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What helps you work?

Music, silence, coffee or what?

         

nwilson

4:34 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)



Hi all, just a littel Friday afternoon type subject...

What do you do to help you work?

For me it's the following:


  • Inspiration: The magic flute
  • Deep thought: Total silence
  • Going through the motions: Current favourite - Coffee and the Dandy Warhols

Also, feeding the ducks in the park is favourite for calming me down when I'm stressed ;)

Nick

EliteWeb

4:36 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Music & Bawls (a drink)

DrCool

4:39 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Great minds think alike EliteWeb. Bawls is a great way to get going in the morning. Also when I put on the headphones and get some music going all the outside distractions seem to go away.

jatar_k

4:44 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member



coffee, coffee and strangely, more coffee. As long as my cup is full and the music is going then I am in the groove.

Filipe

4:44 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



For me it's my music. A good mix of PFunk, Cat Stevens, Zeppelin, Queen, Jethro Tull, Fatboy Slim, Bob Marley, Beastie Boys, and Sublime (and then a bunch others, but mostly this bunch).

graywolf

4:49 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



I love movie soundtracks.

nwilson

4:50 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)



I also find that sometimes a new perspective is needed, so a long chat with my wife or my mum really helps put an angle on things.

I never ask men, to keen to show that they too know about computers ;)

Nick

brotherhood of LAN

5:13 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



coffee, non herbal cigs ;) , occassionally music, interesting posts at WMW....

Anyone find that if you play your music loud enough....it degrades your spelling? Must just be me :)

and...thinking about how im going to be lying in a hammock in the Carribean in 10 years time :)

nwilson

5:34 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)



Anyone find that if you play your music loud enough....it degrades your spelling?

Me too! I miss out whole words if I'm to into it and programming with loud music is a dicipline all it's own, sometimes the fact that there is so much distraction actually helps your concentration because you need to work that much harder ;)

Nick

rcjordan

5:37 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



>coffee, coffee and strangely, more coffee

20oz mug just to get rolling, then another 20oz to settle in. Absolute quiet is best. No phone calls, no music, nothing that will keep me from slipping into that kind of concentration where you look up and it's dark outside and you thought it was early afternoon.

paynt

5:50 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)



Coffee in the morning, glass of red wine at night. I listen to country music and sing. Take a break to watch Bob The Builder with my 3 year-old. Walking every morning for an hour.

Working out of the house - in my kitchen in fact - I stop to do dishes, stop to do laundry, stop to vacuum and sweep and if the weather is good I pull a few weeds. I drop kids off at school, pick them up from school, and shop. In between I work and work and work from 3 am to 7 pm.

Lisa

6:01 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Loud techno music. The more it repeats the more I can focus. A few hours can pass by and a few hundred lines of code can get written and it seems like minutes.

Got to have my feet up while programming and be in a relaxed position. There has be a glass of water there and some candy.

fathom

6:19 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



>coffee, coffee and strangely, more coffee

not just any coffee either. Tim Hortons

For the rest of the world .. that's a billion dollar Canadian donut shop!

.. but the donuts are extra!

mivox

6:21 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Working without an internet connection. Until script testing is necessary, it is much easier for me to get some serious designing done without the ever-present temptation of WebmasterWorld lurking in the background...

That and the coffee mug of doom [stuff.mivox.com], well-stocked with a nice latte.

Ove

6:31 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



>coffee, coffee and strangely, more coffee

And some good music

/Ove

Mark_A

7:26 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



:-) I love the coffee mug of doom ...

Strangely none of you have mentioned the one thing that gets me focussed.

I do all those things cofee, music, silence, fags, forums etc but the thing that really gets me working is ..... a deadline with a nice cheque on it :-0

mivox

7:33 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



LOL... I thought that one went without saying, Mark! hehehe (Strange how people overlook the totally obvious sometimes, eh?)

bigjohnt

7:38 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Coffee. Lots of Coffee. Kind of them to think of me and build a Dunkin Donuts across the street.

Traffic noise. I prefer silence, but I'll take what I can get.

WMW keeps me inspired also.

nwilson

8:13 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)



I don't beleive anyone has mentioned beer yet?

Hey, It's friday night and I'm doing my cinderella impression again. But I have beer so who cares?

Nick

WebRookie

9:09 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Coffee (lots of it), my favorite cds playing while I work and my cat hanging out with me. Take a break here and there to look out at my garden. Working from home, nothing like it.

nwilson

9:27 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)



Agreed, I wouldn't do anything else now. I've had a spate of high income jubs but I hated the work so I'm happy trying to get there again working from home sweet home for the best boss in the world: Me ;)

Nick

Ranger

9:35 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



For working: All ranges of Ambient music, especially when coding or doing graphics. Definitely using headphones to block out the world, though I'm pretty good at zoning into what I'm doing and ignoring chaos around me.

Strangely, I can code just fine with music, but I can't write very well with it on. And I definitely can't edit writing with music on.

JonB

9:42 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



music.no drinks.when i need to THINK, rella THINK then i have to walk around the room. i make "hunders of miles "per day in my room when i have to deep think.the same is when i learn. i CANT sit and think or learn.

jon

Filipe

10:07 pm on May 17, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Anyone find that if you play your music loud enough....it degrades your spelling?

Sometimes if my mind strays to something else, I'll start typing it out. Here's an example of some content I was writing while listening to Queen's "Seaside Rendezvous":

... the 3d matrix contains 3 array elements, one for the x-axis, the y-axis, and for the z-axis. When you underneath the moonlight, together we'll sail across the sea ...

It happened!

txbakers

1:54 am on May 18, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I used to like music of all kinds while I work. Now I prefer:

silence

it's golden you know.

especially for a tricky coding issue. a pad, pencil and golden silence to figure it out on paper.

brotherhood of LAN

2:04 am on May 18, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



WebmasterWorld lurking in the background...

friendly people in here help me get new things done ;) ;). Gotta agree tho, its easy to come to WMW and see if stickymail has went up one notch or one of IMO the better topics have a red dot next to them.

>Exercise

I forgot about that. Yeah, its good to feel fresh and active....I hate sitting at a computer for too long....makes me very irritable!! Mind you, im 20 so I guess the PC hasnt sucked all the life out me just yet ;)

I really need to get a comfy chair......and maybe a desk thats a few inches lower (getting the saw)....and THEN....I might actually get some work done!

buckworks

3:51 am on May 18, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Silence, and a pot of good tea.

jeremy goodrich

4:00 am on May 18, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



For me, it's got to be the coffee, too. Usually 3 cups in the first hour of the day...regular invervals after that.

Sometimes, in the afternoon, it's good to have some green tea...really seems to help with programming perl (maybe that's just me) :)

lorax

3:56 pm on May 18, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



For me, if I have to read or do something that requires thinking then I want silence. As much as I love music, it is a distraction.

Oooo and a spot of tea or coffee do me fine to get me going but I switch to water by noon.

If, however, I'm doing data entry, surfing, playing with anything creative (like graphics, layouts, a new snippet of code) then I'll plug in some Celtic music and sip on a scotch. These tasks usually happen at the later part of the day (or evening) and are my reward for diligence.

Sathish

4:03 pm on May 18, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Silence
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