How to get stuff done, automatically

I get a db error with the query string referrer<p><a href="http://www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-done/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.alexpcoleman.com&#x2F;productivity&#x2F;get-stuff-done&#x2F;</a> works for me

I&#x27;m sure the irony of reading these sorts of blog posts isn&#x27;t lost on you all. However, I do believe that some of these strategies and techniques can actually work. I even wrote about it on the post &#x27;how to make time for your side-project&#x27;.<p>The key is not <i>just</i> to break things down and to create tiny, regular actions. It&#x27;s also to <i>start</i>. Most of us like to talk and talk and not actually do anything at all.<p>This procrastination and hyperbolic discounting means that we often go for the quick fix rather than the ongoing journey to success. Starting and overcoming our own psychology is often the hardest part.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_discounting" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hyperbolic_discounting</a><p><a href="http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/make-time-side-project/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.startupclarity.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;make-time-side-project&#x2F;</a>

I have always struggled with automating my life habits.<p>It&#x27;s not that I don&#x27;t have goals, I have them in plenty. I have problems with the dehumanizing, machine-like feeling it puts on life.<p>Doing the same thing everyday at the same time sounds horrible. I don&#x27;t want to program myself. I want to live my life according to how I feel at the moment.<p>But, as you can imagine, this has created problems. You don&#x27;t keep jobs by living for the moment or doing what you feel like doing.<p>I am not sure if I have a point, but I think there is more to life than becoming a programmable robot.<p>Maybe balance is the key. Have good habits, but try to build some flexibility into them.

Site&#x27;s down with a 404 for all pages right now. Cache: <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LwUoGcds-okJ:www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-done/+&amp;cd=3&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=us" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;webcache.googleusercontent.com&#x2F;search?q=cache:LwUoGcd...</a>

Good article.<p>Ben Franklin&#x27;s schedule shot was interesting. 8-6 workday with a two hour lunch (so 8 hours of work). For some reason I always assumed people toiled very long hours back in those day.

&gt; If you only come away with one thing after reading this, let it be this: focus on the process. Don’t focus on your output.<p>That kind of flies in the face of the hacker mentality and lean startup methodology. The growing trend seems to be: <i>focus on creating value</i>; not how many hours you spent working today. And I must agree with the trend in this case.

The author added a &quot;?hn&quot; to the URL to track referrals from here - I believe that this violates the HN ToS and should be removed by the mods.

Any ideas about the habits of the brilliant programmers of past and present? e.g. Trovalds, Sysoev etc etc?