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Obtaining Focus

One of ths things I have found most difficult about learning to code and writing code is Obtaining The Focus. Because of the amount of intangible bits of information you need to hold in your brain all the time when you ar coding on anything even moderately challenging, it can take a good 20-30 minutes to really get 'into' the coding. If you're interrupted - by, say, having to answer the door for a delivery - you lose that focus, and you have to spend time getting back into 'the zone'.

Sometimes whole days of poor productivity result from just being unable to get enough focus to get the job done. Occasionally you have to write off a whole day because of repeated distractions. The distractions don't always come from outside or from other people.

You can't insulate yourself from all distractions, but you can do some things to try to reduce them.

  • Find a place to code with fewer distractions around. It needn't be silent. But if you can see a load of jobs to do, or are being called by name all the time, you'll struggle to find focus.

  • Make yourself comfortable. Aim for a good posture, yes of course, but mostly aim to be comfortable. I sometimes code laid out on the sofa.

  • Headphones can help. A developer friend of mine once said that he wears headphones 100% of the time at work - even if he's not actually listening to music! - he felt it definitely stops people from interrupting your focus unless they really needed to. A decent pair of headphones will isolate you from outside noise, and also give you immense listening pleasure!

  • I've found that listening to instrumental music can let you fall into focus easier. Classical music or any other instrumental music works, although I've particularly found that music with a steady, semi-hypnotic beat works really well. I've become quite a fan of the Carbon Based Lifeforms and also a genre called Psybient/Psychill. There are some good Concentration/Coding playlists on Spotify and YouTube. 'Lo-fi beats' also seem to help with focus. (I'm way too old to be making any kind of music recommendations to anyone, but if I was going to, this is what I'd say) Music is very individual though. Listen to what works for you. Instrumental Metal? Bardcore?

  • If you have a really excitingly productive day, it's often followed by a day which is disappointingly scatterbrained and aimless. And vice versa. So don't worry about these 'off' days whatsoever, the next day will likely be back to normal. Roll with the off days. If your brain won't write code on those days, then let it do whatever you can get it to do. Maybe rest? Come back to the code another day.

Tip - Abilene, TX and the ZOUD

Know where Abilene, TX is and know why you do not want to go there. Recognise when other people are going there. Help them avoid it, if you can. Know where the Zone Of Uncomfortable Debate is, and go there as often as is necessary.