Warning: pdf

http://www.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2010/0110/W_SW_PairProgramming.pdf

Although unhealthy amounts of caffeine may have something to do with it as well.

The one thing that can distract me is my wife coming into my office asking me to do something for her. Can’t say NO to that.

When I am working on a project for a client, I never have my email, IRC or chat on. I make it a habit to leave all of it off.

I do some computer repair and when I am doing that, I will always throw on something heavier. Opeth tends to make it frequently to the play list, Dream Theater, Lamb of God, Meshuggah … you get the idea.

I utilize words/phrases alot too. No long mantras or prayers just little bursts that make me smile/laugh. I work in retail which can often have alot of negativity from various sources so I like to keep my pleasure stream flowing (Fuck that sounds like a fucking porno). I find quick quotes/gestures from tv shows always perk me up, favourites are anything from the mighty boosh/it crowd, The simpsons, Little britian. NO one generally knows what the fuck im talking about but it always puts a smile on my face.

If I’m doing menial tasks I generally listen to Radio 4, but frequently end up thinking about what they’re saying which makes me less productive.

Btw, most of my inspiration comes from the context change offered by frequent fag breaks on the balcony.

About 1pm, it switches to wine. I’ll drink a glass over maybe two and a half hours, just enough to keep the mind from becoming self conscious.

After that, I’ll switch to a combination of tea and coffee.

So, when I wanted to get in the right mindset today for working for a few hours, I put on this shot, just had it rolling in the background while my mind found its space. Once I’m in there, which doesn’t take long, I put on music. I’ve got lemonjelly right now, but fatboy slim or amon tobin or something like that works well.

If I feel like I’m slipping out, I’ll out on a dialogue heavy movie. Capote was my film of choice for a few months, just put it on and have it play on a separate virtual terminal. Right now, I seem to favour Jesus Christ Superstar, for whatever reason.

I end up doing the vast majority of my collage work at home, because I cannot get into the zone there.

He is genuinely interested in my project and that makes me want to work on it even more. Its different getting support from somebody face to face than over the internet.

Other than that I just need to know that nobody is gonna be calling for me otherwise I usually don’t bother doing any programming.

As for music, I just find any music quite distracting!

I have 2-10 coffees a day – I drink red bull but I rarely buy it.

Haha Enya – good old celtic mysticism.

http://www.grc.com/health/vitamin-d.htm

I tend to listen to the ambient radio station on LastFM because it makes good background music due to there being few repeats and few catchy lyrics to sing along to!

Not being constantly interrupted is crucial.

To stay in the zone I usually listen to music. It doesn’t matter what kind of music as long as it’s not too slow. That’s a habit that I got from my physics teacher in high school. Coffee doesn’t do squat for me… if I’m there I’m there and no physiological need can stop me (and that includes sleep or hunger). If I’m not there and I actually drink coffee I won’t be able to sleep and I won’t be able to do anything.

Oh and one more thing… while listening to you guys I realized we have a word for the zone in Romanian. The word is “spor” and I’m mentioning it because it’s been in our language for a long time. I mean it’s the sort of word one would expect people from the country side to use more than the city folk.

I’m with Jono in that metal really helps: death and black metal in particular gets me into a suitably open and relaxed frame of mind to be focused, creative and productive.

Natural light was mentioned as well, and that’s important too – probably why I don’t work well at night or in windowless rooms.

Other than that, as long as the task is suffciently interesting and I don’t have interruptions, I’ve found the zone in places like crowded offices, airport lounges, on the train or while sipping a hot chocolate in a coffee shop. I’ve never been in the zone in a shower though!