I already wrote how I manage my time in this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12736194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12736194 I'm training ha

I already wrote how I manage my time in this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12736194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12736194 I'm training hard for algorithm contests (mostly on CodeForces.com and acm.timus.ru). It requires very intense focus without any distractions. Also, it's very energy consuming (at least for me) and can be frustrating if you get stuck. But I have a problem with procrastination. To solve that, I agreed with myself that I will work on my algorithm stuff only when I turn on timer for 15, 30, 60 or 120 minutes. But if timer is turned on, I must work without any distractions at all (in complete silence, non-stop). The key idea is that it's much easier to convince myself not to be distracted for specific time frame. If it's hard for me to start working non-stop for 120 minutes, I start with 15 minute timer, after that I usually warm up and can setup timer for 30, 60 or 120 minutes with less psychological resistance. Another key idea is that in order to start working hard, it's easier to convince myself to work hard only for 15 minutes. Then after that, you become warmed up for longer work. I also record all my time to a journal. So I know exactly how much time I spent on algorithms last day, week or month. I like simplicity and keep my journal in plain text. I also wrote very simple program (C + X11 Xlib) to display histogram. Here is how it looks like: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qmd198jr17dlt1t/hours_resized.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/qmd198jr17dlt1t/hours_resized.png?... Displayed data collected since February 2016. Vertical black/grey (color alternating to differentiate between days) segments is how much time I spend each day. Vertical blue lines mark 7 days frame. Horizontal red lines mark 1 hour time.