
Become a 10x Programmer by Managing Your Time Better - nickjj
http://nickjanetakis.com/blog/schedules-arent-a-constraint-on-life-they-let-you-live-it
======
cgriswald
_Lately I find it difficult to enjoy playing games but I don’t think it’s
because I grew up. I’m pretty sure that no one really grows up. In my case,
whenever I try to crack open a game and play it, I feel guilty.

This guilt stems from thinking “damn it Nick, you should be working on xyz
instead of slaying monsters in Path of Exile – you didn’t do enough today!”._

I was not enjoying gaming as much as I used to and had basically quit playing
them entirely. The "I don't have time" excuse was present for me as well.

I generally agree with him. Schedules are great for managing your time. But I
think he missed another important aspect, especially when it comes to whether
you "deserve" to play video games or whatever other way you reward yourself:
_A schedule can help you see just how much you accomplished._

When I started writing down what I was going to do and checking off that I had
done it, it helped me realize just how much I was actually getting done. It
was more than my brain was crediting me with. Seeing it written down made the
"guilt" of playing video games (in my case, severely reduced enjoyment) go
away.

~~~
nojvek
Biggest difference I found was having a fast Dev loop while programming. Using
watchers to auto-build and run.

Having a good ide with intellisense made a big difference. My brain could be
engaged for hours on a problem.

I still end up slacking if something takes more than 5 seconds. The brains on
a whole level of train thought.

------
M4v3R
> It’s easy to fall into habits like slacking off with Youtube, HackerNews and
> other social platforms – but have you ever stepped back to think how
> destructive it is?

> I call it the “social loop of death” where you make your rounds on various
> sites and before you know it, 3.5 hours have past and you haven’t gotten
> anything done.

> You end up getting 60 minutes worth of actual work done in an 8 hour day.

I feel like someone installed cameras in my home. This is exactly me. What's
even worse, I know that I have this problem and nothing seems to help.
Scheduling, website blocking, working out of home all failed after some brief
time. Any other suggestions?

~~~
ubuntuftw
If you have difficulty concentrating, are easily distracted, impulsive (i.e.
checks Hacker News a lot), are irritable, etc, you might look into whether you
have ADD/ADHD.

I had all of those symptoms, but never considered I might have ADD until a few
months ago. My doctor had me try Adderall, and the difference has been like
night and day.

I'm not saying you have ADD or ADHD. I'm not a doctor. But just based off of
what you said, I wanted to mention it, because I wish someone had mentioned it
to me like 10 years ago.

~~~
dimgl
This is literally me. I might need to go to the doctor. It's especially
telling that I miss appointments frequently and have had work issues with
completing people's sentences or not allowing someone to finish talking before
I say something. A lot of people also tell me I'm not listening to them talk.

~~~
ubuntuftw
>completing people's sentences or not allowing someone to finish talking
before I say something

That used to be me too. After I started taking medication, I was a little
surprised to notice I became a lot more patient with people. Specifically, I
didn't feel the need to hurry social interactions along, etc.

------
notliketherest
I recently started using a website blocker for Mac called self control app
[https://selfcontrolapp.com](https://selfcontrolapp.com) to great success.
I've increased my productivity 10x.

------
drawnwren
I liked the general idea of this post, but for it to feel a little bit more
impactful to me - it would have been great to expand on what you mean by
'schedule your days.' Maybe an example of how you are currently scheduling
your life or even just a picture of a schedule that you have followed.

~~~
nickjj
Hi (author here),

I have a separate post on the "how to" aspect of it scheduled to be released
later this week.

~~~
nickjj
On second thought, I've added a PDF to the bottom of the post which contains a
detailed guide on how to create a schedule.

Kind of wish I added this initially, but live and learn!

------
surrealvortex
I have a standing desk. So my monitor is visible to everyone in the area.
Discourages me from doing anything other than work when I'm at work.

It's not like someone is going to comment that I've been looking at Facebook
at work, but it helps trick me into not doing anything unproductive.

~~~
lj3
How do you stand people walking behind you all day? That would drive me nuts.
Also, I work remotely, but I have been thinking about live streaming my
desktop as a similar discouragement from slacking during work hours.

~~~
surrealvortex
You get used to working in a dense workspace after a while. I think companies
mainly like dense workspaces because it costs less, while justifying it as
increasing collaboration. I don't need much collaboration at my job.

Working remotely takes a lot of discipline that I don't think I have. I do
work from home once in a while, but it's a lot tougher to motivate yourself
everyday.

------
616c
I see others asking for advice. I am skeptical and embarassed to ask here, but
I feel like many like-minded lurkers are here. So I think this follow-up on
M4v3R's inquiry is worth a shot.

I have multiple study interests. Many of them are beyond my comfort zone, by
design and with intent, and I have no way of knowing when or if I can absorb
them with a timetable. How do you schedule?

I am currently enrolled in a few Coursera courses:

Algorithms Crypto I Scala

They all have deadlines. I am 1-3 weeks behind in each, respectively. I have
been an off and on again convert to programming and open source. I desire to
really get back to computing, after a kind of numbing support career. I love
the machines, but I cannot force their theory to love me.

I can watch lectures over and over and take notes. This takes time. But when
it comes to assignments, I cannot connect the dots.

Solutions:

\- Review the material AGAIN

\- Switch up assignments to reduce load; all of them are equally rigorous, so
this backfires, it still takes time

\- I try reading supporting material (the Crypto101 book for Crytpo I for
example, and it might be helping as of this week), but this takes time, and my
choices can be invested wisely or unsound

This is not to mention wanting to study for more infosec certs, building a lab
to strengthen that effort, and move to working on personal projects in a more
focused way by building VM and containers using all the cool kid tools,
boosting career prospects and increasing discipline.

I lost a lot of weight, and maintain with exercise (sometimes twice a day now)
to stave off depression. I have lot of very dramatic personal drama with a
relationship that consumes my spare cycles.

Someone, give me advice! I burn out frequently, watching TV streaming when I
can, and reading sites like this.

This would not bother me so bad if NOT for HN. I procrastinate with you all,
for sure, but this website exposes me to a very unique subset of computing
culture and counterpoints I need as I live abroad with limited community
engagement. You all fill me with rage and jealousy, as there are so many
brilliant programmers exposing me to great people pushing the bounds of their
curiosity.

What if HN backfires? It pushes on me, but without that push, where the hell
does the inspiration come from?

~~~
effie
Don't schedule 100% of your time, schedule more like 60%. Much easier and more
motivating to keep up with that, and you will have time for detox from the web
dead loop - time for sports, reading a real book, meeting people etc.

~~~
616c
I have time for that: I exercise, I read.

The problem is I cannot schedule in the stuff that is hard where I need
progress.

Let's say I must understand Shannon's perfect secrecy, which I do abstractly,
but these 3 quiz questions I do not get.

10 minutes passes, I have no answers.

20 minutes passes, I am not closer.

Two days later, do I need to go back and review the notes from the whole
lecture to steer this ship back on course?

My point is context switching to topics I need to advance in, not the ones I
know I can advance within parameters, consume time but with variable estimates
of duration AND worse any success at all.

What are people in this spot doing? Just chugging along? I am going to not
take these courses for credit, but I do not spend some time daily for the last
week dropping one or all and admit I will never be the programmer I said I
would be like 5-10 years ago! Haha.

UPDATE: To be clear, after those 20, I procstinate a little, and maybe come
back. Or I move to a different class, or something else. Point being I have no
way of knowing if it will click, and when. So scheduling these things adds
another level of failure, where I miss deadlines I impose, and I start cussing
myself out for not reaching my own desired accomplishment for the day.

------
hellofunk
Replace "programmer" with any other job title, advice still applies. Managing
your time better is simply a key factor to success in any area.

------
curried_haskell
Stop. Fucking. Talking. About. 10x. Programmers.

Seriously.

Just stop. Fucking stop.

~~~
grawlinson
a.k.a. rockstar developers.

It's not doing anyone any favours, I agree.

------
Jenkins2000
I recently started scheduling my days using a paper and pen but this time with
the 'bullet journal' system. I've tried many todo lists online that never
stick and I've got stacks of notepads that I scribble notes in but never read
again.

With my bullet journal I now have a system for reviewing tasks that, so far,
actually seems to work for me.

~~~
whiteandnerdy
Thanks for the recommendation - I'm trying out bullet journalling in the
workplace as a result. Feels like it's a good system thus far, although I'll
have to wait until the honeymoon period dies off to really know.

------
hahamrfunnyguy
tldr; a schedule helps you better manage your time.

------
gabrielcsapo
fantastic.

helped my girlfriend and I to really understand where the systemic problems of
productivity stem from. So simple. Thanks Nick.

