

Ask HN: Anyone have hacks for focus & concentration? - hop

I know I would be 10x more productive if I just followed through with everything. Don't like ADD drugs or caffeine. Having a startup is tough b/c its completely unstructured and time management falls squarely on yourself. Anyone else who's easily distracted have tips?
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nostrademons
I probably shouldn't talk since I'm posting on HN instead of doing my work
right now...

But I find it helps to break things down into tasks that'll take no more than
2-3 hours, and then pick 2-3 tasks I'll do for the day. Once I'm done with
those, I'm officially done for the day, though if there're some obvious things
I could do quickly, I'll usually want to just do them since I've been so
productive. ;-)

You need downtime in order to stay productive. I've found that if I just work
constantly and let the days bleed together, I lose my focus and end up getting
a lot less done than if I decide what I want to do, do it, and then do
whatever I want.

~~~
hop
Definitely. I find myself at the office on 12 solid hour benders and really
could have accomplished the same amount in 4.

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firefoxman1
I found some awesome pages that help with concentration on LifeHacker:

[http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-tips-for-
ra...](http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-tips-for-razor-sharp-
concentration.html)

and here are some brain exercises to improve concentration:

[http://www.egodevelopment.com/10-exercises-for-better-
focus-...](http://www.egodevelopment.com/10-exercises-for-better-focus-and-
concentration/)

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dryicerx
Use a scratch pad or notebook next to you (a real paper one). Use this as a
braindump, just what ever comes just jot down, todo's, ideas etc. This way you
can concentrate on the task at hand and throw anything else in here.

Think of it like a swap space for the brain.

And at the end of the day/task, make a note on what to accomplish the next
time. This really takes the stress of remembering a lot of things.

~~~
hop
I'm going to do that - thanks

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kashif
I love planning and time management and the like. But once I started my
startup, I realized things often didn't turn out the way I wanted. This
happened because I either got distracted or estimated incorrectly. After
trying to fight this for a long time, I just gave up and decided to go with
the flow.

My conclusions are that when you go with the flow you end up being atleast as
productive, if not more, then when you keep fighting to fit a arbitrary
plan/target and you do it without the stress.

Fighting yourself is a completely frivolous activity that can be especially
avoided by start-uppers.

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hop
I would love to enlist in a start up bootcamp. You layout everything that
needs to get done - maybe a week out, then someone with a bayonet keeps you on
task. And makes you run 5 miles too.

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kirubakaran
I practice single-tasking, with the aid of <http://smacklet.com/> Not only do
I get more done, I am more relaxed as well.

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Mz
My son recommended that I listen to music (stuff without lyrics) while coding
my websites. He had some theory about engaging different parts of the brain or
something to help me stay on task. It did help.

I also get up about once an hour or so at work and walk around. When I find I
can't concentrate anymore, physically getting up and coming up with some
excuse to walk somewhere (the bathroom, the breakroom, the mail drop off) does
help me concentrate again when I get back to my desk.

