Ask HN: What do you like to do while you wait?

I'm waiting for something to compile right now

So I guess I like to read your posts while I wait <3

Install Anki (flashcard app based on spaced repetition) and learn something new: https://apps.ankiweb.net/. There are tons of decks available on AnkiWeb https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/ and Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Anki/

Alternatively, for learning languages I really like Lingodeer, Busuu, and Clozemaster.

You might also be interested in: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32430406

Pack a book in my backpack and read it.

It is helpful to apply the kanban principle and have exactly one task you do while waiting so you don’t waste time switching between tasks.

While waiting outside, i usually take notes, describing the place in details, writing "important" information that might be useful later.

Later, when i back home, i usually convert this notes into OpenStreetMap contribution. It also could serve as my own writing prompt or something.

Restless leg shaking, pacing back and forth, reading this place, and trying small code snippets on various online sandboxes on things I am curious about.

Cleaning up the room. Wipe table, wipe floor, dust the carpet, align stuff, wash/refill coffee cup, delete unneeded files or Facebook friends.

Play bullet chess games on chess.com

I have a Kindle basic. It has my "Currently Reading" and "Want to read" books on it. It is small enough I can slip it in my back pocket, so I bring it whenever it looks I may be waiting. If I'm on my computer, I continue with whatever I was doing.

I always turn to the phone and read something on HN. I am trying to fix this.

I’m trying to get better at reading a book.

If it's not very long, I like to do nothing.

I don't think it's healthy to need constant activity/distraction. It's an addiction IMO. So if I'm standing in a checkout line or waiting a few minutes for a zoom meeting, I do nothing.

I get up and do some stretching exercises or just close my eyes and meditate.

I could lie and talk about something cool, but usually I just anxiously stare outside the window.

I tend to daydream about features to add to my side projects, and throw them into my Trello board

TikTok.

Play Soldat multiplayer

This (HN or whatever)

From the title alone I thought you might be asking about waiting in line for something for an hour or something ;)

But what is this thing called "waiting for a zoom meeting"? That does not really exist for me.

I was probably actually doing something and so I just keep doing that until the exact time that the meeting starts. If the meeting is at 9:30, I try to join at exactly 9:30 or when I do something else where I might be too much in the zone and miss the meeting, I might join early and just have camera and mic off. And once someone joins I'll switch to small talk.

Waiting for something to compile should also usually not exist, as in the compile times are either so short, that it makes no sense to do anything but "rest the mind for 5 seconds" or they're so long that I just try to schedule them in a way where they don't make me wait. E.g. I like to use our CI system to tell me about any tests that I might have broken that were not apparent from the files I was changing directly, because running them locally makes my computer slow enough that doing something else gets frustrating. So I just commit and push and in the ~10 minutes that takes I might create the PR already, double check that the diff looks like what I expected and make any adjustments necessary. E.g. sometimes I see that I forgot to undo some hard coded value I put somewhere in the code as a shortcut while testing in my dev env, any variables that are still called `blah` etc.

If this sounds too much like concentrating on work and only work during work hours. Yes, that's what I do. When I work, I'm 100% work, 0% watching Youtube and such (unless it's some conference talk recording or something I guess :) - that counts under the 'training budget'). I don't even answer personal emails during work.

Guess what I don't do during non-work hours? Work! When I shut my computer down at whatever time that is, work is dead to me. I don't have slack on my phone, I don't have work emails on the phone and none of that can send me any notifications. If you really need to reach me for an emergency, my phone number is available but you better only call me in actual emergencies, as in the on-call people can't figure something out, production is burning and we're loosing money by the minute and I wrote the code. Times at which I expect not to want to work have an Out of Office on my calendar. Like lunch time, morning hours I don't want meetings in from other timezones, afternoon hours at which I don't want any meetings which might then run late even if I'm actually still working during that time normally. And OoO I find is great because I don't actually actively say "No" to someone that might easily start arguing because they feel offended I told them no. It's just an automated message from my OoO.

I play wow