Focus!

Here I am wasting time/procrastinating. There certain days, that no matter what I do, consistent concentration is impossible.

In my opinion, the urge to procrastinate is just our brain telling us that the kind and amount of effort we're demanding from it is not natural. People aren't meant to spend 40+ hours a week sitting behind a desk and concentrating on stuff they have little connection with. Marx wrote about that (the alienation of workers) 150 years ago.

As someone who has spent entire months not doing work, just doing things like studying Japanese, watching TV shows and playing chess online... I have to disagree.

I think the source of my motivation problem is having the feeling that what I do 'Does Not Matter.' Some months I can't shake this feeling and get absolutely nothing done. Other months I feel like I can take over the world - and end up making the progress of a normal programmer.

I "want" to implement my ideas, but there's not enough feedback or incentive to "make" me do it. There's also too many options. I have 100 ideas, which should I pick? If I haven't been successful with any ideas in the past, what's the point in dedicating myself to this specific one? Does it even matter? No one noticed last week when I wasted all my time (when not at my part-time job)... why would anyone care this week?

I made a chrome extension that helps me stay on task when motivated... but what I actually need is software that can help build my motivation. Anyone know of something?

You're not saying _why_ you want to implement those ideas in the first place.

Since your motivation doesn't seem to be intristic (if it was, you would've just found time and energy for at least some progress), you're most likely treating is a vehicle for something else: improving programming skills, padding resume, possibly basing a startup on the idea. In such case, you need to make yourself do things you're not really interested in doing (it's not always a bad thing, there's a ton of such things in everyone's life such as doing taxes etc.). Lots of motivation books on that subject exist, but from what I've noticed, it all boils down to imagining the fruits of your labor when it's done and also imagining negative consequences of not doing it.

For programming/startup ideas procrastination, my theory is that the sub-conscious part of the brain has already done the calculations for you, and the expected value just isn't that great - ie. you're likely to work hard for months and the most likely outcome is going to be a better job (ie. more work, probably also unengaging...). So maybe, it's just your subconscious telling you you need an idea which engages you before you start executing :)

You sound like me. I currently work in healthcare doing non-patient-care stuff, and I'm learning programming when I'm not working. My days are normally boring and steady-paced.

When my boss asked me to temporarily pick up some slack and new responsibilities, I immediately surged into action and got some praise. I was feeling productive, so I built a few things when I got home even after doing 10 hour days.

If someone asks me to build something for them, it gets a fair amount of attention right now (mostly because I'm trying to break into programming/webdev), and occupies my thoughts. When I have no demands, I'm pretty meh on projects unless I think I have a good idea.

I simply need an external demand to operate productively. I think I would end up ignoring any productivity programs.

There are many reasons for the urge of procrastination. A good article mentioning them (including approaches to fight it): http://lesswrong.com/lw/3w3/how_to_beat_procrastination/

Agreed. Thank you for writing stuff I agree with.

I wish my brain had a switch.

Monday: follow crazy ideas, absorb everything, novelty hunting. Tuesday - Friday: focus.

Right now that switch is ADD medication, meditation, exercise (in order of increasing effectiveness and access).

>I wish my brain had a switch.

We might be able to develop one by using non-invasive brain stimulation: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110615123647.ht....

"Here I am wasting time/procrastinating."

Interesting though that there is no data with regards to how much time people spend on HN and whether it results in success or not. Or just adds to entertainment, knowledge, or enjoyment.

Even anecdotal although I do know there are some outliers like tpatcek and patio11 that have benefited. But we don't know how that compares to time that they spent.

Hear, hear. I'm getting kinda desperate in my non existing pursuit of being able to focus / getting things done. I am considering meditation but I'm not sure there's actual evidence that it actually makes it easier to focus.

If meditation does not make it easier for you to focus, you will be unable to progress with your meditation. It's that simple - increasing your focus is integral to progress in meditation practice.

Meditation consists of two main "directions": Concentration practice and contemplation practices. Most schools of meditation has one of these as their main focus, but contemplation practice includes certain levels of concentration practice as pre-requisite, either explicitly (separate ways to train your concentration), or indirectly as part of practising a form of contemplative meditation.

Concentration practice is generally what you might think of if you think of meditation as emptying your mind, repeating mantras or similar.

Try this simple exercise:

Set an alarm for five minutes.

Sit comfortably. Floor is traditional, but not at all necessary; a position that is comfortable enough that physical discomfort does not distract you too much is much more important. Half close your eyes (you can meditate with your eyes fully open, or fully closed, or anything in between - it is a matter of preference, but until you know consider that fully open means your eyes will be dry and there will be more distraction, and fully closed increases your chance of falling asleep).

Then breathe in and out through your nostrils. Count 1, 2, 1, 2, 1,2 as you breathe in and out.

Every time you notice that you have stopped counting, try to estimate (quickly) how long you have been "off track", and start again, until the alarm goes off.

Congratulations, you have just meditated. If you can make the whole five minutes, try it again but without counting, just noticing the breath.

Most first timers/beginners are lucky if they manage 30 seconds consecutively without going off track, often for minutes at a time. If you manage the full five minutes without finding yourself thinking about something completely difference, your concentration skills are already well above average. With practice, you can keep attention like that for hours. And it does translate to being able to keep focus in other situations.

If you want to try more, "Mindfulness in Plain English" is a good introduction: http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html ; the html version is free. Gil Fronsdals "Introduction to Meditation" series of recordings are also great, free, and includes guided meditations that are quite useful to beginners: http://www.audiodharma.org/series/1/talk/1762/

These focus on vipassana - insight meditation or mindfulness. This is a contemplation practice, but the introductions above spend a substantial part on the basic concentration practice of meditating on the breath, which is a common concentration practice in many schools of meditation.

The "mindfulness" part is sort of in the gaps: Rather than trying to hold an "iron grip" on your mind to focus on the breath, the purpose is closer to "catching you thinking" (or feeling, or sensing, etc.) and paying attention to the sensations an quality of what arises in you, while you try not to get pulled away from paying attention to the breath, and then rather than forcing the thought away, to let it "fade" by "simply" (it is by no means simple) not follow the thought with another.

Both of these introductions are of buddhist origins, though if it matters to you one of the things that appealed greatly to me about them is that they are careful to keep the material mostly secular (there's some brief mentions of buddhist faith, but they are explanatory rather than essential toe the meditation practice).

While I'm familiar with everything you described from previous experience I have to say that was masterfully described. I've found that meditation has so much cultural and 'religious' sounding baggage attached to it that people who would benefit most dismiss it out of hand. Your post cut through that.

When I started meditation I thought it would give me some sort of mental superpowers (Tibetan Buddhist IMO are quick to sell you on those). However in my experience the benefit is more like developing resilience against all the drama and bullshit that life or your own mind throws at you. A potential downside is that I notice more clearly how other around me are swept up into unnecessary frustration or anger. Of course it would be overstating to say I'm a competent meditator, but on some days I consider meditation the most valuable thing I do for myself.

I'm motivated now to try the guided meditation your linked above. Thanks!

The spiritual baggage comes from the fact that in these traditions meditation is a tool to develop concentration so that the meditator can focus his/her full attention on some form of the question "who am I" - that is, "what is my true identity" - sometimes aided by focus on a koan (a puzzle meant to spur an insight into ones real identity)

Spoiler alert - you're supposed to discover by direct experience that your real self is neither a homunculus looking out through your eyes, nor is it coterminous with your body, and this direct experience that your true self is everything that is, is intended to lead to compassion for other beings.

Meditation is all about controlling your concentration and attention. It certainly helps, heaps. Speaking from experience. Please try it. :)

(Although I also attacked the lack of attention span problem by doing totally seeminly dumb tasks such as reading a book backwards which makes no sense and really forces you to re-focus all the time. From a few minutes I was able to get up to 10, and later 15 minutes per time without huge mental wandering. Same goes for meditation, from minutes to tens of minutes with ease in a matter of weeks.)

Here are two no-BS, straight forward guided meditations by Sam Harris, one is 9 and another 26 minutes long.

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/mindfulness-meditation

Here is a bit more background on it: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/how-to-meditate

There is plenty of scientifically backed studies and documents out there when it comes to mindfulness If you are a skeptic though, as am I, be wary of the masses of esoterically/religiously contaminated resources on the web, when it comes to meditation.

Jogging outdoors... the effect is quite profound. Difficult terrain is best because you are forced to be vigilant and you cannot let your mind wander. Make sure there is a clear start and finish.

Have you read Steven Pressfield's "The War of Art"?

The right solution is to do something else and have more then one task on your plate.

You forgot luck.

I don't think one can increase that.

Depends how you define it - in a way, you can. There is a book called "The Luck Factor" that explores that scientifically (by Wiseman). I liked it.

You can of course not change the odds of rolling a 6 if you roll one dice. But you can influence how often the dice roll for you, and thereby increase your odds of rolling a six.

Be prepared. Luck favors the prepared.

That oddly motivates me! Thanks!

Yes, it's been known for a while that IQ works in a "good enough" fashion -- once it's good enough there are so many other things more important. A good example is of course Einstein, which was tested and had a normal IQ.

I don't think he ever took an IQ test and that anecdote he failed math was made up[1]. His estimated IQ was 160[2]:

1.http://physics.about.com/b/2007/09/19/physics-myth-month-ein...

2. http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/mismeasure/genius/resear...

You were probably thinking of Feynman. From Wikipedia[1]:

In high school, his IQ was determined to be 125—high, but "merely respectable" according to biographer James Gleick.[14]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feynman#Education

While we're debunking IQ tests of historical figures, I'll add some context for Feynman: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1251164 And I'll add something which probably isn't obvious from the summary: given the context of Feynman's test, 125 may have been the ceiling on it, since for educational purposes there would be little reason to detect anything higher.

There's no evidence Einstein had done an IQ test:

http://www.einstein-website.de/z_information/variousthings.h...

This is wrong. As you move up the ladder to more and more intellectually demanding jobs, the median IQ gets higher and higher, even as the fraction of the population with such an IQ falls off exponentially. Yes, there are other important factors. And yes, if you have low conscientiousness then there will be diminishing returns going from high to very high IQ. But there is no threshold, and IQ remains the largest single predictive factor for success by far.

Scoring better in IQ tests means understanding the problems better -- if you encounter similar problems, or problems which provoke the same areas of brain -- better IQ test score should correlate with better performance in the said problems. Whether this happens alot or not is another thing though. However, as the TFA implies, we can practice and better our brain, intelligence and mental skils, maybe that's exactly what happens when we "work hard". We become more intelligent, more skilled, our brains work more efficiently which, when added with the fact that we use that brain more by working hard, makes us more intelligent/mentally capable/whatever.

Of course high IQ/mental capability/intelligence means nothing if it isn't put to use, so step first is to start doing stuff which matters and learning from it.

Really? I never knew that! Can you point me to some sources?