A programmer who works four hours a day

Everyone is familiar with this routine ： morning 9 Some go to work , Sit in front of the computer , Make a one-day program , Afternoon 5 Go home from work at . Now , Thank you very much, Timothy · Ferris (Timothy Ferriss) Of 《 Weekly work 4 Hours 》, I began to rethink how I should work , How to make yourself a more efficient programmer .

lately , I made a big adjustment to my schedule from Monday to Friday . For a long time , I've been working like all other programmers 、 rest . But just 2011 Second half of , I started an experiment , I want to see what kind of work and rest time can make me more efficient . The experiment is still in progress , I don't strictly abide by the experimental rules like a soldier —— for example , I also want to be early 20 minute 、 Or late 20 Get up in ten minutes —— But the current work and rest rules are like this ：

morning 4：30 To 7 spot ： meditation , writing , Target review , Have breakfast with your family

morning 4：30 Getting up is not as difficult as you think . Everyone's personal situation is somewhat different , But the human body basically needs every day 7 To 9 Hours of sleep . One way to get enough sleep is to wake up naturally without an alarm clock . You just need to go to bed early , You can... In the morning 4：30 wake .

After getting up , I'll drink it right away 16 Ounces of water —— It's not coffee ！ I haven't had coffee for a long time , And I don't really want to drink . in fact , I feel better without coffee . Then I'll take a shower ; This will make me feel the beginning of a refreshing day .

Every morning I meditate 30 minute . The best time to meditate is before or during sunrise , That is, the early days of the western world 6 Before the point . I'm not going to explain why meditation is good for you ; There has been a lot of research on this online . If you want to find a book about meditation , I recommend 《Meditation for Dummies》. Although the title is strange , But it's the best book I've ever read .

After meditation , I can spend 30-45 Minutes to blog . I usually write 500 To 800 word . I find , Start writing immediately after meditation , Usually in one go , It's going well . in addition , After a night's rest , In great shape , Before turning your attention to other things , It's good to pour out all the things accumulated in the brain and clean them up . A skill about writing ： Use this time as a preliminary cleaning of the brain . Don't do research 、 Editor, etc . These things will be done later .

And then there was To Do List( To do list ) Time . I'll check the email , Microblogging ,LinkedIn, wait , And arrange the next task . Speaking of tasks , I follow GTD How to do things , I use Omnifocus Software to manage my life . I am here iPad,iPhone and MacBook Air( I'm a fan of apple ) It's all installed . Pretty good , As a to-do management software ,Omnifocus It's a little expensive , But because my whole life is about it , The price is worth it . Let me go through the to-do list , Think about the expected goal of everything —— everything , From the little things to do today , To long-term goals . Each entry in the list has a goal , If there is no goal , I'll delete it .

Then breakfast time . About when to have breakfast 、 On what to eat , There are already a lot of health advice you can learn from . I've tried all kinds of different things . I found those rich in cellulose , Low carbon , High protein stuff suits me best . Have you ever tried oatmeal with peanut butter ？ Right on ！ I also like to eat some fruit 、 Have some tea . also , I try to have breakfast with my family . Sometimes things can be done according to this wish , But sometimes not . My goal is to follow this throughout the year .

Good morning! 7 Point to 11 spot ：4 An hour of programming time

This is the time I use to program . One day 4 Maybe you will feel less pitiful , But I found , Here 4 I can do more in an hour than most people do in a week . Studies have shown that , People with fixed work schedules are more efficient than those who work randomly . For me , The fixed time is early 7 Point to 11 spot , Every day . All I have to do during this time is programming , Don't do anything else . There are several basic principles ：

First , Turn off all communication facilities —— Telephone , mail , Chat tools, etc . There's nothing to distract you . You can reserve a way for a few people to contact you , In case of an emergency . Those who really need to find you in an emergency have their own way to contact you , I haven't seen anything like this . I even taught my wife , She is usually used to responding immediately to all requests , I told her to respect my 4 Hours of time . You should only do one thing during this time . Never do it at the same time 5、6 thing .

second , Don't leave a break to check email or surf the Internet , Or do something similar . as a result of ： In an hour , I can develop x Features . If I work continuously 4 Hours , I found that my output was not 4 times , It is 8 Times or 16 times . When you concentrate on something , I believe you have experienced this experience . This is what we call the brain Flow( flow ) state . In my future blog, I plan to write more about Flow The article .

Then why not apply such a system to the whole 8 Hours of work ？ This is because people's efficient state is limited . A human brain is like a muscle . You can keep moving on the treadmill 8 Hours ？ Like our muscles , The brain needs to rest from time to time . This limit varies from person to person . Through trial and error , I find my limit time is 4 Hours .

One more thing to mention is , I'm not in 11 Set the alarm clock to prompt . When I feel my brain a little tired , When productivity begins to decline , I'll stop working . Some days I just work 3 Hours , Sometimes I work 5 Hours ;4 Hours are the average .

I work from home to avoid interruptions . If you need to work in an office , See if management allows you to work from home during your most productive time . Your tossing on the way to work will offset the benefits of yoga and meditation in the morning . After the noise of the morning peak , And the noise in the office , Your nerves will become tense , The effect of meditation disappears completely . Working from home is bound to be much more efficient .

Good morning! 11 Point to the afternoon 1 spot ： Bodybuilding , Lunch , shopping

I work out every day .John J. Ratey The book of 《Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain 》 The benefits of daily exercise are well demonstrated , If you want to know the scientific mechanism of how exercise improves brain function , You can read this book . Don't do the same exercise every day , Don't even go to the same gym . I do... In a yoga studio every week 3 Second Yoga , In a spinning Two days in the Museum spinning course , Do two days of weightlifting in the gym , I have a coach in the gym . The coach helped me a lot , Having someone pushing you like this will give you more motivation .

I like to exercise in the gym , Because there are additional services . You can use it at once 5 A towel without worrying about your wife's complaints . You can spend 30 Take a minute shower without worrying about someone shouting outside the door ” Haven't you finished yet ？“… You often encounter such things at home .

I also formed a habit of shopping every day , Usually in Whole Foods, A supermarket just a walk away from my home . Why do you shop every day ？ In many countries , Especially in Asia , People go shopping every day , Instead of buying it all at once 2 Store things for a week in the refrigerator or freezer at home . This way, , You only buy what you need , Avoid waste . Many times you will find something in the fridge that you don't know what it is , Doubt has been there for half a year . I eat out for lunch ,Whole Foods There are good salad buffet in the supermarket . Because I like Japanese food , Sometimes I'll have some Japanese sushi or boxed lunch .

Afternoon 1 Point to 6 spot ： Study and communication time

I'll try to put some discussion 、 Date time comes together , So you don't have to go to the company every day . Usually , These things include meetings , interview , Make a report , Guide development , Code review and so on . I don't do any development during this time , Unless there is an emergency bug Or special circumstances need to be handled .

I also spend a large proportion of my time studying . I spend a lot of time reading other people's things , From books to Borg , Mostly programming related things . I have to learn new knowledge every day . The best way to keep learning like this is to take notes of what you have learned , Mark the relevant knowledge . image EverNote This kind of software is very suitable for doing this kind of thing .

At the same time, I will see if there are other products on the market , The most efficient software developer is to solve the problem without writing a line of code . I don't want to do what others have done again . therefore , stay CodePlex, GitHub and  Component Source It's good to spend time on these websites .

I got a little inspiration from my wife's experience of hospital internship . The new doctor sees a doctor every morning , In the afternoon , They get together to discuss the various conditions they encounter , Discuss how they respond . For me, , I will reflect on what I have done afterwards , I'll rethink the problems I encountered in programming this morning , Where did you meet what bug, Or reflect on your performance when making a report , Or how to preside over the meeting , wait . I try to learn from my mistakes , Avoid their recurrence .

Afternoon 6 Point to night 8 spot ： Family time

My wife is a doctor , Work is busy , But we try to spend this time together . We'll cook together . Then I will do my homework with my children .( A sophomore should have so much homework , This is another topic , I'll talk about it later .)

On the evening of 8 Point to 8：30： Introspection and giving the brain work

I don't meditate at night , Instead, sit down and reflect on your day . If you spend 15 Take a minute to reflect on your day in a quiet place , You will be surprised to find that you have learned so much on this day , Achieved such a great improvement .

Next , I put the brain to work . as everyone knows , When we sleep, the brain keeps working . therefore , You'd better arrange some work for it . For me, , These things are very effective ： I made an outline of what I was going to write the next morning . It's like writing a note . I find it more effective to write it on paper than on the computer .

perhaps , I'll watch some programming / Algorithmic problems . Again , Describe it on paper or write a frame . What's amazing is , Many times in the morning, you will find that you have a solution ！ Things like this I'm in a neat 、 Without grid lines 、 Written on an envelope sized notebook . Writing pictures on blank white paper will give me more inspiration . I'm late 8：30 To 9 Go to bed at one o'clock . The sooner the better .

This is the time of my day . Of course , There will be some changes when I travel ; On the way, I will spend a lot of time working . I haven't told you what I do on weekends , I'll talk about this in a later article .

I'd love to hear other people's stories about their work and rest time , And how they improve their work efficiency .

The original English text ：Daily Routine of a 4 Hour Programmer

The original Chinese text ：http://www.aqee.net/daily-routine-of-a-4-hour-programmer/