Self discipline definitely has a momentum effect.

My most productive days are the ones that start at 5am with a run, followed by a shower, meditation, and writing up a list of things I want to accomplish that day. Then I start working with my noise cancelling headphones and my flow-state playlist. It's very deliberate from start to finish.

My least productive days are the ones where I roll out of bed randomly, when the sun has been up for a while, and sit down at my desk still in my pajamas. HN or YouTube tend to be my first tasks of the day, and sometimes I don't get to any others. These types of days seem to be something that's happening to me, rather than something I'm choosing.

I struggle with depression, and I find the second kind of day is a feedback loop of anxiety and procrastination. The first kind of day is a virtuous cycle of productivity and serenity.

That 5am alarm is the best way I know to set the whole thing in motion.

I'm the opposite. If my brain has to engage before 10am the day's a waste. If I "ease into the day" then once I've dealt with the world on fire stuff about 11.30 I'll power through and before I know it it's 9PM and I've been massively productive.

This is me as well. My brain is useless until close to lunch time. After lunch I start feeling productive and this feeling begins to steamroll into the evening. When I am allowed to structure my day I don't even plan to start work until 6pm and can maintain great focus from then until 1am. Admittedly I imagine my ADHD has much to do with that and the habits I formed to cope with it as a child.

Interesting. My productivity ends after lunch! It's all downhill from there - lack of focus, easily distracted, silly mistakes, is-it-5pm-yet thoughts etc.

I think it is breaking for lunch that does it. When I didn't have any team mates in my office and I'd just eat at my desk I'd still get good work done after eating. Now I have team mates in the same office as me and we go for a "proper" lunch break - something about stopping and then having to go back to work I guess.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24292-first-physical-... perhaps.

I also seem to wake up around sunset. Am also ADHD.

Same here. If I start early (particularly due to a meeting), it's difficult to do any serious mental work for the rest of the day because I consistently forget what I'm working on. I can force myself to work anyway, but then I'm more prone to make mistakes. It's much better for me to ease into work.

I learned a few years ago that defying my internal clock even has physical effects such as poor digestion and terrible stomach pain. The popular advice to rise early is harmful in my case.

Same here. I have always wondered how people can even wake up at 5 am, let alone focus and work.

In the mean time, I think, need for sleep is like appetite: some have more, some have less.

Waking up at 5 am doesn't imply sleeping any less (just going to bed earlier).

In the similar way, taking a nap doesn't mean that you sleep more, just that you schedule your sleep differently.

I definitely find that my days that start off productive typically end productive as well. The days where I "ease into it" or "warm up for the day" I blink, it's 8:30pm, and I haven't done a single worthwhile thing except maybe a load of dishes or something.

The flip side is the more productive my day is, typically the more tired I am, and the more likely I am to be moving slowly the next morning.

Yes, routine is key. The discipline actually pays off and removes a lot of decision making since you're already on a schedule, and the momentum of getting things done keeps you wanting to get more things done.

What's on your flow state playlist?

Search on YouTube for Lofi hip hop mix - Beats to Study/Relax to . Works amazingly well for me.

I would also like to echo this question, always interested in what people listen to while working.

I work from home, sitting next to my partner, and this is responsible for ~80% of our work. No particular order.

Late Night Tales Presents Sasha: Scene Delete [0]

Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: Passage [1]

Jon Hopkins: Opalescent [2]

HVOB & Winston Marshall: Silk [3]

Anything at all by HVOB. HVOB is the golden stuff.

All of Tycho's albums

Any of Tycho's Burning Man mixes on SoundCloud [8]

Kiasmos: Blurred [4]

Vermont: II [5]

Bonobo: Migration [6] (or any other Bonobo)

Tosca: No Hassle [7] (or any other Tosca)

---

[0]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/late-night-tales-presents-...

[1]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/passage/1177124625

[2]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/opalescent/305037953

[3]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/artist/hvob/564007861

[4]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/blurred/1266258851

[5]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/ii/1174877374

[6]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/migration/1172028049

[7]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/no-hassle-bonus-track-vers...

[8]: https://soundcloud.com/tycho/ingress-burning-man-sunrise-set...

How do you find this?

By now, iTunes is suggesting a lot of stuff to me that I really like. But if you’re starting from zero:

- Find something you like on iTunes, Spotify, whatever.

- Use the ‘start a radio station based on this song’ feature.

- When that plays something you also like, add it to your library. Keep playing it.

- If it’s a single track on an album, just add the album. The wonderful thing about modern streaming services is that you can speculatively add stuff and, if you don’t like it, just remove it. It doesn’t cost you anything! (That’s amazing, by the way.)

- iTunes learns. Keep doing this.

- By now, the Friday morning ‘for you’ playlist also has good stuff. Give that a chance. ‘Love’ the stuff you love. Add the albums with tracks you liked. iTunes keeps learning.

That’s all, really. Just listen to stuff and let the bots figure out what else you might like.

Edit: also find friends or co-workers with similar tastes. Share stuff with them. I get a lot of gold from my mate up in Cairns, just whenever we hear things we send each other the link.

This might be the first positive thing I've ever read about iTunes.

What are you both doing ?

She’s a medical copywriter, I’m a developer (kinda). Both freelance. It works great.

Thank you for this!

I recommended it before, but I maintain a playlist that focuses on very quiet, soothing ambient, moody soundscapes and slightly experimental music that, in my opinion, works as well for sleeping as it does for being productive and focused:

- https://open.spotify.com/user/michaelfeihstel/playlist/10IcC...

Alternatively and if you prefer a more eclectic, diversive selection that covers a wide range of moods and genres, but should still serve as a soundtrack to a relaxing sunday out in the sun or on the couch, there's this little mix series I work on - I think these particular episodes might be a good starting point:

- https://soundcloud.com/michaelfeihstel/sunday-debrief-005

- https://soundcloud.com/michaelfeihstel/sunday-debrief-006

That's always been the type of music I've put on while I work, but a week or two ago I shuffled the entire Judas Priest catalog on Google Music. I've never been a fan of Judas Priest, I don't particularly like to listen to their music, but it's been great for me to work to. Ambient noises and quiet conversations are masked, the tempo is fast, and the dynamic range isn't huge.

Psytrance is my productive music, except when I need to concentrate really hard. I love this huge playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1145880218/playlist/71tSLVZo0B...

Lately, I've been using https://playnoise.com/ with the following settings: Brown noise > More Options > Auto volume osc, slow, small.

Also, My "Code it and Load it" Playlist on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/bawigga/playlist/08wdT51daeQwc...

Finally, more brown noise/rain storms in my Focus Noise playlist on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/bawigga/playlist/1u2c1lK4YSnL1...

If you're a fan of generators scope out http://MyNoise.net (they've also got an app) which I've found immensely useful.

Nice. Thanks!

Boards of Canada, APhex Twin, Tycho, Carbon Based Lifeforms

last.fm Doomed channel. Halloween dark industrial ambient. No beats, just some quiet screaming and throat singing. Sadly, it's taking a break "until October". I certainly hope it comes back!

Yo Yo Ma, George Gershwin, Chuck Mangione, Weather Report

I completely stopped doing this.

I read always more than I wanted and I didn't like to work after it because it killed ever chance of flow.

Now I look out or on the output of drink something or optimize what I'm waiting on.

> Self discipline definitely has a momentum effect

This sounds like an assumption. Isn't it equally likely that the condition that suppresses procrastination was responsible for all those things happening, starting with your run?

In other words, you started the day with operable self-discipline. Not related to behavior.

This is a fair criticism and may be correct, but I have to continue doing what works. I haven't found a better way to suppress procrastination yet.

Make hay while the sun shines is my most successful response to procrastination. Didn't mean to suggest otherwise.

As per the book - The Power of Habit - The 5am alarm and wake up is the keystone habit which in turn triggers further habits. I found this to be true where one good habit triggers many others and vice versa is true too

I've started going for a long walk before I start working, and I've since found it much easier to dive into work before "just checking out this one article". I think it's because I feel like I've already had a part of my day devoted to something that's just for me, so I don't feel like my day is belongs to someone else's goals from the get go. That, and I'm more awake, which makes it easier to think about complex tasks.

I think habits are probably stronger when we're sleepy and have less "executive function". When you're awake, make plans to disrupt your sleepy self. Set a timer or block your news sites or something. Because trying to break a habit when you're sleepy is going to be tough.

Agreed. In my experience, the core challenge with most tasks is just that we don't spend enough time working on them. I can easily ignore a bot nagging me, and eventually just turn it off.

The best solution for me is real-time accountability that forces me to sit down and commit to a real person what I'm about to do RIGHT NOW.

I made an app for this called Focusmate (https://www.focusmate.com). It's a bit like a study buddy, except for anyone and any task, and much more effective IMO.

PS. My quiz results: "Oops. Sorry, we can't seem to find what the problem is." (https://imgur.com/a/A2qhoGQ)

Just wanted to say -- Focusmate is amazing. I've used it a ton. I don't know how, but it helps me get into the zone almost immediately. The idea of working with a stranger on the screen seems weird when you first hear about it, but it's amazing how the impact is almost magical.

> Like pretending to be a character in an RPG - playing the game of my life.

I also play all the side quests first in RPGs!

I made a policy that I visit any news sites only once a day (usually in the morning). When I catch up and when I start seeing stories I already saw yesterday, I stop and don't come back until tomorrow.

Just out of curiosity, what's your favorite news site, that has so many interesting articles?

The solution is to make checking headlines part of your work.

With a time limit? Like I’m going to spend 30 minutes keeping up with important news about my industry.

If you think that is an appropriate limit.

No, I just plucked a figure out of my backside.