
Ask HN: How do I regain my attention span? - sli
I'm at step #1: admitting I have a problem.<p>I consider myself a skilled programmer, but for the past few years my ability to sit down and finish a project has been waning. HN, do you have any advice?
======
fmeyer
\- Buy a moleskine and start writing stories or drawing, or even spend a few
minutes learning a musical instrument, the left side takes care of the logic,
programming and math, but if you spend too much time ignoring the right side
your will start lacking on concentration. I spent about $19k on psychologist
to realize that =) \- Once you get your left brain back start breaking your
big and boring task into small pieces of fun and use the pomodoro technique -
<http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/>

~~~
Retric
I think the secret is to start learning something completely new. I just
started Judo and I find the exercise combined with a comply different type of
thinking has helped me concentrate in other areas. Once you are good enough at
coding it starts to become difficult to separate thinking about the problem
from just daydreaming. However, because I am learning something completely new
I can almost feel my brain making connections which helps me concentrate and
remember what that feels like.

------
mattlanger
It's funny: several months ago I decided to make 2009 the year of my return to
the command line. I did it "for the lulz", and it ended up being my greatest
productivity hack _ever_.

I moved personal and work email to Mutt and uninstalled my Gmail notifiers; I
moved IM to bitlbee on irssi; I moved RSS to Newsbeuter; and I moved Twitter
to ttytter. I keep all of this running in a screen on my remote shell.

And this was certainly not the intent of my project when I started it, but I
can't even begin to tell you what a difference it's made for my productivity.
I usually leave my screen on an empty shell prompt, so even if I see my
terminal I've got no idea what's going on in those other terms unless I
actively go looking for them.

Granted, I have the luxury of working at a small startup (< 20ppl) and I can
maintain some aloofness with regard to IM (because if a colleague really needs
something from me I've probably not more than 20ft away), but as far as this
other stuff goes, do you _really_ need to know what's happening on Twitter in
realtime? Is there ever really an email so important that it can't wait until
you've finished your current thought?

------
natrius
The most effective thing for me has been social pressure. If I'm working with
people who are depending on me to get my work done, I'm more likely to get it
done on time. If my coworkers can see my computer screen, then I'll definitely
get it done on time, because I'll feel too ashamed to procrastinate. This
system falls apart if my coworkers openly procrastinate as well.

It is extremely difficult for me to complete projects on my own these days.
Luckily, it's relatively easy to find someone to work with on most things that
are worth doing.

------
makecheck
Break up tasks into the smallest parts that you can. Once you start finishing
a few of these, you'll notice significant forward progress.

Release to the public often, and write notes that highlight your changes.
That's important, because it forces you to think in terms of those notes; if
there's nothing "release worthy" happening, it would be hard to write
anything.

Every now and then, allow yourself to do tasks that aren't strictly related to
forward progress. Fix some code formatting you've been meaning to do; write a
document; try something new. The mixup helps to keep things from becoming
boring.

Don't be afraid to literally walk away. If I talk a walk for an hour, I can
often do as much work in my head as I would at the keyboard, but it helps me
focus (and it's healthier).

------
rabidgnat
You have to be honest about the best way to motivate yourself. In the speech
"You and your Research," Richard Hamming[1] talks about how he uses his ego
against himself. When he went on sabbatical to write a book, he told everyone
he was going to finish by the time he got back. He wouldn't dare suffer the
embarrassment of failing to finish!

Me? I respond well to A. small, well-defined tasks and B. limits. I get A. by
breaking tasks up into tiny modules, and by using Git to make lots of small
feature branches. I also write TODO lists with lots of 30-minute jobs.

I get B. by using LeechBlock[2] to restrict access to websites for periods of
1 hour. When I combine A. and B., I usually can find something that'll put me
working long enough to get into the zone.

Having an interest in your projects also helps :)

[1] <http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html>

[2] <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476>

------
akkartik
Wow, so many possible causes for poor concentration! I like this thread as an
exagesis.

What works for me is I think also the lowest hanging fruit: a combination of
working on things I care about, and actively bringing my wayward bad habits
under control.

A reset requires a change of scene. It's likely that you don't like what you
do now. That's the root of the problem. Chop it down. Go find something else
to do.

Once you pick something, do it all the time. It's analogous to shocking your
system with a new diet. Everytime in the past that you procrastinated, you
gave strength to these demons. Now it's time to starve them completely for a
while.

Get better.

------
dfranke
Step 2: stop reading Hacker News :-)

But seriously, log off for a while. Stop Twittering, stop IMing, stop reading
your RSS feeds. If you're regularly employed, then take a vacation and go to
the mountains. If not, go there and stay there. Come back once the spontaneous
urge to do so goes away. While you're there, read a book. Not a computer book,
and not a junk novel. Pick a text that requires mental engagement but not
hands-on experimentation. A history book with citations in it, or a heavy
philosophical tract, is a good choice.

~~~
jaaron
Not only stop reading Hacker News (and reddit or similar), but block them in
your hosts file so that you can't even cheat.

Reading fiction, taking nature walks without your cell phone, or, perhaps best
of all, practicing insight meditation can help a lot.

Mental concentration is like a muscle. You need to exercise it (and not drug
it up).

~~~
tjr
Thanks for mentioning reading fiction. I used to read quite a bit of fiction,
especially science fiction. More recently, I've set that aside in the name of
spending my reading time on things that are "useful".

But I have found, reading fiction is useful, as it activates your imagination
in ways that nonfiction simply does not. I still don't read a lot of fiction,
but I endeavor to get in some, and I think it helps...

------
sganesh
I usually take off a few weeks, leave my laptop & phone, pack a backpack, and
find a remote beach or mountains :) Even if i have to take a paycut, I do this
every three to four months. One way this helps me relax and rejuvenate, on the
other hand I'm forced to finish the projects I take, so no one needs me during
this period of time off.

------
mcobrien
I guess there's two kinds of attention here: short-term (I can't concentrate
enough to do an hour's good work) and longer-term (a few weeks into a project
I get bored and do something else).

For short-term, some people love the Pomodoro technique but I found it too
restricting. For me, I just have to find something interesting enough (or find
a way to make something interesting enough).

For longer term projects, there are two rules:

* Do it every day, or every weekday. You can find the time, just keep to a schedule. I've made a website (www.relayapp.com) and two iPhone apps during my train/bus commute over the past 18 months. It's tough at the start but you get into it.

* Break everything into small chunks. I have a list of unit tests to write in a text file and I can always do _something_ in 30 minutes. If not, I spend my time thinking of small tasks I can do next time. Making it easy to make _some_ progress is what keeps you going.

~~~
warp
A note about the second rule: "Break everything into small chunks". This in
itself can be a very demotivating task if you do not realize that you don't
have to decide on all the chunks in advance. From GTD I learned that you only
have to decide what the next chunk will be for a particular project, not all
of them.

~~~
mcobrien
I like to have a few (maybe 5-10) chunks ready so I can pick up my laptop and
start working any time, and not have to decide what to do next. This helps
when I'm low on energy - I just pick something easy from my list and I can
still make progress.

But you're completely right: planning everything in detail at the start would
be suicide (at least for me).

------
artagnon0
There are several things that break concentration: 1\. Distractions. I'm a
super-minimalist and I don't like to see even one extra bar or button on my
screen. I've gone to the extent of removing the tab bar from my browser so I
can't see which tabs are open (I use Conkeror). And I obviously turn off
Twitter/ IM/ email while working. 2\. Too many choices. Every second you spend
doing one thing, you're losing out time to do something else. Deciding in
advance what you're going to do for the next few hours helps. 3\. Lack of
recreation. Once a week or so, I spend several hours on photography and
drawing. I've become a lot less restless/ fidgety over time. 4\. Emotional
clutter. You might want to maintain a daily diary that you spend 15 mins a day
updating just before going to bed. It helps clear your mind.

------
gkoberger
I've always found deadlines are a great way to get things done. My biggest
problem is that projects tend to seem never ending, which is a huge turnoff
for me.

You can try self-imposed deadlines, but those rarely work for me. I prefer
real deadlines- promise to show it off at a conference or meeting, or
something similar.

Good luck!

~~~
j_baker
I believe it's been proven that anxiety of a deadline can actually increase
levels of norepinephrine - the hormone that helps you concentrate.

------
cmars232
Why do you have trouble finishing these products? What makes you lose the
focus?

Sometimes, attention problems can be corrected by taking better care of
yourself. Personally, I've found my attention problems come more from
ultimately not caring than from some weakness of character. It's easy to think
up ideas that _could_ be successful, but are they really for you?

For example, I've come to discover that I get motivated when solving really
tough niche problems that no one else has dealt with effectively. But I
couldn't care less about serving general lusers, like writing Facebook apps. I
could maybe think of a cool idea for a Facebook app, and it might even be a
killer one, but ultimately, I don't feel anything about serving Facebook
users, harvesting their data and habits, etc.

Is it possible you're tackling the wrong projects?

~~~
rphlx
Good point, but to play devil's advocate: if you ramen-retire after a few
years building apps for the unwashed masses, you can work on whatever you like
until you die or the money runs out. IMO, a few years of total independence
are worth a few years of non-exciting stuff. Just don't get comfortable and
wake up one day as a 20 year lifer at Inane MegaCo.

------
JasonWyatt
Don't make your projects big monolithic tasks, make them consist of a series
of fun, small iterations (like Agile development). You'll have a better time,
and it'll be easier to stay motivated - especially if you're making your
project open source and can do minor releases along the way.

~~~
dfranke
That's a workaround, not a cure. I'm all in favor of eliminating the need for
concentration and self-discipline wherever possible, but doing so won't give
you more of it.

------
Kaizyn
The problem is that the workplace is filled with constant interruptions.
Either a coworker needs to talk to you about something, you need to get up to
go talk to someone, or you end up interrupting yourself when you should focus
on working by checking email, browsing to a website, or any million other
things.

To improve your attention span, you need to work at removing as many of these
restrictions as you can. Since you can't control the external distractions -
coworkers, meetings, etc., that means you have to focus on the ones under your
control. So for start, pay attention to what you're doing at any given time as
you work and try to reduce the number of times you interrupt yourself.

------
DanielBMarkham
You want a 20-second piece of advice to help you gain your attention span
back?

Does anybody else see the irony in this?

Okay, I'll play along. Remember Yoda: "Do or do not. There is no try."

~~~
jodrellblank
_Does anybody else see the irony in this?_

No, it seems necessary. If he could concentrate on a novel length reply, he
wouldn't be needing it.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Yes but you're missing the rest of my reply: There is no try, only do.

That means, you gain a longer attention span by making yourself have a longer
attention span. It's a struggle. It's supposed to be a struggle. If it had a
quick and easy fix you wouldn't be needing our advice in the first place.
You're probably a master of quick and easy fixes -- that's what people with
short attention spans collect.

Encouraging the world to adapt to you by giving you short, easy quips about
what you need to do is not helping anything -- it's just making it worse.
You'll pick up the several dozen little shiny quotes and think about them for
a few minutes and tomorrow be on to something else.

You want a long attention span? Go do something that requires a long attention
span. I mean do it -- don't talk about it, don't blog about it -- just shut
the hell up and go do it. When you are done, you will have a longer attention
span.

Please forgive me if I sound coarse: this post reminded me of an alcoholic in
a bar drinking to his sobriety. It just doesn't add up (at least to me)

------
arohner
Get into a habit that you only do while doing "serious work". For me, it was
listening to music, _on headphones_. When I start doing "serious work" I put
the headphones on. When I'm distracted, I take the headphones off. Repeat.

Now, a few years later, I can get into Serious Work Mode, just by putting on
the headphones, without listening to music. I've accidentally Pavlov
Conditioned myself. It's great.

------
daeken
I've found myself at the same place, and though I'm still working on it, I've
found the following to be useful:

Don't force yourself to work on something unless you want to, assuming no time
constraints. If you force yourself, you're going to do less and hate life.
It's an easy way to lose your focus.

If you're feeling particularly unproductive, work on a project you can
complete in an hour or two. That'll help you gain the momentum that's crucial
to getting things done.

Solve a problem at the beginning of the day. Project Euler is my personal pick
for such problems, but anything that works the mind is a good choice. This
doesn't even have to be code related, just something to get your mind in gear
early on.

Don't overuse stimulants like caffeine. As much as I love such drugs, their
overuse is easily able to harm your focus.

In general, try to analyze what works and doesn't work for you. Hope you can
find something to help you out. Good luck.

------
j_baker
My experience is that difficulty concentrating is rarely the problem itself.
It's usually a symptom of a problem. Rather than trying out tricks, your best
bet is to tackle the problem head-on.

First thing I would recommend is that if concentrating is a serious problem
for you, you should see a doctor. Since this is something that's just come up
in the last few years, it's likely not something like ADHD. However, this can
be caused by a number of psychological ailments (anxiety, depression, etc) and
physical ailments (diabetes, hypothyroidism, etc).

That said, it's important to note that distraction is often a learned
behavior. Do something to break the habit. Try programming in new places,
don't use the computer you program on for personal browsing, etc.

Also, it's amazing what a little exercise can do.

~~~
neurotech1
I couldn't agree more with the comments. It's amazing how much paying
attention to physical and psychological ailments makes a difference.

The OP might want to look into neurofeedback for focus/peak performance.

Disclaimer: I work as an EEG Technician,and also write software for
neurofeedback systems. This is not medical advice.

------
josephkern
I'm horrible at this as well. But I think I found a good way. I have a timer
on my blackberry that I set for 15 mins. It vibrates on the 5 min and 1 min
and end marks.

I focus exclusively on a task for 15 mins. Then at the end I reset it again,
or move on to the next project.

~~~
coffeeaddicted
For me it's 45-60 minutes, but longer pauses afterwards (15-30 minutes). I
only started doing this recently, but so far with good results.

The other thing that helps me since a long time is having a todo-list in which
the top-task really always describes exactly what I'm working at now. Even if
that task is only "figure out what to do next".

------
nitrogen
I've realized that the times when I manage to force myself to implement just
one more feature for the day, refactor one more API, etc. are the most
productive. So, I try to keep that in mind when my focus is waning and I want
to skip off to HN or Hulu, and things get done.

One word of advice for retaining your current attention span: do NOT, under
any circumstances, start playing any of the Tony Hawk games. The ability to
instantly reset the level when a mistake is made destroyed my attention span
when Tony Hawk 2 came out years ago. It took me a month to realize this and
get back to a normal level (exaggerating, of course).

------
wisty
Willpower is like a muscle. It gets stronger with use.

Buying a copy of GTD might help, but it won't be an instant cure. There is
none.

Also, consider exercising your willpower on smaller (but non-trivial)
projects.

------
msluyter
Meditation / Yoga (mindfulness).

------
mattm
Do less.

Start by working on it for only 15 minutes per day. Set a timer and when you
reach 15 minutes you have to stop no matter how much you want to continue. It
will help you look forward to it for the next day.

After a few weeks you can increase the time you allot per day. But if you ever
find yourself getting bored or not looking forward to it, then cut back. It
will take some practice to find the right spot.

------
sheldonwt
I don't condone it in any way but <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adderall> is
extremely effective.

------
known
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development> may help you.

------
Mz
My standard answer to seemingly 'everything' these days: Work on taking better
care of your body. "A sound mind in a sound body" and all that.

~~~
pasbesoin
In line with my thoughts. Evaluate your health. If you are feeling poorly, it
can keep you from getting into or maintaining flow.

Also, physical exertion / exercise calms the nervous system.

------
ighost
Practice doing things that take long periods of concentration, like reading
difficult novels or playing chess or doing math proofs or...

------
bgray
See: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=869034>

~~~
sli
I had a feeling I wasn't the first to ask. Thanks.

------
rkts
Ritalin. Only thing that's ever worked for me.

------
lani
fitness : a daily session of deep-breathing-and-sweat-inducing muscle-paining
excercise for 30 minutes is my recommendation

------
initself
Fasting.

------
anonjon
I read trashy fantasy novels and poetry.

To me, the ability to sit down and finish a project is inversely proportional
to the amount of urgency that I attribute to its completion. I recognize
tension that I feel when trying to finish a project is really something that
I'm making up; I know that programming is easy and I'm at least passable at
it. It follows that I can finish the project.

Therefore, all I need to do is find a way to reset my mental state to
something neutral/non-tense. For me, science fiction, fantasy, and poetry are
all suitable to distract me from the task at hand and dissipate the tension,
allowing me to work.

------
dnsworks
Have you considered drugs?

Seriously, for better or for worse I took Ritalin from age 6 until age 18,
then stopped for about 5 years. Afterwards I started working with a doctor to
try and find a ritalin replacement that didn't include the daily emotional
roller coaster that came with Ritalin.

After 7 or 8 meds I found that Provigil (Modafinil) is flipping awesome. It
has no side effects, and is milder but more consistent than Ritalin. I don't
get hyper-focused like with ritalin, which is great because it doesn't make me
get hyper-focused on the wrong task. I can easily coax my brain back on task
when distracted now.

------
scorpion032
Procrastinate until when you can. When you know, if you don't do it now, you
are screwed, you will do it.

PS: Kidding of course!

