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Comment by logn | Hacker News Reader

I also like to leave a very small task undone from the previous day to help me get jump-started the next day. So if I'm finishing programming a function and the last line needs to return something, I'll just not write that last line and put a //TODO instead. The next day it helps me get in the groove of writing code after the long break.

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As favored by Ernest Hemmingway:

<quote>When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write. You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there.</quote>

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4825/the-art-of-fic...

I've heard this phrased as always stop after some sudden progress that makes you eager to do more - as opposed to stopping when you're stuck and giving up:

if you're stuck, then when you think of the task it will be in your mind as a bete noire, as opposed to stopping where you've just made some progress and are eager to continue - then it will always be in your mind as something great to return to and make more progress.

I always feel like I get stuck way more than I make progress. :(

Austin Kleon writes about this a lot, though he calls it chain smoking: http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/39051813256

"Instead of taking a break in between projects and worrying about what’s next, use the end of one project to light up the next one."

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