4 ms·

Avoid stress and distractions. Do not multitask. Take breaks to eat (healthy foods), exercise, and sleep. Feel free to discuss the problem with friends and c

by Goladus 17y ago

Avoid stress and distractions. Do not multitask. Take breaks to eat (healthy foods), exercise, and sleep. Feel free to discuss the problem with friends and colleagues but minimize emotional investment with other people. Read books and articles on the subject. Study existing tools and study similar problems. If you can't make incremental progress on a solution you can incrementally increase your chance to solve it all at once by getting smarter and getting better tools. No facebook, television, hacker news, video games, twitter, dating, drinking. I would not say this is a particularly healthy lifestyle in the long run. When possible incremental progress will make it easier to live a happy fulfilling life. But if you really need to solve something...

wisty 17y ago
Multi-tasking can be OK ... depending on the person. Some people love it, some fall apart. But yeah, "Avoid stress and distractions. Do not multitask. Take breaks to eat (healthy foods), exercise, and sleep. Feel free to discuss the problem with friends and colleagues but minimize emotional investment with other people." I'll add: Make progress, even if it's not progress. I teach english. If my students are stuck, I tell them to answer the question in their native language. Or just guess. Or say something that isn't even relevant. There are 3 reasons why I say this: 1) you look busy, so your boss will be happy, 2) you feel better and might subconsciously clear the block just by not stressing over it, and 3) you start filling in the jigsaw pieces around the block, which might make the solution easier to reach.
- timwiseman 17y ago
  Research has repeatedly shown that virtually no one can multitask effectively (http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/03/6417.ars http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/03/6417.ars has a laymen's summary of some for one place). The closest thing to an exception I know of is listening to music. I will listen to music while working on hard problems, but then I tend to choose music I know well and I use it to block out more distracting sounds rather than pay much attention to it.
  - lmkg 17y ago
    I found I can listen to music so long as it doesn't have lyrics (non-lyrical vocals are OK). When I was in college, I had a special playlist of wordless electronica I would use for writing essays. Someone once told me that there was a study showing that most music tends to decrease work effectiveness, but classic music actually increases it (I do not have a link). Sadly, I'm an uncultured boor and while classical music sounds pleasant it's not my favorite by a long shot. I compromised by including some techno remixes of classical compositions in my essay-writing playlist.
    - khafra 17y ago
      Even classical music is rather suspect, although I've lost the original article: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/02/thoughtful-music.html#comment-387795 http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/02/thoughtful-music.html#...
      - dasil003 17y ago
        Classical music is more suspect because it's attention grabbing. Rhythmic music is better.
        trafficlight 17y ago
        I've been trying background noise instead of music. At first it can be a little annoying, but it falls into the background is actually quite nice http://simplynoise.com http://simplynoise.com - I prefer the brown noise, myself.
    - timwiseman 17y ago
      I know this is off topic, but techno remixes of classics sounds interesting. Any recommendations?
  - jwr 17y ago
    Music engages your creative hemisphere, thus hampering your creative thinking capabilities. For me this wasn't a problem when configuring routers, but I found that if I listened to music, I could spend an hour programming a solution to a problem that could have been sidestepped entirely. I read some articles about that, but don't have a reference handy. In any case, once I noticed the effects it has on me, I am being extra careful.

by Goladus 17y ago

wisty 17y ago

Multi-tasking can be OK ... depending on the person. Some people love it, some fall apart. But yeah, "Avoid stress and distractions. Do not multitask. Take breaks to eat (healthy foods), exercise, and sleep. Feel free to discuss the problem with friends and colleagues but minimize emotional investment with other people." I'll add: Make progress, even if it's not progress. I teach english. If my students are stuck, I tell them to answer the question in their native language. Or just guess. Or say something that isn't even relevant. There are 3 reasons why I say this: 1) you look busy, so your boss will be happy, 2) you feel better and might subconsciously clear the block just by not stressing over it, and 3) you start filling in the jigsaw pieces around the block, which might make the solution easier to reach.

timwiseman 17y ago
Research has repeatedly shown that virtually no one can multitask effectively (http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/03/6417.ars http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/03/6417.ars has a laymen's summary of some for one place). The closest thing to an exception I know of is listening to music. I will listen to music while working on hard problems, but then I tend to choose music I know well and I use it to block out more distracting sounds rather than pay much attention to it.
- lmkg 17y ago
  I found I can listen to music so long as it doesn't have lyrics (non-lyrical vocals are OK). When I was in college, I had a special playlist of wordless electronica I would use for writing essays. Someone once told me that there was a study showing that most music tends to decrease work effectiveness, but classic music actually increases it (I do not have a link). Sadly, I'm an uncultured boor and while classical music sounds pleasant it's not my favorite by a long shot. I compromised by including some techno remixes of classical compositions in my essay-writing playlist.
  - khafra 17y ago
    Even classical music is rather suspect, although I've lost the original article: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/02/thoughtful-music.html#comment-387795 http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/02/thoughtful-music.html#...
    - dasil003 17y ago
      Classical music is more suspect because it's attention grabbing. Rhythmic music is better.
      - trafficlight 17y ago
        I've been trying background noise instead of music. At first it can be a little annoying, but it falls into the background is actually quite nice http://simplynoise.com http://simplynoise.com - I prefer the brown noise, myself.
  - timwiseman 17y ago
    I know this is off topic, but techno remixes of classics sounds interesting. Any recommendations?
- jwr 17y ago
  Music engages your creative hemisphere, thus hampering your creative thinking capabilities. For me this wasn't a problem when configuring routers, but I found that if I listened to music, I could spend an hour programming a solution to a problem that could have been sidestepped entirely. I read some articles about that, but don't have a reference handy. In any case, once I noticed the effects it has on me, I am being extra careful.