[ranebo]

Different things work for different people but I'll throw my techniques into the ring. I have worked from home for the last 10 years so some of these won't be suitable for a corporate environment.

- Start immediately, as soon as you get to your work environment. For me that means no breakfast, no coffee etc... until one function/problem/failing unit test/something is done. Since I'm at home when I wake up I get dressed then go straight to the computer and open my editor and start working. This gets me in the mood straight from the beginning of the day.

- I find getting into the Zone is often really about finding the next task to complete. Leaving work on your local machine with a failing unit test or compiler error helps is a good way to give you defined task to complete next time.

- If the environment is noisy and headphones are necessary, music without lyrics. I tend to like trance or orchestral movie and game soundtracks.

- If it's not part of what you want to accomplish don't check your email until after you are already running out of steam. Reading and answering emails is easy enough work but usually completely kills any flow I have or at least fills my head with information not helpful to the task at hand. Same goes for any instant messaging etc...

- In much the same vein disable the internet for a while, I've never been more productive than when I was on an overseas day flight.

- People are distractions too, late nights (when I was in my early 20s) and early mornings (nowadays) are productivity's friends.

- Don't visit sites like HN until after work is finished. Hard to do but is knowing that "Company X releases/is bought by Y" ASAP going to help you work in any way?

- Finally (Work from home/self owned businesses only) if you're not feeling it, call it a day and do something else/go out have fun. If you're anything like me, by giving yourself a break you'll make up for it in productivity later.

[gabemart]

> If the environment is noisy and headphones are necessary, music without lyrics. I tend to like trance or orchestral movie and game soundtracks.

I'll take this opportunity to plug my ambient noise generator:

http://asoftmurmur.com

There are other non-music options too:

http://coffitivity.com

http://noisli.com

http://rainycafe.com

http://mynoise.net <- very customizable. Great for enthusiasts

[Karunamon]

    <rant intensity="105%">

You have no idea how much I wish that first one would work for me. We've got a very dysfunctional 30 minutes status meeting (legacy of a long-since moved on manager) every freakin' morning which could just as easily be handled via email.

The first hour of each day is basically wasted - the first half hour nobody's going to start something because they'll get interrupted half an hour later, and the meeting itself accomplishes nothing except sapping any motivation the participants might have arrived to work with.

    </rant>

Music is usually my go-to. The Music For Programming series is very nice for the purpose, very calm, ambient type stuff.

http://musicforprogramming.net

[cykho]

These are awesome tips! I like silence the best for focus (less cognitive load the better). These have been a godsend: http://www.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-H10A-Optime-Earmuff/dp/B0000... Basically just your basic noise blocking headphones. For extra blockage insert earbuds under them. Sublime silence.

[raamdev]

I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to get an inexpensive pair of earmuffs designed specifically for blocking out sound ($20), as opposed to a really expensive pair of reference-class headphones ($200+). Most of the time I just want to block out sound. And when I want music, I can probably put in my comfy earbuds and put the earmuffs over them. Thanks for the idea!

[sparkie]

On visiting HN and other sites - it's easy to break the habit with LeechBlock for firefox, or similar for whichever browser you use.