Ask HN: How to take back my attention and discipline? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to take back my attention and discipline?

34 pointswaqa11 comments

I am in the process of launching my second startup, with first one of less than a mediocre success.

Past few months we have been building the product and launched to a small group of users, they love it. Now we just closed our small seed round.

The challenge I am facing is the lack of focus and discipline in my work. I am very motivated and get up everyday to ship but then end up wasting time all over the internet (including HN). And then feel miserable in during the last few hours (like right now).

Have you been in a situation like this? How did you get back to your focusing on 'your work'.

Thanks in advance for your help.

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Don't half work on something while browsing HN. If you are going to not work, might as well actually gain the benefit of a break. Try to make it so you are all way "on" or all the way "off". Have a cue that separates the too. Some people have a work computer and a play computer. Personally it's enough to have two different desktop environments that I switch between. If you find yourself lingering in the 'off' state, get up and take a walk outside.

Basically train yourself to notice when you are wasting time, but also forgive yourself for not being able to work 12hrs a day every day with absolute discipline.

Edit: Internet research is dangerous and tends to fragment attention. Batch your searches. Stop yourself from instantly diving into a google search for the details of whatever problem you are working on. Instead have a little notepad of things you need to check on later. Try to distill a narrow question that you are trying to answer.

Look at “noprocrast” on your HN profile page and related limits; the site can actually help you minimize your visits.

As for motivation...what I find that works better than anything else:

1. Define all tasks in terms of things that can be called “done” within a day or two. Make sure you regularly cross these off.

2. Write short lists for to-do items...one for issues, one for ideas. Don’t let these get long; if higher priority things come up and you can’t finish items, drop some (and trust that any truly important thing will make its way back to your list eventually, when you are ready).

Check out Freedom:

https://freedom.to/

It's a "here's a list of websites I don't want to visit at these times, don't let me visit them at those times" app, kind of like the chrome/firefox addons that do the same thing (e.g. BlockSite), except it works at the VPN level (so it's not browser dependent). There's also a phone app.

I really like it. The only achilles heel I've found with it is it doesn't play well with corporate proxies.

I started using it last week, I recommend it.

Make sure you're sleeping enough, eating healthy, and getting enough exercise. I really believe these are directly co-related to your productivity -- and to your ability to focus.

The biggest thing is eating complex carbs -- whole-wheat breads that give you long-lasting energy.

If you are motivated, as in you show up, but then you waste time, it's a sign that you are mentally tired. It's like you are a motivated runner with a broken leg. You need to heal the leg first. Recovery after intense mental effort is part of the job.

This has been my experience. Starting a good sleep and meal schedule has helped me out, when I've gotten stuck in this state. Also doing some projects that are small quick wins have helped motivate me to tackle some of the larger ones that I'd started procrastinating on.

Realize that surfing the net is mildly hypnotising.

http://markforster.squarespace.com/blog/2016/12/21/fast-fvp.... http://markforster.squarespace.com/tm-systems/

I am going through same. I am on my 6th startup. It seems more you know, more helpless you become. I got success way easier when I knew lot less.

Have you always had this problem? If so, you may want to talk to a psychiatrist. You would be surprised how much it can help.

“noprocrast” is a great tip, and for FB I suggest Chrome extension called News Feed Eradicator.

Also I suggest book Getting Things Done by David Allen.

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