4 ms·

What I'd like to know is what his routine is like. I think I recall watching the FLT documentary and he talks about retreating to his home office for hours at a

What I'd like to know is what his routine is like. I think I recall watching the FLT documentary and he talks about retreating to his home office for hours at a time where he was not to be interrupted. I wonder how he or other mathematicians organize their time and track their progress. For most of my life I've struggled with procrastination, time management issues, and concentration problems. I feel like the only time I can concentrate is after 10pm, for a narrow window of an hour or 2 before I go to sleep. I'd guess mathematicians must not suffer from that problem or have learned to overcome it to be able to wrangle their minds around abstract mathematical constructs.

treehau5 10y ago
If you are like me -- It's something you have to chip away at slowly, because your brain is probably so used to having sudden, increased rushes of pleasurable activities -- whether that's habitually checking HN, facebook, reddit or whatever quickly, or reading an interesting topic or checking out an interesting book -- yes all these things are great, but if they aren't directly, tangibly helping you towards achieving your goals, however insightful or educational they might be, you have to be able to restrain. You can actually learn to concentrate again. It will take time and work, just like anything else in life. If you want to get in shape and start running, you don't start running 3 miles right out of the gate, no you start with maybe one mile, where you split between jogging and walking. Then you jog a full mile, then run a mile, then 1.5, etc. Same with being able to intently concentrate for long periods of time -- you have to learn how to do it. How? By trying to concentrate intently on smaller, tangible things. The better you get at it, the more you will be able to do it. That's why I like things like the pomodoro timers. On my good days, I am able to just sit down and blaze through a couple of pomodoros and not even notice the timer went off long ago. Most important thing I have found is setting tangible, short, achievable goals that all point to a larger goal, and then setting aside a reward. We are so used to having our reward now, now, now, but we need to retrain our minds that the reward comes after. There are more aspects to procrastination I have found -- fear of failure, fear of success, fixed mindset, all these concepts are great, but at the end of the day, in my opinion, I treat my brain like it is a muscle, and you can train it to do things just like anything else in life.
- digler999 10y ago
  Thank you for the tip. I will give it a try. I see procrastination/concentration impairment coming from so many directions: caffeine, information bombardment, interruptions from coworkers, noise, stress, meal-planning, simply being human and needing to rest, staying at home too much. It's overwhelming to manage. I will try pomodoro and just setting a small concentration goal and building on it.
  - treehau5 10y ago
    Thanks I am glad you found it helpful. Write something down on actual paper and hang it up on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror. Write the steps down. Focus on single steps. Reward yourself in proportion to the size of the task, don't do one little thing then go on a netflix binge. Yes distractions are always going to be there. Sadly, and I really mean sadly, the open office concept won, and even people my age (millennials and younger) are starting to become indoctrinated with the concept. In any case that's another story for another day -- focus on what you can control. Caffeine doesn't impair your concentration, but overuse can, and it isn't a replacement for sleep. Information bombardment is a problem, stop it! Is it helping you achieve your goals? Set it aside for another time, or use it as a reward. Coworkers interrupting? Place headphones on. That doesn't work? Drag a whiteboard over to block off your desk from the main traffic. If you are getting work done and knocking things out, people don't have a problem with someone focusing on getting things done. It's only when you are unproductive, do the petty things start coming in "Oh well, Jimbob is just not a good team player, he isn't making himself available enough" etc... don't focus on what you can't control and what people will say, only focus on what you can do and control, and the rest will work itself out, I promise.
- codethief 10y ago
  This is great advice. Most of the ideas you mentioned are also explained (and expanded upon) in "The Now Habit" by Neil Fiore – which I wholeheartedly recommend OP to read.
williamstein 10y ago
> I'd guess mathematicians must not suffer from that problem In my experience (both myself and what I've seen in other successful mathematicians), there is a lot of truth to your guess. I'm also a number theorist (and know Andrew, for what it's worth). I enjoy concentrating on something for a very long time, to the exclusion of everything else. I try to organize my life so that I can "retreat to my home office" and stay there and work as long as possible. The thing I struggle with is forcing myself to take breaks and stopping concentrating, since I can get way too obsessed with finishing one thing, to the exclusion of everything else. Balance is hard. An extreme fictional example of too much concentration is featured in the recent movie "The Accountant", in which the (autistic) protagonist very obsessively concentrates on an accounting situation, and is incredibly frustrated when real-world circumstances distract him from doing so.
mathetic 10y ago
It is funny you mention you have the narrow window of two hours before you sleep because if I remember correctly from Simon Singh's book, "Fermat's Last Theorem," that is exactly how much time he spent regularly on Fermat's Last Theorem (I can't remember if it was every day or less frequently). I think it took him seven years of commitment though (not counting the problems found in his paper and his fix in the subsequent year).
jamii 10y ago
Terence Tao has written about his routines - https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/on-time-management/ https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/on-time-management... I also found http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ has some pretty good suggestions.

treehau5 10y ago

If you are like me -- It's something you have to chip away at slowly, because your brain is probably so used to having sudden, increased rushes of pleasurable activities -- whether that's habitually checking HN, facebook, reddit or whatever quickly, or reading an interesting topic or checking out an interesting book -- yes all these things are great, but if they aren't directly, tangibly helping you towards achieving your goals, however insightful or educational they might be, you have to be able to restrain. You can actually learn to concentrate again. It will take time and work, just like anything else in life. If you want to get in shape and start running, you don't start running 3 miles right out of the gate, no you start with maybe one mile, where you split between jogging and walking. Then you jog a full mile, then run a mile, then 1.5, etc. Same with being able to intently concentrate for long periods of time -- you have to learn how to do it. How? By trying to concentrate intently on smaller, tangible things. The better you get at it, the more you will be able to do it. That's why I like things like the pomodoro timers. On my good days, I am able to just sit down and blaze through a couple of pomodoros and not even notice the timer went off long ago. Most important thing I have found is setting tangible, short, achievable goals that all point to a larger goal, and then setting aside a reward. We are so used to having our reward now, now, now, but we need to retrain our minds that the reward comes after. There are more aspects to procrastination I have found -- fear of failure, fear of success, fixed mindset, all these concepts are great, but at the end of the day, in my opinion, I treat my brain like it is a muscle, and you can train it to do things just like anything else in life.

digler999 10y ago
Thank you for the tip. I will give it a try. I see procrastination/concentration impairment coming from so many directions: caffeine, information bombardment, interruptions from coworkers, noise, stress, meal-planning, simply being human and needing to rest, staying at home too much. It's overwhelming to manage. I will try pomodoro and just setting a small concentration goal and building on it.
- treehau5 10y ago
  Thanks I am glad you found it helpful. Write something down on actual paper and hang it up on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror. Write the steps down. Focus on single steps. Reward yourself in proportion to the size of the task, don't do one little thing then go on a netflix binge. Yes distractions are always going to be there. Sadly, and I really mean sadly, the open office concept won, and even people my age (millennials and younger) are starting to become indoctrinated with the concept. In any case that's another story for another day -- focus on what you can control. Caffeine doesn't impair your concentration, but overuse can, and it isn't a replacement for sleep. Information bombardment is a problem, stop it! Is it helping you achieve your goals? Set it aside for another time, or use it as a reward. Coworkers interrupting? Place headphones on. That doesn't work? Drag a whiteboard over to block off your desk from the main traffic. If you are getting work done and knocking things out, people don't have a problem with someone focusing on getting things done. It's only when you are unproductive, do the petty things start coming in "Oh well, Jimbob is just not a good team player, he isn't making himself available enough" etc... don't focus on what you can't control and what people will say, only focus on what you can do and control, and the rest will work itself out, I promise.
codethief 10y ago
This is great advice. Most of the ideas you mentioned are also explained (and expanded upon) in "The Now Habit" by Neil Fiore – which I wholeheartedly recommend OP to read.

williamstein 10y ago

> I'd guess mathematicians must not suffer from that problem In my experience (both myself and what I've seen in other successful mathematicians), there is a lot of truth to your guess. I'm also a number theorist (and know Andrew, for what it's worth). I enjoy concentrating on something for a very long time, to the exclusion of everything else. I try to organize my life so that I can "retreat to my home office" and stay there and work as long as possible. The thing I struggle with is forcing myself to take breaks and stopping concentrating, since I can get way too obsessed with finishing one thing, to the exclusion of everything else. Balance is hard. An extreme fictional example of too much concentration is featured in the recent movie "The Accountant", in which the (autistic) protagonist very obsessively concentrates on an accounting situation, and is incredibly frustrated when real-world circumstances distract him from doing so.

mathetic 10y ago

It is funny you mention you have the narrow window of two hours before you sleep because if I remember correctly from Simon Singh's book, "Fermat's Last Theorem," that is exactly how much time he spent regularly on Fermat's Last Theorem (I can't remember if it was every day or less frequently). I think it took him seven years of commitment though (not counting the problems found in his paper and his fix in the subsequent year).

jamii 10y ago

Terence Tao has written about his routines - https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/on-time-management/ https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/on-time-management... I also found http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ has some pretty good suggestions.