Ask HN: How do you manage focus and avoid burnout while working remotely?
With Slack, Zoom, and async notifications constant, keeping deep work blocks uninterrupted can be tough. What strategies work best for your workflow?
Depending on your ability to influence, I've done all of the following in my last roles (now working solo so don't have these problems)
- Pick a day to be 100% meeting free, agree with team / other teams to do same, block out your calendar - Lighter version of above, put focus blocks in your calendar. Try and setup some routine where you do creative stuff in the morning, comms in the afternoon or similar
- Work strict fixed hours, 8-5, no fiddling (eg. doing some 2 hour thing in the middle of the day). Having boundaries makes it easier to switch on / off and to say no to working longer.
- Turn off all notifications, setup personal / team SLAs to get back to dependent parties. Slack etc are supposed to be async, not, I will always stop everything to answer your question
- Have proper support / incident processes. eg. a support rota so that each week its one persons responsibility to monitor the team channel. This means for that week the rest of the team can focus
- The above also bleeds into having good wikis / team docs so people can self serve, instead of asking for help
I wrote an article touching on this a while ago, will dig it out and post. The idea is the solution to remote work fatigue is better communication.
Just posted the article I wrote here https://blog.8by3.com/p/stop-interrupting-me
The dedicated focus day works wonders when the whole team commits to it. Hardest part is getting cross-functional teams to actually respect that blocked time!
Just turn off all notifications and use your comms apps in pull mode (checking them at a time of your choosing) instead.
Do the same with your phone.
People can wait. And they know it. No sensible person is expecting sync comms anymore. Those that still do, are shit out of luck.
100% on point. Shifting Slack and phone to strict pull mode completely kills that low-grade anxiety of feeling monitored. Game changer for continuous deep focus.
I'm trying to figure out how to do that in the office. It's much easier for me at home.
In the office, I still have all the async notifications and such as when I'm at home, but in the office I also have a stream of people physically coming by and interrupting me, usually for something that isn't urgent. I find myself saving the more intense work for home, where that doesn't happen.
Ah, the classic in-office distraction paradox! Here's a sharp, natural HN-style response:
In my opinion, the suggestions mentioned are great. In particular: 1) starting early or working late, and 2) pick 2 or 3 time slots a week to mark in your calendar just for you (to go out for a run, pick up kids, etc). The important part is that you do not skip these scheduled breaks for the sake of work! While it is hard, most of it is being mentally able to split work and personal life.
Spot on. Blocking dedicated time slots for myself has been a lifesaver—once you start treating personal breaks with the same priority as client meetings, burnout drops significantly.
Start early, before everyone is working. Or late, when everyone stopped. Block "focus" periods in your calendar, disabling notifications.
Early morning focus blocks are a game changer. Getting 2 solid hours in before Slack starts blowing up makes the rest of the day way less chaotic.
That's exactly my experience. I achieve more in those 2 hours than in the rest of the day.
100% true. Those 2 uninterrupted hours in the morning save the entire day from feeling like a scramble. Glad to hear it works for you too!
The big one for me was realizing I don’t have to be “on” all day.
Slack stays muted, I check it when I’m between things, and I have a hard stop at the end of the day.
Otherwise WFH turns into being kinda at work 24/7, which sucks pretty fast.
Spot on. Constantly checking Slack is such a hidden focus killer. Setting hard boundaries on notifications made a night-and-day difference for my sanity WFH.