2. Break things down into small tasks

3. Checklists for all tasks, preferably on paper, crossing things out feels nice

4. Work surrounded by people, I need the accountability of being observed. Go to the office more often, use Focusmate where you pair with strangers, or even open an empty video call with just yourself and have yourself on camera on one screen.

5. In general look for environments that give frequent feedback, as frequent as possible. That's why long things and big projects need to be broken down.

6. Noise cancelling headphones, repetitive music with a nice beat and no lyrics.

7. But the main that unlocked everything was the medication, without it the rest of the tips don't do much.

Avoid mentioning any practice which involves technology.

This is just an excuse to not get to work. Good luck.

Why? Isn’t your doodling using “technology”? Or do you mean “Avoid mentioning any practice which involves technology that I don’t like.”

2. I clean my workspace and do other minor chores the day before, so that I can get right to work. A messy kitchen means you need to wash dishes before you start cooking.

3. I remove friction for getting started. My art stuff is always out. I just have to sit and start.

4. I aggressively reduce information being pushed to me unless it’s critical. When in focus mode, my devices are totally silent. Nothing should take me out of my task unless it cannot wait.

5. A strong coffee after a long night’s sleep, paired with a good breakfast.

I go to Krav Maga also and sometimes we're going pretty hard and fast striking repeatedly. It can be so tiring, but I find I can enter a zone where I am breathing deeply and slowly while going even faster or harder after I've noticed that I'm tired.

Probably summed up with "Breath Work".

My biggest unlock has been ruthlessly protecting "deep work blocks" on my calendar. Not just blocking time, but treating those blocks as sacred. No meetings, no "quick calls," no exceptions. If someone tries to schedule over it, I move heaven and earth to find another time.

The killer insight: *context-switching isn't just about switching tasks, it's about switching between maker mode and manager mode.* Even checking a single Slack message can pull you out of flow for 20+ minutes. Paul Graham's "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule" essay nailed this years ago, but we keep forgetting it.

Since I'm building a scheduling tool right now, I think about this constantly—how do we design systems that protect focus instead of fragmenting it? Most scheduling tools optimize for "maximize meetings packed into calendars." The better question is: how do we help people create MORE uninterrupted time?

Anyone here use calendar/scheduling tools specifically to CREATE boundaries rather than fill time?