Ask HN: What do you do when you're waiting for something to run?

3 pointscolobas6y ago5 comments

I find that when I need to wait for something to run (a compilation, a jupyter notebook cell, a script, etc) is when I'm most prone to embark on something distracting.

The common train-of-thought is "I'm just gonna check _____ for a second while this runs." And then it's never just a second.

What do you do?

5 comments

seattle_spring6y ago

Go make coffee for 10 minutes, and then come back to realize that the thing I meant to run was waiting for input via a prompt before actually starting.

tharidlynn6y ago

I work from home now and I solve rubik cube, randomly strum my guitar, and juggle balls while waiting for something to run.

I used to check random stuff on the internet ( social media , HN, reddit or youtube) but I found them very distractive. So, I ended up picking something that are not related to internet.

statquontrarian6y ago

1. Document the things I'm doing in a wiki to save future time.

2. Research ways to optimize/automate the long-running task.

bryanrasmussen6y ago

I believe the industry standard is "have sword fights in the hall" https://xkcd.com/303/

duxup6y ago

I have the same problem.

When working from home I have some weights on my desk, I do a few quick exercises.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse