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Great point. I like to compare work capacity to exercise capacity. Too much exercise will actually harm your fitness rather than improve it. However, reasonable
by PragmaticPulp 5y ago
Great point. I like to compare work capacity to exercise capacity. Too much exercise will actually harm your fitness rather than improve it. However, reasonable exertions, combined with appropriate rest, will improve your fitness over time.
Like exercise capacity, one's ability to work hard can also be improved through practice. This doesn't mean pulling all-nighters and chugging caffeine to override the sleepiness, though. It means setting incremental goals to try a little bit harder and then following up with proper rest and recovery.
For example, if you install time tracking software and measure that you spend 3 hours in your code editor every day (a reasonable amount for someone working an 8-hour day, due to time spent reading documentation, in meetings, and other activities), it would be a mistake to set a goal to spend 6 hours in your code editor. You'll get burned out and hate it.
However, if you set a goal to spend 3.5 hours in your code editor every day, you can likely find low-impact ways to make that happen. Maybe you're more efficient with transitioning from meetings back to coding. Or maybe you cut down time spent reading articles on HN or Twitter by 30 minutes and apply it to coding instead.
Over the course of a 5-day work week, that extra 30 minutes per day adds up to almost 3 hours extra work. If your starting point was 3 hours per day, you've basically added an extra work day to your week without giving up much.
- selestify 5y agoAre there any such tracking software that you’d recommend?
- ralmeida 5y agoI use Timing for macOS, pretty good: https://timingapp.com/ https://timingapp.com/ (available also from Setapp)
- superlopuh 5y agoI've had it pretty negatively affect my experience of using macOS due to hyperlinks taking seconds to open throughout the OS. Uninstalling it fixed the issue. I still haven't found a good alternative and am a bit sad about it.
- mrmage 5y agoHey, Daniel here, the founder of Timing. I haven't had reports from other customers about Timing slowing down URL opening. In fact, as an engineer myself, I spent a _lot_ of time optimizing Timing's tracking to be as efficient and unobtrusive as possible. If you'd like to give Timing another shot, would you mind reaching out via https://timingapp.com/contact https://timingapp.com/contact with details on the OS version and Timing version you used, as well as the apps the problems occurred with? If you need a new trial to reproduce the issue, just let me know and I'll set you up with one.
- sankumsek 5y agoNot OP, but I've found a reasonable amount of success with the free version of RescueTime.
- iamwil 5y agoQbserve
- kucing 5y agoI like wakatime.com
- JohannesH 5y agoI like manictime
- agumonkey 5y agoSeconded, I tried to push harder on too many fronts and overloaded my brain/memory to the point of physical pain (if that makes sense) Patience, sensitivity and regularity is my best bet now. Also, it's fairly well known that a lot of ideas and understanding comes outside/after workouts. ps: this is also true in music (which blends physical and intellectual sides)
- hutzlibu 5y ago"However, if you set a goal to spend 3.5 hours in your code editor every day" I would be careful trying to set up such metrics for yourself. I can stare for hours at code and not getting anything done. Then away from the screen on a walk or sitting down with pen and paper I solve the problem and implement it in 15 min in code. My point is, I would focus on a tasklist. Clear things to do at once. (Or in parallel if they are trivial.) Getting things done, not spending time doing things. Otherwise I agree to your post.
- b3kart 5y agoYes, sounds very much the the ever-harmful “butts-in-chairs” style of management, or self-management in this case.
- blackbrokkoli 5y agoThat however goes both ways. Some days you will quickly burn through six tasks on your list because they turn out to domino or all be easy or something else. Sometimes, a single item will take three days even with honest effort and deep work. If "tasks done" is your metrics, you will get just as burned here. As with all long-term habit building, I think the key here is identity forming. Be convinced that you are a person that (for example) cares about exploring their field with side projects and then ask yourself: "What would this person do?" If you believe yourself, you will then both fight through your tasklist or do X hours of honest works and find that the actual system does not even matter that much.