

Explosive productivity - sdpurtill
http://www.31fps.com/2008/06/18/explosive-productivity/

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qaexl
Josh Waitzkin, the subject of "Searching for Bobby Fischer" wrote a book
called "Art of Learning". In there, he describes one method he was taught to
increase the amount of time he can sustain his focus -- interval training.

He was first taught this technique at a high-end athletic training center.
They put him on an exercise machine and had him go all out for a few minutes.
Then they had him relax and recover -- and the trainers timed it, so he only
relaxed for say, 45 seconds. Precisely at the end of 45 seconds, they put him
back on the exercise machine again. Over time, his heart rate did not spike up
as high, and the amount of time he needed to recover started shortening.

Lest you think this applies to only physical tasks, and not mental tasks,
according to the book, Waitzkin was able to successfully apply this during the
intense national and international chess tournements he participated in. He
takes short mini-breaks, so while it looks like he is able to sustain his
focus for long periods of time, that's an illusion.

This idea of recovery time for getting things done isn't a new one. I've
always thought I had to go all out, indefinitely. I always exhaust myself and
couldn't energize myself to get more done. My bet is that people who appear to
be productive all the time are the ones skilled at taking these short mini-
breaks.

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simpleenigma
This is my typical work flow and I am currently in a lull. I haven't figured
out exactly how to get out of a lull except to wait it out and work on
whatever hold my interest for the longest.

If I sit in front of my computer and after 15 minutes I can't get anything
done on the project that I am wanting to work on, I know I never will. Forcing
it will never make anything happen.

I often work alone, so I wonder if having someone else around to help motivate
me would help. Talking about the project without any pressure to produce until
my creativity start moving again.

For me, I can have entire months where all I do is the bare minimum to keep
life moving and then one week I manage to do what it would take most other
people an entire month to accomplish. I know that this is part of my cycle and
I've learned to life with it and let if flow however it does ...

But days like today I sure wish I could make things move on their own ...

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swombat
The article raises some interesting question, but doesn't tell me anything I
didn't know about my, uh, "condition". It'd be good to have an "explosive
productivity" veteran talk about how you adapt yourself and the world around
you to this kind of working pattern, to make the most of it.

~~~
axod
I think the only thing that is needed is understanding boss/company/co-workers
etc, who understand the way that you work.

Working like this seems natural to me, big explosive bouts of high
productivity, churning out cool stuff, and then days of nothing. I think part
of it is that the days of 'nothing' seem like nothing, when in reality they
are often 'thinking' days, where you solve problems, but just don't happen to
produce code.

~~~
sdpurtill
luckily i have an understanding boss here at younoodle ;)

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bkovitz
"Me, too." I have my all-out-coding periods and my just-can't-get-into-it
periods. I've mostly decided to accept that this is my natural rhythm.

However, I have a way to stay productive during the lulls, which has been very
effective for me: pair programming. Even if I'm not inspired, or even
energetic, if I sit down with someone else to work on a task, pretty soon the
conversation gets me focused and triggers ideas.

<http://www.wikihow.com/Pair-Program>

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leoc
Eben Moglen said something similar in relation to the Google Summer of Code:

[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7477852615698435519...](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7477852615698435519#53m48s)

~~~
leoc
(Someone from Google said something similar too, and even suggested that he
was considering how the employment of regular Google employees should be
reorganised in light of the SoC experience, but I'm afraid I don't have the
link.)

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icey
I think this is a byproduct of the "always-on" startup culture. Everyone
spends all their time cutting, and none of their time measuring; and they burn
out as a result.

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r7000
I think the best thing to do is to realize that you are in a recovery-needed
stage and then go and recover! Embrace it without guilt. Doing nothing (or
something recreational of course), for a time, might be the best way to get
more stuff done.

~~~
gtt
the thing is others start expect too much from you. =(

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johnm
I'm reminded of: <http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_pmarca_guid.html>

