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Comment by endymi0n | Hacker News Reader

Just joined a Flow Working workshop by Dr. Antoine Larchez and had some interesting results. As a lifelong (functional) procrastinator with diagnosed ADHD, I brought down 2.5h of effortless (once started) work on paper, some of the best in a couple of months if not years.

I have yet to see whether the methods are scaleable and replicable for me, but a lot of the content resonated with me, especially the insight that concentration to flow states is a skill that can be learned and brought down from 20 minutes to just one with training.

It was an interesting mix of fundamentals from Cal Newport (Deep Work), plus mind emptying exercises, concentration meditation, exercise breaks and group work sessions.

I'll probably dig more into it.

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What did you do different to get the 2.5 hours of uninterrupted work done?

Basically meditated, emptied my mind by writing down any tasks I'm procrastinating or ruminating on, identified the fears behind them, set a goal, did a quick exercise and then just did it in 50 minute chunks, but with the phone completely off, any windows in single focus and most importantly with the camera on and 10 people watching (== not really watching but doing their own tasks).

Had a pretty sizeable psychological effect though.

I used to do sessions with FocusMate before which worked, but in a bit of a hit & miss. Key differences to this workshop was the length (blocking half a day, uninterrupted) and the guidance through it, taking away brain cycles for managing.

Still a bit unsure how to fully replicate that experience on my own, but just experiening that someone was able to trigger this kind of focus in me, on a dreaded task, on demand, had a profound effect in me to go try it again.

> just experiening that someone was able to trigger this kind of focus in me, on a dreaded task, on demand, had a profound effect in me to go try it again

Thanks. You realized what you're capable of.

As someone who also has adhd and is a functional procrastinator at times saboteur I'm curious if you could elaborate on your "mind emptying exercises"?

Write, in anyway that feels mentally relieving. Whether it’s a journal or a whiteboard.

This reminds me of an exercise from David Allen's "Getting Things Done" called "Mind Sweeping" or "Brain Dumping": https://gettingthingsdone.com/2015/05/podcast-03-david-allen...

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