Focus: That Flow State
Hi everyone! Welcome to Adventures In Tech, a biweekly newsletter where I discuss all the random things I’ve done, learned, or experienced while working in tech. Thank you for subscribing!
Q4 is the busiest time of the year at work for me. I work in healthcare and nearly all benefits start January 1st of every year so big projects always ramp up within the last few months of the year. I’m in the throes of one of those projects right now and nearly every day, I have to knock out quite a bit of complex work. It requires deep focus to get this work done. So I thought - why not write about everything related to focus: How do I focus deeply? How do I get lots of technical work completed and also make the time fly by?
Get in the zone
When I’m working on a big programming project, I like to “get in the zone.” What exactly does this mean? Perhaps you’ve heard of flow state. This is when a person “performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.” I am happiest at work when I am in my flow state. I get deep work finished, the time flies by, and I feel accomplished at the end of the day. Most importantly, I have fun.
But how to get there...
Cut out all distractions
When I am solving complex problems and I am disrupted - by Slack, a colleague with a question, free food in the office kitchen, whatever it may be - it can be detrimental to my flow. I turn off email, put my phone away, mute Slack notifications, and sometimes I will even find an empty meeting room to work in rather than sitting at my desk.
When there are blocks of free time in my schedule for the week, I will purposefully block them off as ‘busy’ on my calendar so it’s slightly harder for someone to schedule a meeting with me.
I always make sure my work environment is clean and straightened up. Cluttered desk = cluttered mind. (For me! Maybe not you.)
I listen to some not so distracting but still interesting beat-driven music. Noise cancelling headphones are incredible here. I’ve been really enjoying the lofi hip hop beats to relax/study/chill to stream on YouTube. I also love the Brain Food Spotify playlist.
Determine what you’re tasks you’re going to complete
When I’m starting my deep work, I make a task list of everything I need to accomplish within the allotted time block I’ve set for myself. I usually list these in the order that I need to complete them rather than just a list I can pick from at will. It’ll be something like this:
Create tables needed for analysis
Create functions needed for analysis
Create tests needed for functions
Apply functions to data tables
Document process/workflow
Plan for next steps
I don’t know anyone who makes a checklist and then doesn’t check items off once they’re completed, but for real - cross off the items you’ve completed! Seeing accomplishment and feeling progress will help you to stay in this flow state and continue to work deeply.
Figure out how you’re going to complete those tasks
This is where I go a step deeper with the task list. Underneath each numbered item on my list, I will write out the specific details I need to keep in mind and more information on how I’m actually going to complete these tasks. It’s sometimes hard for me to strike a balance between taking too much time planning vs doing the actual work, but I usually do enough to give me a solid place to start and a general roadmap to follow. For example…
Create tables for analysis
Two tables needed: one for messy data and one for canonical data. Pull these from DB1 and do some basic cleaning of the data
Create functions needed for analysis
String comparison function
Indicator function
Create tests needed for functions
String comparison function test
Indicator function test
Communicate your needs with your team & manager
This is one of the most important aspects of giving yourself an environment where you can focus deeply. I typically like to work out of the office, but I also really enjoy working out of a library because they are silent, quite unlike my open office environment. If I am out of the office for the day, it’s also much harder for people to come up to my desk and ask questions that ultimately just really disrupt my focus.
So have an open and honest conversation with your manager and get their thoughts. How do they like to focus? Explain what you need. Ask them for tips. Can you create a schedule where you work from a different spot on a certain day of the week if you can’t go full remote?
Let your team know what you’re doing and why. They’ll benefit from the open dialogue as well. You’ll probably even learn some awesome tips from them.
What to do when you can’t focus deeply
Sometimes it just doesn’t work out that you’ll get in the flow state on a given day. That’s 100% okay. We do not need to be heads down, focusing all of the time. Here’s some ideas on what you can do instead:
Use this time to knock out things that are easy or mindless
Determine what you’d like to tackle the next day and how you’ll do it
Brainstorm new ideas
Document some code
Organize your computer
Clean your desk/work space
Catch up with an old friend or colleague over coffee
Walk around the office and chat with coworkers
See what other people are up to in the tech space
Watch some talks from recent conferences
Dig into a new skill you’ve been wanting to learn
Take the day off?? Breaks are 1) important and 2) awesome!
Find what works for you
If you are unsure what works best for you I recommend trying out a number of different things and seeing how you feel about them. Work out of a coffee shop for half a day. Go to a coworking space. Or try my favorite: a university library.
Make a super detailed task list. Don’t make a task list at all. Listen to classical music. Listen to ambient music. Try out lots of things!
Take note of how you feel and what you did afterwards. Did you get everything done that you hoped you would? Did you get more or less finished? Do you feel accomplished? What frustrates you about this work environment? What energizes you and helps you work?
A few of my favorite things I use to focus
Noisli - a free web app where you can mix different ambient sounds to get a blend of what you like. My favorites are rain + lots of thunder or coffeeshop + a low fan.
The Pomodoro Technique - a focus technique where you work for a set long-ish period of time and then have a small break where you can do whatever you want. Typically the work period is 25 minutes with a 5 minute break, but I like to stretch it out to 50 minute work time and a 10 minute break. I am still trying to find the perfect balance with this though…
Rhodia Notebooks - I just love these notebooks. My dad is an architect and he always had these laying around so I gravitated towards them when I needed a nice notebook for work. I love to write out my task lists in these. It helps to have my to-do list in a physical medium because it avoids distractions on my computer from having to switch apps a bunch.
Snacks! - Coffee, tea, dark chocolate, berries, sparkling water, popcorn, candy, pretzels, you name it. I like to have lots of beverages and sweet and salty snacks on hand if I’m getting hungry or if I’m reaching a Pomodoro break.
A final word
I say all of this because I really do enjoy when I get into that flow state and hope that you do too. That being said, I do think it’s important that we recognize that our self worth is not tied to our productivity or how much we accomplish at work. For real. There is so much more to life than working all of the time and burnout is a real, serious issue. More on this later… but I wanted to put this out there.
Anyways, have a great weekend - productive or not! :)
~Adrienne