HN Explorer

Ask HN: What lifestyle choices do you make to be productive?

17 points by mahin ↗ HN
For me:

Waking up early. Having something exciting to do helps. Like drinking coffee recently.

Recharging well. In between work sessions, I feel like activities like going for a walk, playing an instrument and showering work better to keep me productive than browsing YouTube.

19 comments

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taubek
Changing the location where I work. I work from home, office, different coffee places.
GianFabien
Before I switch off for the day, I jot down a ToDo list for the next day.

The next morning, I pick up that list and get started on it. Doing my damnest to avoid reading HN, the news, etc. That can come as a break later in the day.

mattbgates
I have a massage bed. I have a timer that goes for 30 minutes. I usually set the timer either 10 or 20 or 30 minutes and use this time to meditate, relax, fall back asleep, or work up the urge to accomplish a task. "Get the task done then you can come back and relax on your massage bed." Worth the investment.
matthewwolfe
8 hours of sleep minimum. No drinking or smoking. Exercise regularly. Be content with what I have. Enjoy the little things in life, laugh at life’s absurdities.
marapu
This. A great life can be achieved with so little.
more_corn
This is a great start. I’m amazed at how much better my memory and problem solving are in the morning. I never noticed before I stopped drinking because the hangover used to wipe that out.

Being content with what you have is huge. I feel like a lot of successful people needed their grandmothers to sit them down and say “how much do you really need? Why not slow down and enjoy what you’ve got?”

As for the last point, my spin is a bit different. I don’t laugh when things go absurdly wrong, but I do focus forward. That has made me remarkably resilient. “Ok this all went pear-shaped, but the best outcome from here is X and that’s where I’m aiming.”

gtsteve
I used to find it very had to get into coding after a few hours of meetings and I find a 20-30 minute nap to reset works really well to fix that. Of course, it helps that I work from home and my schedule is reasonably flexible, I don't know how that would work in an office environment.
jasonpeacock
Wear a uniform. It’s ok to have a few uniforms depending on weather/season, but the goal is to not have to think when getting dressed. Get up, shower, put clothes on.

Your uniform should be comfortable and make you feel good.

2rsf
As an IT person? interesting. From my little experience wearing uniform they can increase motivation in some cases, although they might the opposite affect in some cases- think of a policeman in a supporting community vs. a debt collector during recession. But I have never heard of a developer wearing uniforms...
jasonpeacock
It’s a uniform in the sense that you wear the same clothes everyday, but not a literal, formal uniform like police or other prescribed outfit.

E.g. you decide that you will wear jeans and black t-thirts everyday. So you go out and buy 2 pairs of jeans and 10 black t-shirts. Then every day that’s what you get dressed in and this never have to think “what am I going to wear today?”

I wore brown overalls and white t-shirts for years as my uniform. This makes you more productive because you’ve now eliminated effort from another task in your day, making it more efficient and able to spend mental energy on other stuff.

amerkhalid
I believe from uniform they meant wear similar clothes everyday, or at least for work. Like Steve Jobs with his black turtle necks, or Mark Zuckerberg with his back t-shirts.
GianFabien
I saw Steve Jobs's black turtle necks as branding. Which Elizabeth Holmes copied.

But, seriously, how long does it take to select your clothes in the morning? 1 minute out of the 1440 minutes in a day? Then sit in meetings for a couple hours a day?? Just does not compute.

2rsf
I think that it's not about saving time but about getting into the right mood
ezedv
To maximize productivity, I prioritize time management by setting clear goals, practicing effective task prioritization, and minimizing distractions. Additionally, maintaining a healthy lifestyle through regular exercise, adequate sleep, and mindfulness practices helps me stay focused and energized throughout the day.
mfalcon
I'm using several notes on Google Keep: a daily todo that I update every night, current quarter goals, next quarter goals, long term goals and a system todo (what I have to do every day to reach the long term goals)
ChildOfChaos
My biggest one is time blocking.

For me it's about blocking everything else, blocking hacker news/reddit/youtube is a huge productivity thing for me, so deciding that I am not going to be part of social media and i'm going to centre my life around the things I want to be and creating as many big time blocks to focus on that as I can. The rest of the time is for me to be more playful, but in order to do anything, I need chunks of focused, clear time.

Noise cancellation headphones, binaural beats / focus music and a timer. Then I shut the rest of the world out and just work on what I need to work on.

I'm a pretty chaotic person with my thoughts, so I have to make the choice to focus on something for set hours and then I try to stay as focused as I can during that time and then have unfocused time when I can do whatever I want/indulge my thoughts and curiosity.

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runjake
- Get more sleep.

- Eat healthy.

- Regular, daily exercise and flexibility work.

- Automate or delegate everything I can.

deanmoriarty
Always live within walking or biking distance from my work office.