
Ask HN: How to shift focus at work to study+work rather than work only - tomerbd
I tend to focus on doing tasks. I feel like when I&#x27;m learning stuff at work (watching a video or reading a book - all tech) then internally no matter what my manager would say I feel like it&#x27;s not what I need to do at work.  Do you also have that feeling how can you shift the focus to this and feel great? PS it&#x27;s not only the feeling it&#x27;s also the attitude difficult to focus on this stuff while focusing at work tasks is much easier as it involves immediate action result satisfaction, more tests pass, more functionality, better performance, new design document, new wiki page, new refactor, new idea about design improved architecture all those have the trigger response satisfaction rather than just watching a video or reading.<p>It&#x27;s like the context switching of to learning is just never in the mood at work (at home it is) if anyone has succeeded and has tips to be able to make this change would be happy to learn.
======
otras
I've found that repeated practice and building the habit was very helpful for
longer term goals like learning.

One thing I've done is explicitly blocked time to work on learning. For
example, when I jumped in to learn some UX/Sketch work for a previous company
(very small, no designated designers), I would block off an hour that would be
specifically for that work. No email, no slack, no code review, just two
25-minute chunks of learning with a break in-between. I would also usually
come in a little early and knock it out first thing in the morning, since a)
that was the time when there were the fewest distractions and b) then I could
check it off my TODO list and not have to worry about it for the rest of the
day.

More recently, at a larger company with more meetings, I've found that
explicitly blocking time/space to work on something can be really helpful for
heads-down learning.

Side note: I've also found that having the goal of sharing with my team (via
informal tech talks) is a tremendous way to learn and to stay diligent.

------
CyberFonic
I have worked in small companies where we were given time to study to gain
specific certifications. Other than that, as a professional it is focus on
work at work and study to extend my knowledge in my own time at home.

Unless you are at the early stages of your career, I don't see how you can
justify learning during work time. Aren't you paid to complete your assigned
tasks?

~~~
gshdg
Are you paid by the hour?

~~~
tomerbd
globally

------
matt_the_bass
If it’s applicable to your role at your company, then it’s just a question of
does the learning topic apply to your current priorities. If yes, then totally
justified.

If _you_ don’t feel like it’s real work, try taking notes or writing a primer
on the topic. Now it’s “legit” and potentially a new resource for your team.

------
gshdg
Are the things you’re learning applicable in your current job?

~~~
tomerbd
Yeah, I just have a problem changing focus at work from "work" mode to "study"
mode, In work mode, the pace is fast and I get gratification, and
interruptions are acceptable. In study mode I don't see any immediate results,
and interruptions and noise are much more difficult, also I feel like in work
mode I have all the surrounding ready for that, IDE, task manager, commits,
design documents, meetings, everything is tuned for fast pace. But in study
mode nothing is practically tuned for that. So only at home where I have
larger bulks of time, in more rare cases am I interrupted from work than I can
really focus and study.

I really wondered if more people have this issue. and if anyone managed to
resolve this.

