Ask HN: What's a productive day of work for you?

Over time, I've found the answer to be seasonal or at least heavily dependent on cycles of context and mood.

In vague terms, the best work days are when I start, build, and complete something for myself. It could be a prototype, a one-off program, or a feature on an existing application. It's a milestone of encapsulated accomplishment. This is especially nice when it has a visual component I can point to and share with someone. If it's for my employer, that's ok too, but not as fulfilling.

There are other seasons when success is just attending work, making a small step of progress, and not quitting.

Anything that moves the needle. Examples: a production release, a decision made, a bug investigated, a plan made, training

Unproductive: working on a presentation that is unrelated to what I work on, having a full day of meetings that don't move the needle

Completing things I had planned for the day (or having made a good effort and adjusting the schedule)

It took me, literally, years of therapy to accept that scheduling my days will not limit my freedom and creativity. On the contrary, it gives my rational side sovereignty over emotions and makes typical day a safe space to focus all creative energies on a particular task.

THe best way to track productivity is to define it first. I would say start your day with 1-2 things that you really want to get done and get those done. Rest are just nice to have. "Get done" doesn't necessarily mean complete but you spent time on them and made progress.

Minimizing or eliminating wasted time (scrolling, etc) is success for me. That means I spent time on something productive or relaxing or enjoyable -- all of which are wins in life.

I also consider productive when I solve a problem that took days. Even if the solution looks trivial in retrospect. Of course, it takes some effort to be kind to oneself.

When I feel like I've made some form of meaningful progress. Sometimes it isn't much in the way of output but will contribute.

For me 3-4 hours spent in a flow state on something important or personally interesting make for a good feeling at the and of the day.

A day where I have balance.

Have not skipped or delayed a meal, avoided distractions which came my way as I was deeply focused

"sweet, I got something done today"