
Ask HN: Which daily habit has affected your productivity the most? - read
Some of the most powerful drivers of success are our habits: what we repeatedly do every day. Even the most successful people are defined more by what they do rather than by who they are.<p>What are these habits? I would like to develop some good ones. And I&#x27;m willing to try several out and report back how they work.<p>Which daily habit has been the hardest for you to pick up (or change) and why?
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staunch
Absolutely nothing compares with sleep. Having about a full week of 8 hour
sleep days behind me is when I'm at my absolute peak productivity. I spent
years being sleep deprived (~6 hours/day). When I finally came to appreciate
just how important being well rested is it absolutely changed my life.

~~~
incision
Clicked in here to say exactly this. The only thing I would add might be
obvious, that consistency is extremely important. Just getting enough actually
isn't enough, consistent timing is essential.

My second most significant is probably reading in place of momentary
distractions.

I'm applying nearly all my "free time" (what's left after the family, work,
exercise and sleep that I consider essential) with an attack on my backlog of
books.

I wiped my devices and rebuilt them with only the essentials - no more
newsreaders or social apps and I've greatly limited my web browsing.

Not only am I working towards a goal and learning new things, I'm spending it
on a book or two rather than 100s of throwaway articles and blog posts - all
but eliminating "context-switching" as I feel like I can keep 2 or 3 concerns
in mental cache and get the full value of the time I spend on each of them.

~~~
thirdtruck
As someone who can never seem to catch up on his news-feeds or podcast lists
(and I've pared those down more than once), this resonates with me. I wonder
if I can cut each of those in half.

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rb2e
Sleep. The better the previous night sleep, the better. Its not number of
hours, its the type. Sometimes a short nap does wonders other times its a long
hard sleep after being 'worn out'. Both can refresh you for next day.

Hardest habbit to change is time wasting. Reading HN, Reddit, News and forums
where before you know it, that two minutes has morphed into an 45 minutes of
mind numbing distraction. Yes I can block those pages but its more the need
for a distraction than the site. Its a hard habbit to break. But its a part of
my Depression, the lack of concentration.

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subpixel
If you don't track your time, I suggest you do. Knowing there's a record of
what I'm _really_ doing each day pushes/inspires me to make that record a good
one.

I started out using Harvest, but since I'm less interested in 'what project(s)
did I work on today' and more interested in 'how productive was I today?',
I've switched to RescueTime.

RescueTime isn't new (YC 08) but they do have an updated interface, so it
feels much better than the first time I played with it years back.

Pro-tip: I created a Fluid ssb pointed at my RescueTime dashboard that I then
pinned to my menubar, so I can check my stats anytime. Here's the icon that
makes it look good: [http://bit.ly/1bhewsA](http://bit.ly/1bhewsA)

~~~
welder
If you're a programmer I recommend looking at
[http://wakatime.com](http://wakatime.com)

~~~
Baadier_Sydow
I use a combination of Rescue Time, Asana and Harvest to track things.
Probably overkill to use both Rescue Time and Harvest but I find that Rescue
Time tracks some of things I don't when using Harvest(which I use for client
reporting).

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migrantgeek
Allow yourself to be less productive at times.

I used to try and force it. If I was just not feeling it, I would suck down
caffeine and charge ahead. Work generated from those blitzes always sucked.

I'm not advocating being lazy but sometimes just take some time to goof off
and you'll be ready to go again.

I typically go for a run or hit the heavy bag in my garage for an hour or so
and after a shower I'm much more productive than if I stayed in front of the
monitor.

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akimc
The hardest habit to pick up for me was to become a morning person ! I was a
night owl going to bed at 3-4 am and then wake up in the afternoon. To break
this cycle I tried melatonin, f.lux and trying to eat less before sleeping...
nothing worked. My solution was to go 24h without sleep and go to bed really
early 8-9 pm and put an alarm for 6:30, then I now go to bed before 10 pm and
don't have any problem to wake up really early and I find that my productivity
level as increased more than ever ! (The coffee help too ;) )

I feel more healthy now instead of waking up to the night, I start my day with
a bright sky !

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yen223
I can tell you which habit affected my productivity the most. Video games. I
used to spend 4-8 hours a day, _every day_ , playing games. Back then, my drug
of choice was Civilization 4, and I succumbed hard to the "one... more...
turn..." effect, occasionally skipping sleep altogether.

No matter what gamers might claim, there's really no benefit in spending 8
hours a day chasing virtual goals. Cutting back on my gaming sessions resulted
in me suddenly having a lot more time for things like sleeping and learning,
and has truly made me a better person overall. I only regret not killing the
habit sooner.

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rodrigocoelho
I started doing Pomodoros [1] recently and I noticed a leap in my
productivity. It also helps me to refresh my mind regularly and to stay
focused on my tasks more easily.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique)

~~~
chatmasta
Have you found a good mac app for this? I've tried a few but haven't gotten a
good one yet.

~~~
anom987
I used this one some time ago

[https://github.com/ggustafsson/Tim](https://github.com/ggustafsson/Tim)

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kzisme
The biggest change I have made is drinking a good amount of water each day.
Currently I'm a night owl (which I'm working on changing) and instead of
drinking pop, I drink water.

Exercise and staying active makes me feel awesome, but sometimes I don't have
time to make it to the gym.

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nnnnnn
Lifestyle:

* Sleep ... 7.5 to 8 hrs, no more no less

* Wake up at 8/9 to maximize hours of sunlight

* Lift weights 4+ times per week... the four hrs you spend in the gym will be made up for with 10 hrs of productivity throughout the week

* Healthy diet (high protein, low carbs, low sugar, fresh food)

Computer:

* VIM

* Avoid HN

* Start working right when you get up

* Answer emails / do other menial tasks when tired

* Get rid of all notifications: phone silent/vibrate, no Gmail/fb/twitter notifications outside of the platform itself

~~~
tkellogg
4 hours of lifting a week? That's a lot of time. I know myself well enough
that I won't make goals/commitments that I know I won't keep, like this. I
have some simple weights in my living space that are hard to ignore. I
typically lift for <5 min/day; when I go to the gym I keep it under 20 min to
lower the cognitive commitment. It works for me - I can bench press 250 lbs.
You really don't need to spend hours at the gym to stay in shape.

~~~
maibaum
A 1-hr session 4 days a week is a pretty typical lifting regiment. Personally
I consider that hour a cognitive release rather than commitment, but to each
his own!

------
BertrandP
I'll tell you what doesn't help productivity. Being in a toxic relationship.
Get out while you still can.

------
collyw
The last three years has been an interesting time for me productivity wise.

I started a new job, and moved from Perl to Python Django. The organization
was fairly new and there were two of us in an office, so not much in the way
of distractions.

My productivity went up an order of magnitude, and Django made programming
more interesting / fun again. There was (and still is) a lot of work to do
building and maintaining the database. I generally tried to focus on the 80%
that takes 20% of the time.

A year later I get an extra boss (who knows nothing about databases). He likes
meetings. He is pedantic, and focuses way to much on the 20% that takes 80% of
the time.We now have 4 people in the office (previously 2). I am constantly
asked to switch task, and fix Excels (I have been arguing for two years that
we shouldn't be using Excel for data uploads as it is so error prone).

Anyway, I think my productivity is around a quarter of what it was two years
ago, and my work is a lot less satisfying. And I am on HN right now.

So for me, productivity gains: Working in a quiet office. Getting to use
language / framework of my choice. Learning new interesting stuff. Focusing on
one task at a time, until it is finished.

Losses: Two managers pulling in opposite directions. One cowboy coder quick
fix king. The other pedantic and focusing on spelling mistakes over new
functionality. Busy office. Tedious repetitive work (fixing Excels that are
used for data uploads) - really kills motivation. Too many meeting. I don't
get many full or even half days uninterrupted programming.

------
Lambdanaut
Starting the day with a new TODO list. Not only does it give a clear plan for
the day, it also keeps me from idling too long with distractions like reddit
or HN. Whenever I'm done with a task and find myself chatting or browsing the
web, I just refer to the todo list to get me back on track. It takes about 2
minutes and it's well worth it.

~~~
joenied
Yep I do this everyday. I used to think TODO lists were for people who weren't
disciplined enough to get stuff done. But it keeps me concentrated on what
task needs to be done instead of reading every blog post in the world.

------
welder
I know a guy who swears he is more productive by starting his mornings with:

1\. drink a cup of coffee

2\. take a good shit

3\. tackle a big problem

~~~
blah32497
Not a very clean topic, but shitting really does make me more productive! If
I'm feeling groggy, tired, lazy it's usually when I haven't taken a shit in a
while.

------
brandonhsiao
I tried out the trick Jack Dorsey recommended during Startup School 2013: keep
a two daily lists of things to do and things not to do. Read it when you wake
up, throughout the day, and before you sleep.

Here's what's on my list:

Do: take a cold shower; meditate; throw yourself in; work on hard problems.
Don't: be annoyed or upset; lie down unless to rest without computer.

It's working for me pretty well so far. For me the list's main value seems to
be in those small, split-second decisions: if I'm choosing between two things
to work on, my mind will suddenly remember "work on hard problems," and I'll
choose the harder one.

~~~
untog
I don't mean to sound rude, but does "Don't: be annoyed or upset" really make
a difference? I mean, who objectively and dispassionately decides to be
annoyed or upset?

~~~
jonnathanson
Emotions aren't a choice, but emotional awareness and control can be. When
annoyed or upset, stopping to _ask_ yourself why you're annoyed or upset can
be very beneficial. The old "stop, take a deep breath, and count to 10" advice
from grade school has some merit. (You don't literally have to stop, take a
deep breath, and count to ten. But making a conscious effort to be aware of
one's emotions is a worthwhile exercise.)

~~~
graeme
I've found that literally stopping to take a breath is actually a very good
practice for this situation. Helps me avoid a lot of bad moods caused by
inconsequential things. Process the negative information, realize it's
inconsequential, and return to a state of calm.

(I don't count to ten)

This applies for small things, but most things that people get distressed
about are small.

~~~
jonnathanson
It's amazing how well this works, at least for me.

Sometimes I even make an effort to think to myself, "How would X respond to
this situation?" Replace "X" with anyone of your choice who would probably be
a lot cooler than you under stress: Jesus, Spock, Batman, James Bond, Yoda,
Mr. Rogers, or whoever the heck epitomizes "chill" in your worldview.

It sounds cheesy, and it probably is. But it works. Chances are, the "X" of
your choice wouldn't react hastily or let small things get to him. Shit
happens to everybody, but stopping in mid-emotional-flareup to process an
appropriate response is a skill. And skills can be developed.

------
stevenj
Exercise regularly.

~~~
the_cat_kittles
Among the countless benefits, one I've noticed is an increased ability to
handle roadblocks and detours. If I haven't worked out in a while, when I run
into one, I get more upset and hopeless. If I have been working out, I usually
just soldier through it easier.

~~~
ddw
For me exercise giving me a chance to really think about something away from
the computer (and sometimes figure it out).

------
ragatskynet
So, my list:

\- Sleeping at least 7 hours, 8 is better.

\- Waking up earlier - I thought I am a night owl, but I realized that I am
not. Morning is the best time frame to be creative and productive for me (and
for many people actually).

\- Always keeping my stuff ready. This means clean email folders, clean notes,
clean desk etc.

\- Watching the food what I eat (I am not on a diet, but I do not eat pizza
and chinese food every day e.g), the drinks also (tea instead of coffee), and
keeping attention to breaks while I am working

I also pay attention to avoid disctractions while I am coding. Every morning
when I sit down in front of my monitors I read my RSS feed/twitter/personal
mails first. This is good to start my brain at the morning and also keeps me
away from checking these at the rest of the day. A psychologist told me once
at a training that your mornings should start with something they call 'warm-
up'. This is mine. Some people do not need it as they can warm up while they
are travelling to their office or just after they get up and yoga for example.

Ah, and one mor thing for the sleep part. I - personally - don't like when I
need to fall asleep during watching a film or a part of a TV-series. It is
also not the best when I just turn off the computer and jump into the bed. I
always go to bed with a book in my hand. This relaxes me and when I feel I can
sleep right now, I just turn off the lights (or my ipad). A few minutes of
meditation is also very helpful for a good sleep.

Hope I could help!

~~~
creativestuff
> A few minutes of meditation is also very helpful for a good sleep.

I'm having trouble falling asleep after going to bed (~2hrs), or waking up
during the night or early next day.

Would you please detail more about the meditation part?

~~~
ragatskynet
If you are really interested I suggest reading some books on articles on this
topic as I am not a real professional, haha.

What I do actually: I just close my eyes, try to relax, and concentrate on my
breathing only. It is more a relaxation than a mediation maybe. Sometimes I
keep thinking nice things which make warm and nice feelings, just to go away
from my current state. At first it is very hard to forget the "chaos" in your
head (I was always thinking about deadlines, bugs, appointmens, personal
problems and stuff like this), but if you practice it will be easy.

~~~
creativestuff
Thanks!

------
rational_
Turn off every alert and notification that you can and disable the clock in
your menu/task bar. Get in the zone by not letting external things interrupt
you all day. Programmers especially need long stretches of uninterrupted time.

Seeing a clock all day brings you out of the present moment - your mind
wanders into useless thinking about how many hours until lunch, or until I go
home, or even more negatively, "I've been stuck on this problem for x
minutes."

------
edavis
If I avoid all my "info junkie" websites (HN, reddit, political news) between
8am and noon, my productivity skyrockets. It's remarkable.

Most importantly, for me, is to avoid those websites even during my "breaks."
If I need a quick break, I'll physically get up and away from my computer.
Otherwise that "five minutes" usually ends up being closer to an hour or so.

~~~
JaakkoP
Good for you! I started to do these "physical breaks" also this fall and it's
been quite a kick to my productivity. Spending every break on HN / Reddit / FB
is not actually a break anymore and it really starts to get tiring to your
eyes.

------
clockwork_189
Working out and getting proper sleep.

I am a coder and I feel like I need to use a lot of my brain during my working
hours. Working out (could be lifting weights or even just running or crossfit
stuff) helps shift the focus from concentrating on algorithms and design and
to just getting from point A to point B or lifting x weight. I know many
friends who tried working out and couldnt get themselves to commit. The
difference for me is that, I am motivated by an athletic goal that I set for
myself and hence work towards it.

Sleep is probably the most important "habit" you should have. I personally
find that after a good night of sleep, I am extra productive during the day
and get more tasks done. I can think clearer and able to code better/faster.
While number of hours of sleep is important...so is quality! An example of
quality sleep is sleep where you dont wake up in the middle of the night to
hit the washroom or out of panic that you missed something in your code(I used
to have many of these haha).

------
nkohari
Sleep, exercise, get up at the same time each day, eat more protein in place
of carbs, and drink less alcohol.

------
benwikler
The biggest moment for me was when I started thinking about productivity (or
its absence) as a matter of willpower, and started to think strategically
about how to make it easy. It's still a struggle to think that way: it seems
like you should be able to grit your teeth, roll up your sleeves, and become
productive. But that's not really how our brains work. Not mine, at least. For
me, after that mindset shift, the most valuable strategies have been creating
early external deadlines, drafting in longhand or into a voice recorder—and,
above all and whenever possible, working closely with awesome collaborators
rather than alone.

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thirdtruck
An hour a day of focused work. I'm approaching a hundred straight days of work
on a Kickstarter that, as my first, brought in almost a grand last week.

Sleeping more. I remain under-rested, especially since my day-jobs have always
frowned on naps, but I'm making slow improvements. You may not realize how
much of a difference it makes until you actually get a good night's sleep.

Getting _better_ sleep. Get tested for sleep apnea. Avoid blue lights for at
least an hour before bed. Find someone or something you can cuddle with in
bed. I'm serious about the latter; we're a gregarious species and sleeping
alone is unnatural and stressful.

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tbatchelli
I'll throw my hat in the ring:

    
    
      - Not have young kids
      - Sleep
      - Make a todo list the night before, and give yourself an easy goal to start the day.
      - Consider your brain to be a muscle, and treat it as such: nurture it, exercise it, let it rest. Let it rest can be things like spending time with friends, or doing whatever you want.
      - Mindful meditation.
    

(Edit: typo, formatting)

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veddev
Habit Streatk, (or I think Habits for iOS). Do something once a day, everyday.
E.g. small chore, commit code, read book for a few mins... etc. This, coupled
with "Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days | Video on TED.com" had a huge
impact on my life over the past 7-8 months and built my self-disciple (though
still room for more disciple :) ).

------
alixaxel
Forget sleep. Sleep less.

Have a nice morning ritual (go have a healthy breakfast outside, read the
newspaper).

Start working on the most difficult task after.

------
prlambert
Sleep at minimum 7 hours (ideally 8), exercise every morning, drink lots of
water.

It's simple. Execution is the hard part.

------
scrabble
A few people are saying that they are most productive by starting their day on
a big problem.

I am the opposite of this. I try to tackle a small problem or two in the
morning in order to improve my mental state. If I'm able to get things done
quickly, then it sets the tone for the rest of the day.

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spajus
Wake up at 5 AM regularly (even on weekends). And go to sleep early as well.
Sometimes I do more in first few hours early in the morning than throughout
the rest of the day.

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mkramlich
sleep enough/well, eat enough/well, exercise enough/well, manage stress &
emotional state, stay focused, don't try to do too many things (you must say
No to a lot of things in order to preserve time/energy/focus/money to say Yes
to the things that are more important for you, give you a higher ROI, etc.)

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andrewcooke
naps, probably. they make the early afternoon a bit more like the early
morning (most efficient part of my day), for me.

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mcdoh
Break something before you finish your day. Fix it first thing next morning.

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rglover
Honestly? Not worrying about my productivity has done wonders.

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gmays
#1 sleep #2 regularly exercise (weight lifting + cardio)

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jackgolding
Reading Hacker News

~~~
zubi
Ditto. Sleep and reading hacker news.

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jawerty
Hacker News

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sytelus
no procrastinate setting in HN

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chevalierokeefe
bipolar disorder

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davidsmith8900
\- Watching porn. That distracts me alot. I need to cut down on that.

