What do you guys do to improve your focus? | Hacker News Reader

What do you guys do to improve your focus?

20 pointspervysage20 comments

I have found that my attention is very much at peak when i doodle. But copying someone's work feels boring after a while and it becomes a muscle memory thing. Which work of yours keep you involved completely? Avoid mentioning any practice which involves technology.

View on HN

1. ADHD medication

2. Break things down into small tasks

3. Checklists for all tasks, preferably on paper, crossing things out feels nice

4. Work surrounded by people, I need the accountability of being observed. Go to the office more often, use Focusmate where you pair with strangers, or even open an empty video call with just yourself and have yourself on camera on one screen.

5. In general look for environments that give frequent feedback, as frequent as possible. That's why long things and big projects need to be broken down.

6. Noise cancelling headphones, repetitive music with a nice beat and no lyrics.

7. But the main that unlocked everything was the medication, without it the rest of the tips don't do much.

It is crazy how we have slowly turned into creatures who crave feedback. No matter how much we ignore, we must accept that we were trained from having a need of feedback for growth to want feedback for every little step. It can be used to our advantage as well. Thanks for pointing it out.

this but you almost certainly don't need the drugs

Someone else might not, I certainly do.

1. I aim for long, uninterrupted work periods. If I have meetings, I schedule them early and aim for an open-ended work day.

2. I clean my workspace and do other minor chores the day before, so that I can get right to work. A messy kitchen means you need to wash dishes before you start cooking.

3. I remove friction for getting started. My art stuff is always out. I just have to sit and start.

4. I aggressively reduce information being pushed to me unless it’s critical. When in focus mode, my devices are totally silent. Nothing should take me out of my task unless it cannot wait.

5. A strong coffee after a long night’s sleep, paired with a good breakfast.

Get enough sleep. I need 9 hours most nights.

I go to therapy and she is constantly asking me how I feel and sort of guiding my breathing.

I go to Krav Maga also and sometimes we're going pretty hard and fast striking repeatedly. It can be so tiring, but I find I can enter a zone where I am breathing deeply and slowly while going even faster or harder after I've noticed that I'm tired.

Probably summed up with "Breath Work".

For me, focus comes from reducing noise, not forcing discipline. I block 2–3 hour deep work windows, cut low-impact tasks weekly, and walk between contexts to reset. Sleep and exercise do more for focus than any app or hack.

> Avoid mentioning any practice which involves technology.

Why? Isn’t your doodling using “technology”? Or do you mean “Avoid mentioning any practice which involves technology that I don’t like.”

I meant it[technology] not being used directly. Open up some downloaded images with airplane mode on and doodling on a page. I enjoy it.

So you’re against the internet not technology?

The way to focus is to get to work. Get better at getting to work and you will improve your focus.

Avoid mentioning any practice which involves technology.

This is just an excuse to not get to work. Good luck.

“By will alone I set my mind in motion…”

The common thread in many responses here is *reducing decision fatigue*. Whether it's checklists, clean workspace, scheduling meetings early, or aggressive filtering—it's all about removing micro-decisions so your brain can actually focus on the work.

My biggest unlock has been ruthlessly protecting "deep work blocks" on my calendar. Not just blocking time, but treating those blocks as sacred. No meetings, no "quick calls," no exceptions. If someone tries to schedule over it, I move heaven and earth to find another time.

The killer insight: *context-switching isn't just about switching tasks, it's about switching between maker mode and manager mode.* Even checking a single Slack message can pull you out of flow for 20+ minutes. Paul Graham's "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule" essay nailed this years ago, but we keep forgetting it.

Since I'm building a scheduling tool right now, I think about this constantly—how do we design systems that protect focus instead of fragmenting it? Most scheduling tools optimize for "maximize meetings packed into calendars." The better question is: how do we help people create MORE uninterrupted time?

Anyone here use calendar/scheduling tools specifically to CREATE boundaries rather than fill time?

I aggressively stop reading content as soon as [phrase-redacted]. I find this decisiveness translates to making better decisions including the decision to get back to work.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com