
How to get stuff done, automatically - acoleman616
http://www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-done/?hn
======
digitalsushi
I get a db error with the query string referrer

[http://www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-
done/](http://www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-done/) works for me

~~~
theg2
Looks like it went under and the sites down for me.

~~~
acoleman616
Always something fun and new with the server when on HN. Working on getting it
back up now...

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startupclarity
I'm sure the irony of reading these sorts of blog posts isn't lost on you all.
However, I do believe that some of these strategies and techniques can
actually work. I even wrote about it on the post 'how to make time for your
side-project'.

The key is not _just_ to break things down and to create tiny, regular
actions. It's also to _start_. Most of us like to talk and talk and not
actually do anything at all.

This procrastination and hyperbolic discounting means that we often go for the
quick fix rather than the ongoing journey to success. Starting and overcoming
our own psychology is often the hardest part.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_discounting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_discounting)

[http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/make-time-side-
project/](http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/make-time-side-project/)

~~~
bentcorner
Personally, I've found that the process of breaking down a task and writing it
down is incredibly useful. As I multitask throughout the day I forget where I
am in a particular task item, and having a list of things I'm supposed to do
all I need to do is go to the next list item and do that.

I also try to have high-level items for the day so that I know what I'm
focusing on. Anything that I need to do but can't do today I put on a list for
the next day.

It seems to be working out alright for me.

I currently just throw it all into OneNote, although it's not the greatest for
dealing with lists the way I use it, but the freeform writing surface and
search it provides makes up for it.

~~~
read
_I forget where I am in a particular task item_

Forgetting is my number one problem right now. I also noticed there's some
kind of unconscious filtering going on in your mind. Even if you write down
the tasks your mind prioritizes them on its own.

What I wish list software had was a way to push those less important tasks in
the background.

~~~
bentcorner
Be religious about writing down what you're doing, make a habit of referring
to this list when you find that you're bouncing around from task to task.

Sometimes I'll hit HN if I'm waiting for something to finish, and if I was in
the middle of something complex I've needed to write down what I was doing,
even if it was only for _literally_ a minute.

Also, when incrementally learning something it can help. Writing down in your
own words how something works can help you if you only have small chunks of
time to learn something.

~~~
read
Thanks for this, I'll try it.

I found writing down things I learned (or typing them in) makes them more
likely to stick in my mind. Particularly small phrases that pop out.

------
socrates1998
I have always struggled with automating my life habits.

It's not that I don't have goals, I have them in plenty. I have problems with
the dehumanizing, machine-like feeling it puts on life.

Doing the same thing everyday at the same time sounds horrible. I don't want
to program myself. I want to live my life according to how I feel at the
moment.

But, as you can imagine, this has created problems. You don't keep jobs by
living for the moment or doing what you feel like doing.

I am not sure if I have a point, but I think there is more to life than
becoming a programmable robot.

Maybe balance is the key. Have good habits, but try to build some flexibility
into them.

~~~
monkmartinez
So you say that you want to live as you feel, but this also creates problems.
Emotions are the problem. Better stated, lacking control of your emotions is
the problem.

You are in control of your thoughts and how you react to them. Knowing this
and practicing control has been life changing for me. /r/stoicism, my friend.

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owenversteeg
Site's down with a 404 for all pages right now. Cache:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LwUoGcd...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LwUoGcds-
okJ:www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-
done/+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

------
jqm
Good article.

Ben Franklin's schedule shot was interesting. 8-6 workday with a two hour
lunch (so 8 hours of work). For some reason I always assumed people toiled
very long hours back in those day.

~~~
bhousel
Most people _did_ toil very long hours back then, but Franklin was one of the
first to make the jump from common class into pseudo-nobility. Class mobility
was a new thing back then.

The idea of "work" was considered very uncool at the time, especially to upper
class, or social climbers like Franklin who mixed with them. I heard somewhere
that this is why old school scientific publications have names like
"Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c."
Because we're not _working_ , we're just _observing_.

~~~
josephjrobison
A few counterpoints:

"These images are backward projections of modern work patterns. And they are
false. Before capitalism, most people did not work very long hours at all. The
tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed. Our
ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure. When
capitalism raised their incomes, it also took away their time. Indeed, there
is good reason to believe that working hours in the mid-nineteenth century
constitute the most prodigious work effort in the entire history of
humankind."[1]

But also:

"Based on the amount of work performed — for example, crops raised per worker
— Carr (1992) concludes that in the seventeenth-century Chesapeake region,
“for at least six months of the year, an eight to ten-hour day of hard labor
was necessary.” This does not account for other required tasks, which probably
took about three hours per day. This workday was considerably longer than for
English laborers, who at the time probably averaged closer to six hours of
heavy labor each day."[2]

[1]
[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_w...](http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html)
[2][http://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-
history/](http://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history/)

------
elwell
> If you only come away with one thing after reading this, let it be this:
> focus on the process. Don’t focus on your output.

That kind of flies in the face of the hacker mentality and lean startup
methodology. The growing trend seems to be: _focus on creating value_ ; not
how many hours you spent working today. And I must agree with the trend in
this case.

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philip1209
The author added a "?hn" to the URL to track referrals from here - I believe
that this violates the HN ToS and should be removed by the mods.

~~~
rockdiesel
why would a referral parameter even be needed in this case? can't a person
just go into their analytics and look at all the referrals from
news.ycombinator.com without the need for a parameter in the URL?

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agueroooo
Any ideas about the habits of the brilliant programmers of past and present?
e.g. Trovalds, Sysoev etc etc?

~~~
derekp7
There's been posts about daily habits of other accomplished persons (not
necessarily programmers), and the conclusion from that discussion was that
although these techniques work for them, they would not really apply in
general. For example, some would have a glass of wine before starting work on
a project, whereas that would put me to sleep. Some athletes eat a big steak
dinner before a game, while with others it would hamper their performance.

My take on it, is that people that are good at what they do are good because
they are good, not because of any rituals.

