On a side note, I find that this flow state has it's addiction of it's own. I find myself doing whatever I can to find time for it. I feel like the reason mathematicians, physicists and artists of the past produced such great results is, they found the flow state so addictive, more addictive than balancing your health or family life, and thus dedicated almost entirety of their lives on it. Just have to be careful on that one. After all, our purpose is (I think) is not just working.
Why don’t posts like this ever explain what the end goal is? The biggest problem in my life is that all this work and productivity feels meaningless. Everyone is always writing as if these goals are common knowledge but I don’t even know why I work anymore other than I can’t retire yet.
Nice post. It really is a challenge to find time and mental space for one’s creative moments when everything around us is literally optimised to maximise engagement. Even places like Netflix/Prime/AppleTV where we’re supposed to go for recreation, would rather you quickly flick through several “shallow” productions than invest in something deep and meaningful.
Like with food one aspect to realize is that you can nudge yourself one way or another by making certain decisions in front.
It is harder to eat unhealthy if you don't buy groceries that allow you to make unhealthy food. And you buy unhealthy food when you enter the grocery store hungry.
Similar frontloaded decisions affect digital consumption. This is mostly about how we design the places where we consume, how we set up our devices etc.
A good way to start is to switch off notifications for certain classes of apps and setup an automatic do-not-disturb based on your schedule (e.g. between 22:00 and 10:00). Don't put distracting apps on Desktop and home screens, those should only be opened by you if you actively decided to do so — adding multiple steps to doing so is a feature, not a bug.
If you really wanna go hardcore you could DNS block certain apps during certain times, forcing you to read a book instead.
In the end it is just about creating an environment for yourself where the things you want to do are easier choices than the things you want to avoid.
> Not reading the news
I do this too. I’ve even managed to go years without opening the news. What I can’t deny, the news still sneaks in through WhatsApp/Telegram groups.
> or caring about strangers opinions has done wonders for my psyche.
The final bos !. Jumping into these kinds of conversations just to prove you're smart—or look smart—is the ultimate time stealer. The dopamine hits hard.
Yes, i proved i'm smarter than my average friends. friends also happy to get good insights from me.
The ironic part? times fades away while the quality of my work takes a nosedive.
Dumbest tradeoff i've learned the hard way.
Tangentially related, I finished “You Should Quit Reddit” by Jacob Desforges yesterday, at the recommendation of a fellow HN user. Definitely worth a read if you are leaning that way already and just need a few well-reasoned arguments to seal the deal.
I found it difficult to work when connected to the internet. (Unmedicated ADHD.)
So I'd turn it off before sleep (as part of basic "hygiene"), and keep it off (router and phone) for at least the first hour the next day.
I'd wake up and begin working immediately. Usually I'd get so much done this way, that I'd choose to stay offline for a few more hours voluntarily.
This routine I developed to deal with a disability is now being promoted by YouTube influencers as a productivity secret used by billionaires, which I find endlessly amusing!
I agree with everything in this post, and have had similar reactions to changing environment.
BUT. I think it is easy to lose sight that these practices only work for a small segment of society that have high paying jobs and a lot of freedom. And software engineers make up the bulk of them.
I really do dig the Software Engineer = Artist Comparison. SE do 'create', use creativity to solve problems. And also 'creative' like a writer or poet, painter. And Flow is important.
But also, there is a reason a lot of artists don't make a lot of money. And, sadly, the 'creative drive' to do Open Source projects, also does not pay.
So, follow your dream to hang out in coffee shops writing code, but know that is a luxury that can end any minute, like with the first major illness.
I recently got back into coding (thank you LLMs!) and I find this is much more isolating lifestyle. If I didn’t find the problem solving so rewarding and money was not a consideration I would actually prefer a more social job with MORE distractions even though I consider myself introvert. A social job forces interactions on you. You may not become a better coder but you will become a better communicator and arguably a person that’s easier to live or work with. So isolating and living distraction free is just a spectrum that you don’t want to overdo in either direction.
If you have to do as much as he does to get in the flow then you have no idea what flow is nor how to enter it. Much of what is says is a great help to seeing flow however.
To find flow all you have to do is look around you because you are already in it.
Flow is always happening and it is not personal to any one being.
To get in the flow of a river you just have to jump in it. The minute you try to make the "perfect" river to jump in, that is man made flow, and not natural flow.
One can even be in the flow while using social media.
All you have to do is let go.
Anyone looking for flow I would advise they read Zhuang Zhou:
http://nothingistic.org/library/chuangtzu/
"Horses can with their hoofs tread on the hoarfrost and snow, and with their hair withstand the wind and cold; they feed on the grass and drink water; they prance with their legs and leap:-- this is the true nature of horses. Though there were made for them grand towers and large dormitories, they would prefer not to use them. But when Po-lâo (arose and) said, 'I know well how to manage horses,' (men proceeded) to singe and mark them, to clip their hair, to pare their hoofs, to halter their heads, to bridle them and hobble them, and to confine them in stables and corrals. (When subjected to this treatment), two or three in every ten of them died. (Men proceeded further) to subject them to hunger and thirst, to gallop them and race them, and to make them go together in regular order. In front were the evils of the bit and ornamented breastbands, and behind were the terrors of the whip and switch. (When so treated), more than half of them died."
> Maybe that’s the secret of a Deep Life? Not reading news,
Oh, OK, let's just uncritically hand our democracy over to whomever, then. Who ever said it required an informed populace, anyway?
I don’t have any subscriptions except for rent, transportation, a cloud VM, and a domain for my blog, and that has made an incredible difference.
This doesn’t mean I don’t watch movies or have fun—it’s just that watching movies requires jumping through a few hoops for me, so I plan carefully before settling in to watch something.
Also, not owning a device to play games and waste hours was another conscious decision I made a while ago. Kicking the TV out of your bedroom is a neat trick that works for many.
I still get distracted and doomscroll sometimes, but usually those are planned sessions. Not reading the news or caring about strangers’ opinions has done wonders for my psyche.
After a few years, all of this comes naturally to me, but when I talk to people, the first thing they’re amazed by is how I manage to live like this.