[FWKevents]

-- Limit your time on social media to 20 minutes or less a day (LinkedIn/Facebook/Discord use that's related to work is an exception.) No studies exist yet to support this hypothesis, but it's my observation that longtime exposure to social media impedes overall focus.

-- Limit your TV watching to one or two hours on the weekends, per week

-- Limit video game use to one or two hours per week

-- Find an activity you like to do "offline" that you can do regularly such as walking, yoga, biking, etc, and do that more often. It will clear your mind and bring you back to center

-- Wake up early and try to accomplish something significant before 8am

-- Be kind to yourself when you lose focus and gently redirect your mind back to your tasks. If you get off track for hours or an entire day, wake up early the next morning and put your best foot forward without dwelling on the day before.

[ChildOfChaos]

-- Wake up early and try to accomplish something significant before 8am

I always hate this piece of advice, if i wake up early, even if I am able to struggle through getting 'something significant done' before 8am i'm going to feel terrible for the rest of the day since i got up early, it's not worth it at all. This advice is nonsense and not universal, yet the same nonsense is constantly repeated. I understand it can work for some, but that is because you are following your own rhythms and really that is what you should be doing and that should be the advice

or maybe taking your own advice more generally "Crave out a block of time for yourself dedicated to doing something significant, finding the time that works best for you in your schedule'

[ChrisMarshallNY]

I think it depends on the person.

I’m a “morning person.” My wife is definitely not.

For me, I enjoy getting up at 5 (actually, it takes a while to get to the “enjoy” part). I walk a couple of miles, take a shower, and often fix a number of issues before 8.

One of the most productive developers I ever knew (a former employee) was a “non-morning person.” He would amble into the office at noon. Drove HR crazy, but all attempts to get him to come in earlier, met with failure. He would often stay in past 2AM.

As his manager, I got flak for his schedule, but I put my own job in jeopardy, and did not enforce corporate policy on him. We worked together for almost 27 years. Japan loved him (so my job wasn’t actually in jeopardy). His schedule worked for them.

We tend to have a habit of projecting what works for us, onto others.

[me_me_mu_mu]

Maybe it’s a numbers game. I’ve met maybe two people in my life who rise late who actually seem to get stuff done, compared to at least a dozen or more examples of early risers who are successful. I am not a morning person but I’ve trained myself to wake up around 6am and found it helps me get a lot done. Used to wake up around 9am and stumble into everything. I think most of the humans around wake up early so having to adjust to the majority schedule is probably the issue.

[punkspider]

My interpretation of this is to accomplish something significant very early in the day, depending on your schedule. I wake up at 8:30AM, and I like to accomplish something significant before 10AM.

[2143]

I'm not at all a morning person. I get interesting things done in the afternoon/night.

My job allows me to work whenever I want.

So, I wake up early and start work so that I'll be done by early afternoon. That leaves me plenty of time to get useful things done.

Because it's work, I'm kind of motivated to get up early. Had I decided to do some other activity in the morning — non-work coding, exercise, reading etc — I wouldn't get out of bed.

[paulcole]

> if i wake up early, even if I am able to struggle through getting 'something significant done' before 8am i'm going to feel terrible for the rest of the day since i got up early, it's not worth it at all

I don't think they're saying, "get up early tomorrow after staying up late tonight" What they mean is "get into a habit of getting enough sleep and waking up early." Yes, I get it, many people claim to be night owls. But honestly many of them just get terrible sleep and won't put the effort into developing healthy routines and instead write it off as something they can't change.

[selfhifive]

I don't think it's nonsense at all. It sucks until you get used to it.

After you get in the habit of it, the time available in a day feels almost doubled.

And there's (I suppose) the benefit of working fasted which generally enhances focus.

[arsome]

There's definitely benefit to having that block of time be in the morning where you have more energy though, if you're able to, shifting your sleep schedule to be earlier can help with productivity here.

[LVB]

My situation is two parents working and two younger kids. The element of rising early that actually energizes me is control. It is one of the few things I can unilaterally do to shift productive time. The rest of my day is the fragmented or constrained, and my mental energy at the end is very low. I like the feeling of be able to decide that some random afternoon meeting gets me at 50% power, and items of my choosing get my full attention at 5am.

[DiggyJohnson]

If you didn’t get a full night of sleep before rising early this advise is not for you.

That doesn’t invalidate it, though.

[maininformer]

I can attest that just waking up early had a big positive effect on my life. Its more about discipline: Be in bed phone less by 10 PM every night. Then you will easily wake up at 6 and accomplish quite a lot by 8. Note for me that is just going to the gym

[wengo314]

to me it's totally worth it. morning hours are very quiet. i usually do my daily flashcards session during that time. and sometimes a small workout as well.

if you feel terrible waking up that early - go to bed earlier as well. you need that sleep.

[NylaTheWolf]

These are some pretty harsh restrictions. No using the internet for more than 20 minutes a day unless it's work related? Only playing video games for an hour or two per week? This feels like it'd set OP up to burn out...You can't even have a meaningful conversation with someone in 20 minutes. It may work for you but it's not going to work for everyone. Besides, sometimes when you're sad or tired or just need a break, you just want to relax and do something more mindless. And even video games aren't just "mindless" entertainment. What if you want to take a break in between work?

[tjr]

It does seem harsh compared to my recent reality. But I remember my internet usage in the 1990s... going to a library and signing up for a 30-minute slot to use the internet... or later using the internet from home, but only for a few minutes at a time lest I block the telephone line too much...

While definitely a shift from what I do today, maybe going back to that style of internet usage would not, in fact, be so intolerable!

[BeetleB]

> Besides, sometimes when you're sad or tired or just need a break, you just want to relax and do something more mindless.

There are plenty of options beyond social media. Take a walk. Do some hobby, read something physical, etc. The issue with social media is that compared to most alternatives, it's easier to lose track of time, and easier to get addicted.

Not sure how old you are, but as another commenter pointed out, many of us spent a good chunk of our life - even adult life - without constant-on Internet. The quality of life was not at all worse.

[pmoriarty]

"No using the internet for more than 20 minutes a day unless it's work related? Only playing video games for an hour or two per week? This feels like it'd set OP up to burn out..."

The internet and video games didn't even exist for almost all of human history, and people didn't burn out merely for lack of access to them.

Unplug and enjoy the world.

[nont]

HN for me is also a form of social media, especially if you find yourself checking it all the time.

[PragmaticPulp]

HN is absolutely social media. Reddit and message boards, too. If you’re on a website socializing with other people or consuming socially-generated content from others, it’s social media.

[giraffe_lady]

Yeah it's always hilarious to me when conversations on here will talk about the effects of social media while clearly not intending to include HN.

Just because we have a socially enforced style guide and no infinite scroll doesn't mean it's not social media.

[nivethan]

It definite is for me, I think what's helped is forcing myself to read the article before I go the comments. At least some learning is happening.

[krnlpnc]

> Wake up early and try to accomplish something significant before 8am

I'm guessing you don't have young children?

[jbjbjbjb]

For some reason just getting the kids ready, lunch packed and at school on time is a monumental achievement.

[Bedon292]

While I don't do only 20 minutes. I found that setting the digital wellbeing setting on my phone really helped.

Focus mode during the day time on weekdays, to prevent stuff while trying to be productive. And timers on a few apps.

I used to scroll through far too much twitter, but putting an hour cap on my phone helped with that a lot. It helped break the habit, and depending on what is happening in the world, I may not even hit the cap many days.

[synicalx]

I sort of disagree on two things;

1. Video games, in moderation can be beneficial for focus in much the same way reading a book can. You have to concentrate on a single task for an extended period of time, and lack of concentration is often punished. Obviously playing for 8 hours a day is a problem, but an hour or two here and there is nothing to worry about.

2. I'm a morning person, so getting up early and doing something useful before 8am totally works for me. But a lot of people just can't function that early or don't have the luxury of being able to get up that early (shift workers, for example). I'd suggest instead of targeting 8am specifically, just target the first wakeful hour of your day as the time to get something done by. If that's 8am - great, if that's 6pm - that's cool to.

[Buttons840]

> Limit video game use to one or two hours per week

I would feel more focused and productive than usual if I spent a day on a video game. Games are usually focused time, whereas social media is a low level misery but not being able to stop, hoping between sites, looking for something entertaining but not finding it.

Deliberately act. If someone casually asks "whatcha doing?", you should never answer "nothing". Deliberately playing a game isn't doing nothing, taking a nap isn't doing nothing. Social media isn't necessarily doing nothing, but for me it usually is.

Ask yourself, did I decide to do this? What is my goal? If your goal is passing time, stop.

[zachrip]

Adding to the offline thing - I think it's great to find a hobby or sport that you can set goals in outside of your main gig (I'm a programmer, I chose disc golf and indoor skydiving). For me this led to feeling more confident generally, getting exercise/out of the house, and being in a space where I'm the primary learner, not teacher. It can also help enforce routine. IMO routine is even better if it's not the same thing every single day.

[nop_slide]

> -- Limit video game use to one or two hours per week

I was doing really good with all of these until Elden Ring came out. Now my side project hasn't seen a commit in a few weeks :)

[RobertRoberts]

Self control, this is really what you are saying. (I agree) And I would add, you just have to start somewhere, it doesn't matter what or how you do it.

You just need to start, and get yourself to do something different to really see a difference with yourself. (seems redundant, but your actions have a direct relationship to your life experience)

[bayindirh]

Doing meditation also helps a lot too.