My (almost) perfect setup to stay focused
lengrand.fr
lengrand.fr
My belief at the moment is that such articles are validation-seeking. The writer draws strength from committing their plans to a socially-viewable document and subjecting it to discussion. Most of the likely responses to posting the piece online (including no responses) can, with a little squinting, be interpreted as positive reinforcement for the individual's system, hence the incentive to share.
You could ask the question for almost every blog post, i think this one is not much different why posts on codehorror are written. There are a lot of good reasons to blog, just Google for it.
Indeed. Usually I perceive the motives are to increase the author's employability attractiveness, promote their business, or build status within their community. Some productivity posts fall into those categories too I believe, but usually to me the validation model is a better fit.
> i think this one is not much different why posts on codehorror are written.
Which is?
OP clearly put a lot of work into researching various methods, tried them out on himself, and wanted to share the results, maybe even give back to the "productivity community." I appreciate that.
I'm cynical, but '[wanting] to share the results, maybe even give back to the "productivity community"' doesn't seem like a complete answer to me. And I'm not trying to get anyone to admit secret motives, I just think there are subconscious things going on when people post their productivity solutions, and I'm trying hard to figure out what they are.
A mirror in a mirror :)
EDIT: I think OP did confirm that he believes his own intent was to share with the community, but one can debate whether or not he is a fair judge of his own motivations.
But then, I have been commenting actively here and "Why do that?" is almost the same question. Trying to step away from myself and answer honestly I think it's because I've been a lurker on HN for years but don't feel like a proper HNer without 500 karma. A few weeks ago I tried to start posting more. It's difficult, because before I click reply I always try to rigorously break down my motives. Usually I don't like what I see, and close the tab.
Interesting question I think, seriously. Do I search for validation online? I don't think so, I have enough of it around me, without having to turn to the web :). What about tip (experience, hack, call it the way you want) sharing? I see a lot of great posts written by really cool people around here; maybe is it also a way to try to give something back (or in your words, probably try to fit in the group in search for the reassuring feeling of being part of it ;)). This is (IMHO) the most probable reason.
I use all those tools for a long time, and discuss about it with my friends regularly. I think it is good for yourself to try to be good at what you do. Writing such articles and sharing it in the open is a way to find people having the same interests as me that I would never have found otherwise. Hopefully, the post will lead to interesting interactions (exactly what I am doing right now :). Can I call that peer-validation? Maybe, but not in the exact way in understood it in your comment :).
As a non native English speaker, I might be wrong but I felt like condescension in your comment. But this is probably my french nature speaking :p
His comment was tough on you but fair, and your reply was excellent.
To do that, I have to manage the crap (management inspired paperwork that does not actually impact on teaching/learning/reflecting) and routine but very important tasks like marking work. I use a Pomodoro timer (actually a cheap one I got locally) to stay focussed on the mechanical things. I do actually record the number of pomodoros I spend on crap, and I feed that back when things get out of hand.
Students who don't like Maths much also find a kitchen timer helps them to focus, so I break homework up into 'pomodoros' of each topic. Strangely, they find the more pomodoros they do, the easier it all gets.
In non-pomodoro time, I do things like reflect on what kind of activity works, make screencasts, quizzes and games, and make new ways of linking topics (e.g. areas and perimeters of rectangles and simple factors and multiples).
Outside of work I too like taking things slowly! The turn of the year always makes me think about time passing.
My comments are entirely related to staying focused when coding. For the days when I am in manager mode things are different, and I am not sure if "focus" is always the right mode there.
I've always found myself preferring long unbroken periods of flow for coding. That for me comes from a quiet space much like the writer's huts described above. That to me has been my perfect setup to stay focused.
Though I have never tried Pomodoro, the idea of something disturbing me every 25 minutes sounds ghastly. When I really need to work I simply close all programs on my computer that are non essential and close all tabs that are non essential. No gmail, no twitter, no facebook. Then I go into a room, sometimes turn off the lights and just code :-)
About music I warmly recommend musicForProgramming();[2]
[1] http://tomato.es
I actually use pomodroido (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.artifix.po...). As I set up my phone to not receive notifications at work, this is the only thing that makes my phone vibrate :).
Thx for the link concerning the music. I think I tried it some time ago, but found it to "relaxing". I'll give it a new shot :)
When all those distractions are easily accessible from the same place you work (your computer) it seems ok to take measures to offload the task of avoiding them.
If you aren't getting enough sleep then you're not scheduling your time. You need to create a schedule and stick to it and don't let others hold your time hostage.
Do you have other java based software installed? Does that look ok?
http://packages.ubuntu.com/quantal/freemind
Ubuntu repos show freemind depending on openjdk (or Oracle) and that has a font package shown as a dependency.