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Ask HN: What can I do to stay focused in the short term?

7 points by lewisflude ↗ HN
I used to be amazing, spending 6 hours plus a day on guitar, programming, other hobbies. I work full time and am finding it very hard to focus when at home, I usually start doing something then tab over to Twitter, Facebook, Gmail.

8 comments

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dmackerman
I have this problem myself. When I work at home - which is usually only 1 day a week - I have a hard time not getting distracted.
asiekierka
An idea I heard on IRC is to use the 5 minute rule.

Start doing something for 5 minutes. Anything productive. Only five minutes. It's not that long, is it? Now, if you still don't feel like doing it, you're tired; take a break. If you're lucky, you will start feeling like doing it and continue!

The point is to get immersed in what you're doing. Small steps can also help - do many small things, not few large things.

Mz
You haven't said anything about what changed. So, blind stab in the dark:

Eat right, take your vitamins, make sure you have good sleep habits, exercise, and stay properly hydrated.

[dead] 9k9
I try to isolate myself from technology that can go on the internet, I have even been looking into buying a laptop without any networking support so I can use it to be constructive around a computer.
turboquant
I also agree with a timer method, one of which uses a kitchen timer (Pomodoro). You commit yourself to nothing else for 15 minutes, and stop immediately once the timer goes off. You'll find yourself adding intervals once you train your focus back to longer hours. Also, proper nutrition and hydration is very important (good one, Mz). Best of Luck!
jyu
During your lunch break or commute home, plan out your priorities to get done at home. It might be something like 30 min guitar, read up on Google's BigTable papers for 30 min, check twitter/fb/gmail for 30 min, and then goof off guilt free.

Make sure you're spending time to exercise, meet with friends, develop interests and passions outside of work.

gregcohn
RescueTime's "get focused" feature actually works pretty well, if you don't hack it. It lets you define certain sites as distracting and then set a timer that will block them if you try to visit during the time in question.