I spoke to a long-time Microsoft and Facebook eng leader who left his post as a nonprofit software CEO due to burnout and then spent many months languishing and spiralling into depression.
He actually decided to get a job as an Amazon warehouse worker for 6 weeks for exactly the reason OP is struggling with: to get structure.
> In November, I suddenly thought, "I should at least get some sort of job somewhere just to have some regularity to my schedule, to enforce some daily practices". My number one priority was just to have structured work that would force me to get up every day—work that was very different from white collar jobs, in that I did not want to be asked to make a lot of decisions everyday.
> I didn't want the stress of managing people and teams. I didn't want the politics of subjective decisions being debated amongst team members. I wanted literally to be told what to do every day and I wanted that structure to be rigorous. I strongly felt that would help me get out of my depression.
As a burned out founder with ADHD, I took a break from tech and did a year as a personal trainer at a big box gym. It was such a great difference from tech work: physical movement, human interaction, paper-based, etc. The high levels of accountability (in addition to physical movement) were extremely satisfying.
I dream of a future of tech work that is more similar to the gym, rather than sitting at a desk. Some kind of augmented reality work space where you intentionally add physical friction (reaching, pulling, pushing), physical objects, human interactions, etc and lots of standing. I imagine the mental rewards of this approach would be really interesting, and you might finish the work day feeling physically energized.
You only need semi-structure. Walk the dog every morning. Take out the trash at night. Read for a little while before bed. Call mom every Saturday. The exact times and durations don’t matter and won’t be known beforehand.
I made the mistake of trying to organize a master plan for how I would live my days. In my experience, it just doesn’t work out the way you plan it. Daily life is too chaotic.
I now use a much simpler approach instead. 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm. These are the times by which I need to get something done.
For example, 8am: Walk the dog. By 8, it should be done. If it gets done before 7, even better. If it gets done at 8:10, start earlier tomorrow. 12pm: Fold the laundry. 4pm: Go to the store, call mom, read. 8pm: Make dinner, take out the trash.
When you are comfortable with how many tasks you assign yourself, add more tasks. But don’t go crazy when you’re just starting off. Keeping one habit is better than flirting with five.
I found that planning my _weeks_ was far more valuable than planning my _days_. As you point out, daily life is too chaotic, but a week is something you can actually work with.
I found the same to be true with dieting. You shouldn't plan your diet around single days of eating, you should plan it around an entire week of eating.
This is in line with what I've had success with. I've recently written about it here as well – just a morning walk ritual, more or less. It has been transformative. It's an incredibly easy, no-tech, free activity which lets my mind and body properly wake up and get primed for the day.
Some days I just wander for 15 minutes and look at the sun or feel the air and enjoy the moment. Other days maybe I'll start around 5:30 and carry on for an hour or two, then come home and get my kids ready for their day. It doesn't matter, and that's kind of the point. As long as I've made the time for it, as long as I get up and do it, I can feel it out and do what feels good.
It means I'm always awake and ready when I start my day. There's no dragging myself to my computer or trying to keep up with getting the kids ready. By letting myself ease into the day, energizing myself with fresh air and movement, I get way ahead of where I used to be despite spending far more time "doing nothing".
My other ritual, I suppose, is bed time. I get to sleep around 9:30, no matter what. Didn't work enough? Didn't make lunches? It doesn't matter. Just rest. I'll catch up in the morning after I wander aimlessly and find myself again.
My wife doesn't like my early bed time (she's a night owl), but I've begun guarding it closely. The structure isn't much, but it's enough. Like the author suspects for themselves, I really do need it.
Everything that happens in between is usually chunked into loose "get work done" and "hang out with family" – specific tasks are pretty easy to schedule into there, and I'm just careful to ensure there's little overlap. The boundaries of the day being clear makes it way easier to remain focused and ensure I don't end up trying to do everything at once.
I suspect if everyone made sure they got good sleep and had consistent wake and sleep structure, so many other parts of their days would fall into place as well.
Like the author of this article, I have a bad sleep schedule. It's something that came about from over 2 years of unemployment (and still job searching).
I kept a log of my job applications from last year. Going over them recently, I noticed that the timestamps gradually creeped up from afternoon to late evening as the year ended. I had a set "application window" of an hour but that window gradually shifted more and more into the night. I now go to bed very late around 4am and usually wake up at 1pm.
For some reason I find it hard to give the morning a "greater purpose" when you don't have a 9-5. There's not much in outdoor hobbies that I want to do (or afford to do) and I clean sporadically, no set schedule. I feel much less worse being awake and inside in the late night hours than to be up in the morning hours with nothing productive, so I just sleep through those morning hours. My peak energy has shifted more towards the late night.
Looking to see if I perhaps need an accountability partner. I am single and don't talk to close friends as much and even if I did they wouldn't be available most of the day because of their work schedules.
Exactly! Flexible rituals, not rigid structures. In particular, the morning rituals should be designed to encourage some form of productivity and the evening rituals should create closure.
I wish I had the option to have... any kind of flexibility in my life.
I'm forced to go to work at a certain time, which means I have to get up at a certain time.
I also eat at work, both lunch and dinner, so if I skip those then there's almost no time for me to eat.
I have to do chores when I get home for about an hour or two, then I have about 2.5 hours of "free time" before I have to go to bed and repeat the process.
Being able to have any kind of flexibility is an extreme luxury I think people take for granted.
This is one of the ways income inequality and systemic discriminations can drastically alter the life of people or groups of people. No time to think, to time to breathe.. no time to dream. The mind can die (or at least enter a sort of coma) long before the body in these circumstances. And it's incredibly hard to help yourself while in there, which is why the empathy and kindness of others matters so much too.
Do you have kids or otherwise responsible for anyone? If not, one or two hours of chores per day is insane. Take a step back and examine if the chores you are doing are actually worth doing.
Obviously if you have kids or are a carer that probably does not apply.
> then I have about 2.5 hours of "free time" before I have to go to bed and repeat the process.
When I was younger, I switched to a 4x10s schedule for this exact reason. The limited time left after commute (long at the time) and other obligations at the end of the day felt wasted.
Somewhat surprisingly, I felt better when I decided that my 4 work days per week would be solid work/chores/obligations from morning to night. It no longer felt like I was missing out on anything because I wasn't trying to squeeze some hobby or social activity into a tired 2-3 hour slot at the end of the day. My free time and my work time were as separate as they could possibly get.
Even intra-day flexibility doesn't really solve the problem of having too much to do. My solution was to squish all of the to-dos together and leave my off days 100% flexible.
Even now, I try to finish errands and chores on weekdays for this same reason: Keeping weekends open is extremely valuable.
> I have to do chores when I get home for about an hour or two
How is this possible? Are you counting exercise as a chore? I probably do 2 hours of chores in a week and that includes a lot of things related to cooking which you don’t do
You can quit your job, move somewhere else, and live a different life. Your daily routine is your choice. Technically, you don’t have to do anything at all.
Which country do you live in in which this is the case? Everywhere I've lived there have been jobs that are 9-5 and jobs that are less rigid, ranging all the way to self employment.
In general, I find myself to be someone who operates best within certain confines - for example, the time blocking from Cal Newport has been highly effective for myself.
That said, I caution against too much routine. I used to get really into it but remember many days where I felt like the day was ruined because I couldn’t get a workout in, or someone scheduled an 8am meeting, or any other myriad of things I grew dependent on. Too much structure is basically a fragile crutch, in my experience.
My personal morning “routine” is a quick cup of coffee and a half mile walk, and then straight to work. I time block the day first thing based on whatever my weekly goals for the week were, and try to keep about two hours of buffer time to allow some shifting throughout the day.
I’ve done this about a year now and it’s helped me keep the benefits of structure, without the guilt of when something “optimal” doesn’t happen.
I’ve noticed in my life I really limit my “must-dos”. In fact I may only have one. I have to run the four or so days a week I plan to. Too much structure I think doesn’t leave enough slack time and then too often does the inverse of what it disposed to do which is help you feel grounded. Everything else is sort of “agile structure”. Planning athe beginning of the day or maybe the week, but having a strict routine is almost like trying to plan years ahead of time, you just don’t know enough about what life will bring.
With a simple structure it really does feel like it brings order to chaos, if I have a really bad week and maybe don’t even get my runs in, it’s relatively easy to get my runs in the next week. Six different morning activities all at once? That’s just asking for failure.
Is there a "lite" version of Cal Newport's time-blocking techniques? I'm super interested every time I hear him explain it but I get overwhelmed and never end up implementing anything.
I too decided to take the chaos out of my life, but it was much simpler than I had always thought.
1. Stop watching Youtube and browsing Reddit in your free time
2. Stop playing games in your free time
3. Stop using your phone for wasting time
4. Stop watching TV when you eat
5. Stop listening to podcasts while you sleep
6. Stop eating snacks with TV
What ends up happening as a result
- You start to sleep earlier and better
- Reading books becomes interesting again
- You wake up earlier and feel more fresh
- Realize you have a lot of free time
- Going outside for a walk is more interesting (less boring)
- Work tasks that were boring, now hold your attention more
- Finishing work tasks, and house chores, feel more rewarding now
A much shorter summary of this 'diet' is called the 'Dopamine Detox'.
What I'm trying to say is, a lot of this chaos and burnout, is just related to our addiction of time-wasting and addictive habits like browsing youtube and reddit more and more.
That’s a good set of rules to follow – if not the letter, then the spirit, e.g., I spend hardly any time on sites such as YouTube or Reddit so for myself, I’d replace Rule 1 with “Cut down on reading Hacker News (or other sources of interesting articles)” and I’d replace Rule 2 with “spend less time watching TV/films”.
I’ve recently got into the habit of watching TV while eating and snacking and after reading Rules 4 and 6, have come to the conclusion that it’s a bad habit; eating should be intentional and purposeful, not a thoughtless activity while being mentally engaged by some other activity. I don’t know if I could go cold turkey with external stimulation so from now on, if I’m eating alone, I’ll just listen to music (instead of reading or watching TV).
I've been reading through "I Didn't Do the Thing Today", which is in a lot of ways a rejection of the prevailing productivity sentiment. It's about self-care and treating yourself with grace, even when things don't come out as the most profitable or productive, at least so far.
And in that spirit I'll say to the author of this post: It's okay to nap in the middle of the day, or not eat breakfast, or work first thing in the morning and not do a Morning Page or Meditation or whatever aspirational-you has decided is worthwhile. We are all doing our best in the circumstances we have.
In my life I've found that better is really a game of averages. Some days are going to be great. Some weeks have a severe downward trend with no real reason that I can tell. Well. Maybe it's due to bad sleep quality or lack of exercise. All I can do is try to be the person that makes the good decisions and accept the person that I am, and that keeps me pretty happy.
I know this feeling extremely well. Routines are routinely broken by me, but I found that I just needed someone else there with me to do the thing. Even if it is just their presence.
I recently left a 400k+ job to work full time on an app addressing this exact problem, despite having a wife, daughter, and Bay Area mortgage . Of course productivity apps are a crowded space but I have a burning need to build the right tool for myself , and I believe might help others.
Remote work has pressed the need for me to improve here since I think I benefited by being in the same room as coworkers and being alone in my home the whole workday has pressed my ability to stay focused.
I struggled with ADHD , but because of past health issues, medication is off the table. Even though Vyvanse was a miracle for focus it caused some serious other problems. And the more I read about psychiatry and psychology the more I’ve gotten excited by lifestyle changes.
One thing I feel strongly about is that productivity tools need to be descriptive, not prescriptive . I’m not a robot, I need to work on what my gut is telling me to work on rather than what some reminder is telling me to work on. But I also need to do work and not scroll Reddit for hours so a tool helps with accountability for that.
I can’t over emphasize how enamored I am with Andrew Huberman Youtube video on the topic. He’s a Stanford neuroscientist with all sorts of suggestions on managing our dopamine levels with techniques like cold water therapy and intermittent fasting.
Social media, including hacker news and excessive email checking, can destroy your motivation if you don’t keep it in check. If you’re struggling with focus you simply have to monitor and moderate these things.
Please email me, username at gmail if this topic is of interest to you.
What I don't understand is that with a $400K salary you should easily be able to retire altogether within a few short years, which should completely solve the productivity issue. You wouldn't even have to dial back your lifestyle too much unless you are currently burning it on Veblen goods.
I'm grateful you are working on the app, however, as that sounds very helpful.
Instead of desiring and expecting structure and going limp once the structure fails, try instead to drop the crutches and strengthen the "muscle" that keeps you always dynamically evaluating what is best for you to be doing at this very moment. There's a desire to have a simple world where you just color in between the lines and everything works out while you go on autopilot, but the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry - the world does not owe you your schedule. Just stay awake and always be re-evaluating, don't get caught in sunk-cost fallacy, and don't hold onto anything too tightly.
No. Don't drop crutches before you can walk with crutches. Then try not to use them less. Some people will always need crutches, that's okay. If you can fly you run, if you can't run you walk, if you can't walk you crawl, if you can't crawl you roll around. Keep moving :).
How do you even start doing this? I have poor self control and usually start projects/tasks right as the deadline approaches. I wish I was that productive all the time...
Structure is important. Personally, it has been something I've found more difficult to adhere to as I've gotten older and more successful.
When you start out in your career you find structure essential: I HAD to be up early or I wouldn't make the 30 mins walk to my train. I HAD to get home on time to collect my child from nursery, and I couldn't risk the train being late.
As I've progressed in my career I've been able to afford cars. I don't have to get up so early because I can work remotely. My son is almost an adult and mostly looks after himself.
I think it is a momentum thing and you don't realise when you are on that train. Younger me could wake at 4am to travel and start work at 8am so he could leave early, collect his son and then go to the gym.
Older me is lazy. My body aches, I don't have the drive I used to have. I'm comfortable. But I'm not really comfortable; I'm drained; I'm aching and I'm struggling to enjoy things.
Noone talks about the affect of the grind you have to do early on in life.
Yeah I'm about where you are, maybe a little past that. My kids are at university or out on their own. I don't really have rigid work hours. I can easily go to bed and sleep for 10 or 12 hours. I think I am slowly recovering from about three decades of sleep deprivation.
Years ago I had the idea to create an automated "task assigner" to solve this problem. Once loaded with suitable data (perhaps a hard problem), it would just feed you tasks, "Do this now", and you'd do the tasks and feel happy that you had completed its assigned tasks. Based on the theory that the trouble isn't with doing stuff but more deciding what do do and in which order. Too busy to actually write it though.
Rituals can be important. I recently worked on a mostly daily exercise routine and it's life changing. I'm now focusing on a monthly/weekly/daily planning. If I try to even do two habits, I have much lower results.
Counterintuitively, there's requirements to have more slack time. It's has to be dedicated and active. I need time to waste. I just need that time to be intentional, timed and shamefree. One trick, I use is to set a timer, get myself a glass of water, and then turn down the bed like a hotel before a Movie.
I recently retired from working for other companies after a 35 year career; but I have a personal side-project that I have worked on for about a decade. During that time I would usually spend spare time on it in the evenings or on weekends. Now I can work on it anytime I like.
Without some kind of structure, it is easy to let a whole week or two go by without accomplishing much of anything. So I make sure that I get up at 7am every morning and do something productive on it each day. Some days I will only spend a couple hours on it, others I will work 10+ hours on it.
Since startup founders often have to wear many hats, it can be a challenge to decide what to work on each day. To prevent boredom and to spread tasks around so that progress is made in several different areas; I roll a single die every day to decide which of six areas to work on that day. 1 = Work on a new feature. 2 = Test an existing feature or run benchmarks. 3 = Fix bugs or optimize some code. 4 = Write documentation, blogs, or newsletters. 5 = Work on marketing and sales. 6 = Reach out to existing customers for feedback or help them figure out how to use it better.
Structure is good, but it’s really hard to self impose. Before you had to do one thing: work within a structure. Having to self impose means you have to do two things: create structure and then do the work within it.
It doesn’t help that advancing as a technical worker often removes that structure, or forces you to create it. I am given freedom as a perk of seniority, but for me it’s been a burden.
I'm the opposite. I hate structure and predictability. I keep launching new side projects, changing jobs, changing countries because I can't stand repetition or structure.
I enjoy doing nothing, going to sleep and waking up when I feel like it. It's the only time I feel happy. It's too bad people like me don't usually get rich. I'm 100% certain that money would buy me happiness. I don't even need it to buy stuff. I don't care about material things. I don't care about status. I just need enough money to do nothing whilst not having to live in a forest.
This is a weird article. It has almost no content, and is just a small personal journal entry. It has the exact same sign-off as a different personal journal entry (with slightly more context) that got front-page exposure earlier today, and submitted by the exact same person: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=memorable, who is a developer for the blogging software these articles were authored with. Feels like a weird / non-genuine stealth marketing campaign.
It is important to listen to the body. I tried to have a spartan level of self discipline and that put me in a express route to burn out. And I burned out.
Burn out is not easy to climb out of, so I would rather be less than ideally productive than be disciplined to an extent that ignores my humanity and that damages me severely.
I feel like it's a losing game to try to force yourself into a "productivity" mindset, as if you're some type of black box that needs to be optimized for certain behavior.
Structure is good and habit is key, but don't imprison yourself in it, in my opinion.
A local rooster waking me up everyday at 530am has done wonders for my productivity. I'm not even joking, I wake up and close the windows so my wife doesn't get bothered, make coffee, code for a few hours before work, then do my work day, play with my son, and finally I end up going to bed quite early (10am) due to being dead-ass tired. I was about to try and get rid of the rooster, but I actually love the little dude now.
[+] [-] jasonshen|3 years ago|reply
He actually decided to get a job as an Amazon warehouse worker for 6 weeks for exactly the reason OP is struggling with: to get structure.
> In November, I suddenly thought, "I should at least get some sort of job somewhere just to have some regularity to my schedule, to enforce some daily practices". My number one priority was just to have structured work that would force me to get up every day—work that was very different from white collar jobs, in that I did not want to be asked to make a lot of decisions everyday.
> I didn't want the stress of managing people and teams. I didn't want the politics of subjective decisions being debated amongst team members. I wanted literally to be told what to do every day and I wanted that structure to be rigorous. I strongly felt that would help me get out of my depression.
https://www.jasonshen.com/120/
Update: posted this on HN since it seems to resonate https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072083
[+] [-] fudged71|3 years ago|reply
I dream of a future of tech work that is more similar to the gym, rather than sitting at a desk. Some kind of augmented reality work space where you intentionally add physical friction (reaching, pulling, pushing), physical objects, human interactions, etc and lots of standing. I imagine the mental rewards of this approach would be really interesting, and you might finish the work day feeling physically energized.
[+] [-] pugets|3 years ago|reply
I made the mistake of trying to organize a master plan for how I would live my days. In my experience, it just doesn’t work out the way you plan it. Daily life is too chaotic.
I now use a much simpler approach instead. 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm. These are the times by which I need to get something done.
For example, 8am: Walk the dog. By 8, it should be done. If it gets done before 7, even better. If it gets done at 8:10, start earlier tomorrow. 12pm: Fold the laundry. 4pm: Go to the store, call mom, read. 8pm: Make dinner, take out the trash.
When you are comfortable with how many tasks you assign yourself, add more tasks. But don’t go crazy when you’re just starting off. Keeping one habit is better than flirting with five.
[+] [-] akira2501|3 years ago|reply
I found the same to be true with dieting. You shouldn't plan your diet around single days of eating, you should plan it around an entire week of eating.
[+] [-] steve_adams_86|3 years ago|reply
Some days I just wander for 15 minutes and look at the sun or feel the air and enjoy the moment. Other days maybe I'll start around 5:30 and carry on for an hour or two, then come home and get my kids ready for their day. It doesn't matter, and that's kind of the point. As long as I've made the time for it, as long as I get up and do it, I can feel it out and do what feels good.
It means I'm always awake and ready when I start my day. There's no dragging myself to my computer or trying to keep up with getting the kids ready. By letting myself ease into the day, energizing myself with fresh air and movement, I get way ahead of where I used to be despite spending far more time "doing nothing".
My other ritual, I suppose, is bed time. I get to sleep around 9:30, no matter what. Didn't work enough? Didn't make lunches? It doesn't matter. Just rest. I'll catch up in the morning after I wander aimlessly and find myself again.
My wife doesn't like my early bed time (she's a night owl), but I've begun guarding it closely. The structure isn't much, but it's enough. Like the author suspects for themselves, I really do need it.
Everything that happens in between is usually chunked into loose "get work done" and "hang out with family" – specific tasks are pretty easy to schedule into there, and I'm just careful to ensure there's little overlap. The boundaries of the day being clear makes it way easier to remain focused and ensure I don't end up trying to do everything at once.
I suspect if everyone made sure they got good sleep and had consistent wake and sleep structure, so many other parts of their days would fall into place as well.
[+] [-] spearingthehead|3 years ago|reply
I kept a log of my job applications from last year. Going over them recently, I noticed that the timestamps gradually creeped up from afternoon to late evening as the year ended. I had a set "application window" of an hour but that window gradually shifted more and more into the night. I now go to bed very late around 4am and usually wake up at 1pm.
For some reason I find it hard to give the morning a "greater purpose" when you don't have a 9-5. There's not much in outdoor hobbies that I want to do (or afford to do) and I clean sporadically, no set schedule. I feel much less worse being awake and inside in the late night hours than to be up in the morning hours with nothing productive, so I just sleep through those morning hours. My peak energy has shifted more towards the late night.
Looking to see if I perhaps need an accountability partner. I am single and don't talk to close friends as much and even if I did they wouldn't be available most of the day because of their work schedules.
[+] [-] notjustanymike|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] germandiago|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rejectfinite|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Daunk|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cmehdy|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] soupfordummies|3 years ago|reply
This is the second most top comment.
Also really illustrates the whole “grass is always greener …” thing.
[+] [-] doix|3 years ago|reply
Obviously if you have kids or are a carer that probably does not apply.
[+] [-] PragmaticPulp|3 years ago|reply
When I was younger, I switched to a 4x10s schedule for this exact reason. The limited time left after commute (long at the time) and other obligations at the end of the day felt wasted.
Somewhat surprisingly, I felt better when I decided that my 4 work days per week would be solid work/chores/obligations from morning to night. It no longer felt like I was missing out on anything because I wasn't trying to squeeze some hobby or social activity into a tired 2-3 hour slot at the end of the day. My free time and my work time were as separate as they could possibly get.
Even intra-day flexibility doesn't really solve the problem of having too much to do. My solution was to squish all of the to-dos together and leave my off days 100% flexible.
Even now, I try to finish errands and chores on weekdays for this same reason: Keeping weekends open is extremely valuable.
[+] [-] balfirevic|3 years ago|reply
What chores take up 1-2 hours each and every day, considering lunch and dinner are taken care of at work?
Edit: didn't sound to me like you have kids from your comment, if you do then it makes sense.
[+] [-] dijonman2|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 3qz|3 years ago|reply
How is this possible? Are you counting exercise as a chore? I probably do 2 hours of chores in a week and that includes a lot of things related to cooking which you don’t do
[+] [-] xyzzy4747|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throwaway22032|3 years ago|reply
Which country do you live in in which this is the case? Everywhere I've lived there have been jobs that are 9-5 and jobs that are less rigid, ranging all the way to self employment.
[+] [-] ar_lan|3 years ago|reply
That said, I caution against too much routine. I used to get really into it but remember many days where I felt like the day was ruined because I couldn’t get a workout in, or someone scheduled an 8am meeting, or any other myriad of things I grew dependent on. Too much structure is basically a fragile crutch, in my experience.
My personal morning “routine” is a quick cup of coffee and a half mile walk, and then straight to work. I time block the day first thing based on whatever my weekly goals for the week were, and try to keep about two hours of buffer time to allow some shifting throughout the day.
I’ve done this about a year now and it’s helped me keep the benefits of structure, without the guilt of when something “optimal” doesn’t happen.
[+] [-] mikkergp|3 years ago|reply
With a simple structure it really does feel like it brings order to chaos, if I have a really bad week and maybe don’t even get my runs in, it’s relatively easy to get my runs in the next week. Six different morning activities all at once? That’s just asking for failure.
[+] [-] TurkishPoptart|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] technovader|3 years ago|reply
I too decided to take the chaos out of my life, but it was much simpler than I had always thought.
1. Stop watching Youtube and browsing Reddit in your free time 2. Stop playing games in your free time 3. Stop using your phone for wasting time 4. Stop watching TV when you eat 5. Stop listening to podcasts while you sleep 6. Stop eating snacks with TV
What ends up happening as a result - You start to sleep earlier and better - Reading books becomes interesting again - You wake up earlier and feel more fresh - Realize you have a lot of free time - Going outside for a walk is more interesting (less boring) - Work tasks that were boring, now hold your attention more - Finishing work tasks, and house chores, feel more rewarding now
A much shorter summary of this 'diet' is called the 'Dopamine Detox'.
What I'm trying to say is, a lot of this chaos and burnout, is just related to our addiction of time-wasting and addictive habits like browsing youtube and reddit more and more.
[+] [-] Anthony-G|3 years ago|reply
I’ve recently got into the habit of watching TV while eating and snacking and after reading Rules 4 and 6, have come to the conclusion that it’s a bad habit; eating should be intentional and purposeful, not a thoughtless activity while being mentally engaged by some other activity. I don’t know if I could go cold turkey with external stimulation so from now on, if I’m eating alone, I’ll just listen to music (instead of reading or watching TV).
[+] [-] leobg|3 years ago|reply
Thank you.
[+] [-] reciprocate|3 years ago|reply
And in that spirit I'll say to the author of this post: It's okay to nap in the middle of the day, or not eat breakfast, or work first thing in the morning and not do a Morning Page or Meditation or whatever aspirational-you has decided is worthwhile. We are all doing our best in the circumstances we have.
In my life I've found that better is really a game of averages. Some days are going to be great. Some weeks have a severe downward trend with no real reason that I can tell. Well. Maybe it's due to bad sleep quality or lack of exercise. All I can do is try to be the person that makes the good decisions and accept the person that I am, and that keeps me pretty happy.
[+] [-] Ilasky|3 years ago|reply
In the ADHD community, it’s called body doubling ( https://doubleapp.xyz/blog/how-to-body-double ), but it can absolutely extend to those outside of the ADHD sphere as well.
[+] [-] waprin|3 years ago|reply
Remote work has pressed the need for me to improve here since I think I benefited by being in the same room as coworkers and being alone in my home the whole workday has pressed my ability to stay focused.
I struggled with ADHD , but because of past health issues, medication is off the table. Even though Vyvanse was a miracle for focus it caused some serious other problems. And the more I read about psychiatry and psychology the more I’ve gotten excited by lifestyle changes.
One thing I feel strongly about is that productivity tools need to be descriptive, not prescriptive . I’m not a robot, I need to work on what my gut is telling me to work on rather than what some reminder is telling me to work on. But I also need to do work and not scroll Reddit for hours so a tool helps with accountability for that.
I can’t over emphasize how enamored I am with Andrew Huberman Youtube video on the topic. He’s a Stanford neuroscientist with all sorts of suggestions on managing our dopamine levels with techniques like cold water therapy and intermittent fasting.
Social media, including hacker news and excessive email checking, can destroy your motivation if you don’t keep it in check. If you’re struggling with focus you simply have to monitor and moderate these things.
Please email me, username at gmail if this topic is of interest to you.
[+] [-] Bakary|3 years ago|reply
I'm grateful you are working on the app, however, as that sounds very helpful.
[+] [-] colordrops|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] johnchristopher|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mannymanman|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davbryn|3 years ago|reply
As I've progressed in my career I've been able to afford cars. I don't have to get up so early because I can work remotely. My son is almost an adult and mostly looks after himself.
I think it is a momentum thing and you don't realise when you are on that train. Younger me could wake at 4am to travel and start work at 8am so he could leave early, collect his son and then go to the gym.
Older me is lazy. My body aches, I don't have the drive I used to have. I'm comfortable. But I'm not really comfortable; I'm drained; I'm aching and I'm struggling to enjoy things.
Noone talks about the affect of the grind you have to do early on in life.
[+] [-] SoftTalker|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dboreham|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wadefletch|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hackerfromthefu|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jskulski|3 years ago|reply
Counterintuitively, there's requirements to have more slack time. It's has to be dedicated and active. I need time to waste. I just need that time to be intentional, timed and shamefree. One trick, I use is to set a timer, get myself a glass of water, and then turn down the bed like a hotel before a Movie.
[+] [-] didgetmaster|3 years ago|reply
Without some kind of structure, it is easy to let a whole week or two go by without accomplishing much of anything. So I make sure that I get up at 7am every morning and do something productive on it each day. Some days I will only spend a couple hours on it, others I will work 10+ hours on it.
Since startup founders often have to wear many hats, it can be a challenge to decide what to work on each day. To prevent boredom and to spread tasks around so that progress is made in several different areas; I roll a single die every day to decide which of six areas to work on that day. 1 = Work on a new feature. 2 = Test an existing feature or run benchmarks. 3 = Fix bugs or optimize some code. 4 = Write documentation, blogs, or newsletters. 5 = Work on marketing and sales. 6 = Reach out to existing customers for feedback or help them figure out how to use it better.
[+] [-] dexwiz|3 years ago|reply
It doesn’t help that advancing as a technical worker often removes that structure, or forces you to create it. I am given freedom as a perk of seniority, but for me it’s been a burden.
[+] [-] Xcelerate|3 years ago|reply
I’ve noticed that having a routine is also about the best way to accelerate the perception of the passage of time.
The more routine my life is, the quicker the years go by, and I look back and say “what did I do during all that time?”
My most memorable years are the ones with a lot of variety, change, and novelty.
[+] [-] Bakary|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jongjong|3 years ago|reply
I enjoy doing nothing, going to sleep and waking up when I feel like it. It's the only time I feel happy. It's too bad people like me don't usually get rich. I'm 100% certain that money would buy me happiness. I don't even need it to buy stuff. I don't care about material things. I don't care about status. I just need enough money to do nothing whilst not having to live in a forest.
[+] [-] nightpool|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nodelessness|3 years ago|reply
Burn out is not easy to climb out of, so I would rather be less than ideally productive than be disciplined to an extent that ignores my humanity and that damages me severely.
[+] [-] Tao3300|3 years ago|reply
That's because you didn't have a subjugated population of helots taking care of everything that isn't your core competency ;)
[+] [-] alpark3|3 years ago|reply
Structure is good and habit is key, but don't imprison yourself in it, in my opinion.
[+] [-] ok_dad|3 years ago|reply