally there is
considerably worse!

------
hallowtech
My zone is best found between 7pm to 5am, usually on the couch with the
laptop, and some easy to zone out tv series playing in the background. I think
I've played through the Highlander and 4400 series several times just writing
code. Its easier if you've already seen it, so its not really an interruption,
but rather a way to keep from burning out on just staring at the computer
screen.

~~~
mindcrime
I do something like that, but I like to put one of the Matrix movies on. I've
seen them all enough times now that I know what's happening, and I don't feel
compelled to actually _watch_... but there's something going on that I can pay
attention to briefly, when my mind needs a break from whatever I'm doing. It
seems counter-intuitive, but it works well for me.

------
edw519
_Once you realize this you try to replicate the conditions that lead to is._

"Replicating conditions" rarely works for me. No matter how much I stage the
room, the lighting, the time of day, my mood, etc., it doesn't seem to matter.
Why? Because I'm focusing on byproducts, not the real thing. The only way I
can get back into the zone is to work on "zone appropriate" work that is "zone
ready". Call it whatever you want: the most important thing, the critical
path, the lowest building block, etc. It needs to be ready to be worked on
(all the prerequisites done) and I need to be ready to work on it. Necessary
and sufficient conditions.

 _One thing that struck me the other day is that when I'm interrupted by a
living human being when in the zone I'm probably not the nicest person to be
around._

That's OK, because you're not yourself anyway. You're some other persona
living in the body you share. Sometimes I think I have multiple personality
disorder, my personalities are "me in the zone" and "me not in the zone". We
both know each other exists, we respect each other, but we have never met.

 _Total immersion is a powerful tool, it makes it possible to achieve things
that are normally at or just beyond what I could do in a regular work
setting._

I'll take it a step further: it's _the only way_ to get some things done.
Sometimes I look at some work that I did and I can't believe I did it. (Worse,
I wonder how I'll ever do something at that level again.) Then I realize that
I was in the zone when I did it and all I have to do is return to the zone and
trust that my other persona takes over. You don't have to be able to build
something right now, you just have to believe that it's possible for you to
build it when you're in the zone.

Nice post, Jacques. A few other things that may be helping:

    
    
      - I do all my work in my private home office.
      - no land line
      - only 6 people have my cell phone number for emergencies only
      - no texting
      - no chat
      - I only check email in batches
      - I only check Hacker News in batches
      - L-shaped desk, single 19" monitor
      - great office chair
      - 3 kinds of light: natural, overhead, and task
      - green & black full screen Textpad editor
      - alt-tab to full screen test session
      - windows open all year round (in winter it gets cold)
      - sweat suit in winter, gym clothes in summer
      - I work on only one thing: the most important.
      - When I'm stuck, I go away from the computer.
      - I always have pen & pad nearby.  Always.
      - Certain foods & drink help - this changes and is tricky.
      - I face the door.
      - I face southwest in every desk I've ever had. (I don't know why.)
      - Cats remind me I'm not alone, but don't interrupt (much).
      - SO knows: If I'm typing & looking at screen: don't interrupt!

~~~
swombat
Re: multiple personalities, you should try reading
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Multiplicity-Science-Personality-
Rit...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Multiplicity-Science-Personality-Rita-
Carter/dp/0316730882/)

Worth bearing in mind, however, that "multiple personalities" can be an
explanation for how you behave the way you do, but they are by no means an
excuse. The danger in this book is that some people will take it as an excuse
to do whatever they want and blame it on their "other personalities".. that
would be bad.

Still, the book is very interesting and even useful, as it includes tips for
mapping your personalities and getting them talking to each other so that
"they" are in agreement about which personality should come out in what
situation (for example, you don't want your aggressive zone personality to
come out when meeting a client for the first time).

------
gvnonor
Being in the zone is more acute and recognizable when one plays an outdoor
sport for a moderate period of time. I used to play tennis competitively and I
could clearly tell when I was in the zone. It would be amazing, I would feel
like I could take on anything my opponent would throw at me and without even
breaking a sweat. I would expend very little effort but still end up playing
the best tennis of my life.

In programming, I doubt if it's as easily discernible. I've been programming
for a few years and had a few productive stretches coding 8-10 hours at a
time(with small breaks in between of course), but never felt like I was in the
zone even once.

~~~
ElliotH
Easily discernible for me. Its an awful lot like your tennis analogy though.

"I could take on anything my opponent would throw at me and without even
breaking a sweat"

If I'm 'in the zone' as it were, you could replace 'opponent' with 'bugs' and
it would be very similar to my experience. Not so sure about 'expending very
little effort' though. While it doesn't feel like hard work while I'm coding
'in the zone' I end up completely mentally exhausted by the end.

------
humj
The zone is something I'm very familiar with and have been aware of for a long
time, even before programming. To me, the zone is a product, not only of
complex problem-solving, but also, high creativity (but perhaps these are one
and the same). By day, I'm an architect (as in physical buildings), and I
often find myself in the zone particularly in early design, when thinking very
big picture and developing new concepts; asking myself questions like.. \-
what are the different components of hte project \- how do they relate to each
other \- how do they fit into the existing infrastructure \- how does it
change the existing \- what is the experience of each type of user \- how do
these experience differ from expectation (good or bad) \- how do these new
relationships and interactiosn affect the business model

just to name a few... So these are a lot of questions to handle all at once. I
find myself asking suprisingly similar questions now that I'm
coding/designing. The basic principles of physical space don't differ much
from web space. My analogy for this sort of juggling is an image of a person
standing one-legged on a ball with a stack of plates on his head and juggling
an array of different objects.

When I'm in the zone, my mind is hyper-extended and I tune everything else
out. I often won't even answer someone who comes up to speak to me. In
college, my mother would call me and I wouldn't answer for hours. She'd get
angry and say.. you couldn't spare 5 minutes? 5 minutes means having to drop
all the things I'm juggling, fall off the ball and break the stack of plates
on my head.

In the most extreme cases, when in the zone for extended periods of time, I've
forgone eating and sleeping (no caffeine needed in the zone), without any ill
effects until snapping out of zone, which ends in a crash.

------
tejaswiy
It's interesting that you mention multiple monitors. Despite all cases made
for programmer productivity and screen real-estate, I find that having a
browser window up, starting at me in my second monitor while I try to code on
my main screen is incredibly distracting. I've yet to figure out how to use
the browser purely for work related stuff without hopping on YC / Reddit to
see what's happening, so I'm just going with single monitor for now.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
What do you code? I have plenty of things to have open in a second monitor and
none of them are distractions. If I have a browser open it's because I'm
coding a page or I'm looking up documentation on some library I'm using.
Otherwise I might have a terminal open to start/stop services or edit a second
file. I might be doing SQL queries (or performing Redis commands, etc). I find
the 2nd monitor to be a huge boom to productivity.

~~~
tejaswiy
Mostly it's just the Android / iOS docs or stackoverflow up to help me out.
But the urge to hit Cmd-T is just too bad.

~~~
technomancy
If it's just documentation, try reading it in w3m in the terminal or inside
Emacs. The improved keyboard control is a nice bonus too.

------
MatthewPhillips
Let me add that it must be a desktop computer. I don't want a laptop with its
wide screen, its trackpad, or its keyboard that I have to adjust to rather
than it adjusting to me.

A second monitor will make me 10% more productive but I can live without it if
I have to. Give me a laptop and my productivity falls to a crawl.

For me the zone happens somewhat randomly. If I tell myself that I'm going on
a programming binge after work I'm probably not. I'll find some excuse, pick
up a 6 pack and watch a baseball game or something. But if I read about some
new library or a new technique, I'll often pop open a text editor and play
around with it. Next thing I know I've decided to use it instead of some other
library than I previously was working with, and have completely replaced the
code in a couple of hours.

------
chegra
I don't know if any of y'all picked it up, but I personally find I'm way more
productive when I was at school than when I'm working. I think this can be
attributed to work environments tend not to afford you the luxury of a quiet
environment.

I think one of problems with the work environment is that they don't know how
much they leave on the table because of the environment, and without a cost,
there can be no cost/benefit and no impetus to change.

~~~
nickolai
I'd argue it is also because school tasks tend to get more and more
challenging. It is not necessarily the case in a work environment. And I find
it harder to get into the _zone_ on trivial/repetitive problems.

------
fdb
The book "Pragmatic Thinking and Learning", by Andy Hunt of the Pragmatic
Programmers, talks at length about managing focus. It also includes techniques
for improving learning, gaining experience and even meditation techniques.

[http://pragprog.com/titles/ahptl/pragmatic-thinking-and-
lear...](http://pragprog.com/titles/ahptl/pragmatic-thinking-and-learning)

------
Swizec
My process of getting into the zone is completely different. I absolutely need
my environment to be chaotic and random. I'm always on the hunt for my "coding
mojo".

This usually means changing the desk I work at every few weeks, possibly going
to a sofa for a few days. Today I even went to work at a coffee shop despite
having a readily available office. It's just too boring there.

Another thing I seem to need is enough low-grade internet to quickly refresh
my mind when I get stuck on a problem. It lets me delegate whatever I'm
thinking to the back of my mind while I mindlessly surf the internets until
the problem is suddenly solved and I can get back to work.

~~~
joeyespo
Same here for the most part. External interruptions still ruin it for me
though.

With the internet, you're still deciding when to up to you when to take a
quick break. When others who are unaware decide for you, it can be a pretty
big setback, like he describes.

------
BasDirks
When I have been zoning for 4+ hours, I often dream about vim and data
structures. Same thing with chess, not joking.

~~~
mlok
Quite the same happened to me once : after a day immerged in the zone, I had
dreams where I had computer-programming "powers" like cloning things,
extending what I could do by "creating" extensions to my body, jumping much
higher because I could modify the logics of my environment... all this in a
very similar reasoning than when you create code. That dream was an amazing
experience!

------
kitsune_
Regarding "the zone" and "uninterruptability": I often wonder whether
programming attracts people whose modus operandi is what it is, and "other
people" would, for instance, have no problem with being interrupted, or
whether programming is an activity which forces people to tackle problems in
this way.

------
Afton
_stands up_

Hi. I'm a programmer who's never been in the zone (as I understand it). This
is in spite of being engaged in my work, and vigorous efforts to improve my
practice.

I wonder how many of us there are.

~~~
lloeki
Many. At work I'm one of the few that have to get in the zone to do any
meaningful amount of work. They mostly seem not to require much effort to
start working on anything. Also, multitasking does not seem to make such a hit
on their productivity as it does for me. Maybe they have a sort of zone too,
only much less pronounced and thus not noticeable to them.

When I'm not in the zone it seems like I'm grinding compared to them, like I'm
walking in a swamp. Yet when I'm in, I work at what seems like stratospheric
speeds.

Sometimes the zone happens when collaborating on solving a complex but
rewarding problem, or an involved yet insightful discussion. When this
happens, I feel 'offseted', like I'm on a different flow of time. My brain
churns away, evaluating solutions, and I can almost hear the colleagues mind
slowly ticking. I seem to have computed how every path of the conversation
tree will unfold, which questions they will come up with and which conclusion
they will reach. It's terrible because in that case I can subtly nudge their
thought flow in one direction or another, making them reach a given conclusion
faster. Everytime I feel like performing some dirty Jedi mind trick. Most of
the time I refrain from doing so and adopt a maieutic approach to let them
reach their solution by themselves, only cutting dead branches around.

The zone is a wonderful, timeless moment when experienced alone, but every
time third parties are involved it's a frightening experience. It's also a
bane of sorts, because I'm utterly improductive without it.

------
james_ash
I found Jason Fried's analogy in "Rework" useful. Paraphrasing: "Going to
work" is like going to sleep. If someone keeps interrupting you every few
minutes, you're never going to fall asleep. It takes uninterrupted time to get
there.

I've tried to use this analogy with my wife. Still working on it.

------
walta
I find that the hard part comes from not knowing what to do next. For me I
have a notebook that I call my planning notebook. I write in the notebook the
outline of what I'm trying to accomplish -

Who it's for What it should do When I think it'll be done Where it needs to
happen Why I'm doing it How much it will cost

This frames the project for me. Then after that I come up with what I think
the next thing I need to accomplish on the project is and write it down. Later
when I site down at my computer, I have no questions about what to do next and
so I can hit the zone really fast.

------
soofaloofa
The closest I have come to this ideal is when playing sports. For me, mental
preparation was absolutely key.

I imagine high performing athletes are able to achieve this feeling of being
in the "zone" quite often.

~~~
look_lookatme
Came here to say this. Additionally, when I'm "zoned" I feel like I develop by
intuition or instinct, which is really just me relying on experience --
similar to muscle memory or situational memory earned from athletic training.

------
esmevane
I'm glad to hear this voiced in the communities I've attended. Honestly, I'm
having extreme bouts of difficulty explaining this to the folks I collaborate
with. They are genuinely wonderful folks, but I just can't seem to get across
the severity of even minor interruptions.

Sometimes, I will deliberately engage in nothing but research until everyone
is out of the office. Then, I start coding. Not an optimal resolution, by any
means, but until articulating this amicably is possible, it's what I've got.

------
leftnode
I moved to a new laptop and it's really helped me get back into the zone more
frequently and easier. The reason is that I haven't set up my Bookmark Toolbar
in Firefox, so going to Reddit/HN/SomethingAwful isn't just a click a way and
it's not always visible. Throw in an F11 with multiple desktops to tab between
(first has a full screen shell, second is my editor, third is my browser) and
it makes for an incredibly productive environment.

------
ollysb
I've realised that lately I don't really code in the zone anymore. My workflow
is completely tied to testing. Spec, red, code, green and the code just grows
and adapts. All consuming flow is now very hard to achieve, there's simply too
much time waiting for the computer to run tests, it's the stuttered
conversation of a satellite phone. On the other hand it's far easier to return
to work. Distractions used to feel like being forced to stop whilst cycling up
a steep hill. Now the pace feels slower but it's steadier and more controlled.

I miss those old sessions. Lost in my own world, code flying out for hours at
a time sometimes straying far from the next compile but certain that if I just
kept hacking there would be a glorious moment when it burst into life. I
wouldn't go back now though, the red, green has me. I'll just have to wait for
that cloud editor I'm longing for, the one that'll run tests instantly as I
type.

------
demoo
Maybe it is because I'm not a real coder, but whenever I'm working on some
project (usually front-end web design) I find myself checking resources and
other code examples often.

How do you guys deal with these while 'in the zone'? Got a book or notes lying
around? Or are visiting the web/irc to get unstuck?

~~~
giberson
> I find myself checking resources and other code examples often.

Being in the zone does not exclude research tasks. Being in the zone is simply
a state of hyper focus.

It's very possible to be in the zone and constantly switching back and forth
between the IDE and API reference, the point is that even though you are
switching windows you aren't switching tasks. You've got this clear model or
objective you're working towards and you're just referencing details plugging
them in as you go along.

> to get unstuck?

The definition of the zone, what makes it so amazing, is that you aren't stuck
--you're in constant motion towards the solution. The only way to get from
stuck to the zone, is simply to stop being stuck. In other words, take the
first step towards the solution do something, anything to address the problem
set. That may mean, doing research, checking out code samples, etc. Just
because you aren't typing characters into an IDE doesn't mean you haven't
started coding. The research is helping you build a model, understand the
scope and structure of the thing and eventually leads to describing it in the
editor.

------
5h
headphones in, volume up, only vim open.

could be in the middle of a war zone, or my office that frequently mimics
such, as long as I am interested in the problem at hand I can get in the zone.

------
kefs
Related reading for those living with us nerds:
[http://viewtext.org/article?url=http%3A%2F%2Frandsinrepose.c...](http://viewtext.org/article?url=http%3A%2F%2Frandsinrepose.com%2Farchives%2F2007%2F11%2F11%2Fthe_nerd_handbook.html)

------
hanibash
I like to participate in day long hackathons for this reason. Mentally, I know
that I've blocked that time off for coding, and socially, all my friends know
that I have too.

------
antfarm
paul graham has some interesting things to say on working environments and
distractions, quote: "a working environment is supposed to be something to
work in, not despite [of]".

listen to: <http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail188.html>
<http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail657.html>

------
weicool
Shh! He's wired in.

------
ww520
Music is what does it for me. Just put on a headphone and code away.

~~~
HiroshiSan
I find that it is much easier to tell when you're in the zone when listening
to music, and I only realize I'm in the zone because after a while I don't
even notice I have music playing, then I think about the music and I lose my
"zone."

------
tarkeshwar
Hardest factor that keeps me away from the "zone" is: the task-at-hand being
uninteresting and grungy, which is typically the case at regular jobs. Any
tips on how folks overcome this factor? Other than to go built my own startup.

~~~
becomevocal
With anything uninteresting, try and come up with a solution that challenges
yourself to think. Say, instead of using that plugin you frequently rely on,
come up with a solution of your own (of course, keeping time constraints in
mind.)

------
zyfo
What he describes seems to be the same as flow _...the mental state of
operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of
energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the
activity._

For tips on how to create the zone that OP is talking about, read the
wikipedia article [1]. The book Flow by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi [2] is also
highly recommended.

1:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)#Components_of...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_\(psychology\)#Components_of_flow)

2: [http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-
Csik...](http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-
Csikszentmihalyi/dp/0060920432)

~~~
smz
I was thinking exactly the same thing (as others seem to have done). As a
competitive gamer, what the post describes certainly sounds like flow.
Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, it's not always easy to replicate.
The best I can do is turn on music and let my fingers do the rest.

------
michaelochurch
I don't think flow is some sacred state that requires specific conditions for
most people, and I don't think it's broken by bathroom breaks, fetching
coffee, or even short, rote social pleasantries. Most people can achieve it.

As for flow, I think it's like sleep in its onset. You can't force yourself
into the state, but if you make the conditions right, it'll usually start in
10 minutes and fully set in within 40-60.

What makes flow impossible in most work environments is arrogant, short-
sighted managers (there, I said it) who ask for detailed, impromptu status
reports several times a day. They're so used to email clients and web services
that can be checked 33 times per day, with no degradation in performance, that
they think they can pull that shit off on the people working for them, and
it's not that way. Establish a sane, regular reporting schedule and fucking
stick to it.

~~~
pesiflage
Or sites like Reddit and Hacker News that people love too spend to much time
on instead of actually working.

------
jpr
> It was the very first time that I used 'structured programming', a technique
> a friend of mine had shown to me.

Huh? How old is this guy? I thought structured programming was something that
came out in the _30's_ or something.

