Thread

I’ve been considering getting headphones permanently implanted in my skull as I rarely work without my ipod or some form of tunes playing. I also find breaking a project down into smaller, more manageable pieces helps me endlessly.

How do you guys work? What helps you focus?

1. Have itunes playing great tunes on a 3rd monitor, with visualizations.
2. Lower the ambient light in the room, it helps you focus on your screens.
3. Make a proper-big brew… damn good coffee.
4. Have a smoke, get chilled.
5. Arrange all your monitors, ‘spaces’ and ‘windows’ so you can work most efficiently.
6. Close all communications.
6.1. Turn off mobile.
6.2. Exit all IM Programs
6.3. Close email program
7. Take a break every 1.5/2 hours to get a brew, hit the loo and then get back to rocking your code!

That’s just my routine anyway, hope some of these things help.

Quick note on tunes…
For me, the best tunes to code to are: Rage Against the Machine, Bullet for my Valentine, Anti-Flag, Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies…... or something classical.

Red bull…. and lots of it.

Oh and some good tunes as well - Electro House usually 😊 I actually panic/stress without anything on :(

I go for Monster myself, I can’t focus without it..it’s an addiction :(

I think one thing is extremely agreed upon: caffeine.  Lots and lots of caffeine… and then some more.

My caffeine primarily comes from strong coffee.

I take a good shower every morning(after all it was socrates that said something along the lines of refresh thy self every morning).  Then I blast some music(usually some clutch or eagles of death metal) and make sure my dog, colonel rex, is fed and taken care of.  Usually by that I am awake and ready for work.  If not I know it’s going to be an off day so I take a few hours to myself to check my favorite websites and email friends or family, then work a little late.

Normally start off by reading my Google Feeds, with a cup of tea and toast. Shower then settle in, sometimes with the radio on sometimes not.

Generally when a new cup of tea every 2hrs.

Normally start off by reading my Google Feeds, with a cup of tea and toast. Shower then settle in, sometimes with the radio on sometimes not.
Generally when a new cup of tea every 2hrs.

Life on the bleeding edge, Don’t push yourself so hard man. ROFL

What can I say, I’m British, tea is very important to me, none of this coffee stuff.

If you drink tea with milk i don’t think tea is that important to you 😉

Depends what type of tea it is, if I take a fancy for some light green tea then no milk but if its a good cup of Assam then yes a spot of milk to help it along. I don’t drink it for the caffeine need, just for the taste.

it’s the only way, anyway some coffee and ravetrax.com streaming radio usually works for me

No Milk? You tea drinkers are dangerous people. :lol:

If you can’t handle the taste don’t drink it 😊 Sorry most people pretend to be beer lovers but i pretend to be a tea lover 😊 Saying you do milk in your tea is like saying you do lemonade in your beer.

The only thing all my work days have in common is listening to wfmu.org, my ears need as much challenge as my brain 😊

No Milk? You tea drinkers are dangerous people. :lol:

Why do you need caffeine if all it does is give you shakes and too little sleep 😛