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What? Do you really do this? It would drive me insane. Every 48 minutes you're interrupted by an alarm forcing you to stop what you're doing, get up, lose your train of thought, and then start over again?

Also, you can't reliably separate the work computer from the internet one if you want to search the web for help/resources. How do you manage that?



From your own web site, http://30dayflight.com/ ...

It is impossible for me to achieve the minimum level of awesomeness that I require of articles before I publish them within just a few hours in a single day, so I'm going to switch to a 3- or 5-day publishing timespan. This will hopefully keep me from going totally insane.

For someone who so goes "insane" and finds things "impossible" so easily, perhaps you should open your mind to the success strategies of others before you criticize them so hastily. Looks like you need to be doing something differently if your 30 day website is already 4 days behind on Day 7.


Wow, relax. He just asked you a question.


Sorry, I did not mean to offend you.


I use the same thing I did to quit smoking. Sort of an OCD-like 'As Good As It Gets' technique.

Step 1. Whenever I feel the 'urge' to read e.g. HN, I close my eyes and quit my browser. Then I breathe slowly and deeply three times, holding it for about 5 secs.

Usually that does it, I regain my senses and go back to work. If it doesn't work:

Step 2. I have to stare at my screen and say, out loud, "I'm the man. I'm getting shit done. I'm King fking Kong." I try to do a victorious or chest-beating gesture as well. Usually I get a little mini-dopamine rush, and then off I go.

I rarely get to step 3. But if the first two steps don't work

Step 3. I'm not allowed to do any work for the next 120 minutes, at all. I can do whatever I want, but nothing useful or productive.

That last one is nuclear. Think about it - if every time you look at that HN toolbar button, you know you're going to lose 2 minimum hours ... would you click it?

It also helps to have free time later to enjoy HN at one's leisure (something that is obviously not the case with smoking..)


I do something similar usually stopping around 45 minutes. I've gone to this method over a couple years of trial and error and it seems to be ideal for me. I have also come across studies which show that people can only focus on something for about 40-50 minutes before losing interest. So a short break is needed after that time period to refresh.

Also I have noticed that I tend to accomplish something worthy (eg. fixing a bug, implementing a small feature) at around the 45 minute point so it is good for motivation as I can take a break knowing I have accomplished something.




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