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A comment on Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?.

Re:Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time? by agentultra on Friday November 11, 2022 @12:35AM (#33557640)
Rituals.

There’s one highly specific genre of music I listen to while I code. Nothing else. If I take a break, I turn it off. If I get distracted, I turn it off. I only listen to it when I work.

I use the sandwich method of booking meetings; only at the beginning or end of the day. Also the times when I look at my emails. Slack is harder to turn off because ops so I let that one slide.

When I need to concentrate, flip on my playlist, and go to town.

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Re:Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time? by encephalos on Friday November 11, 2022 @12:39AM (#33557653)
Was really hoping you’d share the playlist or even the genre as I was reading your comment.
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Re:Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time? by Toadtoad on Friday November 11, 2022 @12:54AM (#33557718)
I'm not OP, but I'm pretty sure the point is the ritual of it, not the genre itself. Anything will work as long as it's specifically for working, and you don't play the music elsewhere. If you can get a subconscious link in your brain between that music and working, ideally you can be more focused when listening to it.
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Re:Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time? by agentultra on Friday November 11, 2022 @07:55AM (#33560232)
This is the gist of it. It takes a while for the ritual to sink in. You have to be disciplined about it at first. Eventually it will become second nature.

Now when I want to focus on coding I can throw my playlist on and get a small boost in focus.

The power of association. Our brains seem to be association machines. Smells and sounds to certain memories, times, or places. A ritual helps you deliberately build an unconscious association.

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Re:Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time? by encephalos on Friday November 11, 2022 @02:22PM (#33565439)
Yeah I totally get that part and I’ve likely done that over the years, but now those same playlists aren’t working for me. They were good while in Uni and first few years of working, but it seems their effects have worn off lol. So I’m always open to finding new obscure niche "focus" playlists or genres. Thank you though!
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Re:Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time? by isoprophlex on Friday November 11, 2022 @01:33AM (#33557913)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8pEHrOnXwsY

Can't go wrong with relentless stuff like this

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