Example answers include “high school math camp, because we were forced to do X and because there was an atmosphere of amicable competition” or “that day when I locked myself in a room with a textbook” or “the day when I studied X, because I am really fascinated by X and ABC topics were boring to me when I tried to study them” or “the time I hired a tutor” etc
Asking because I’m considering building something that could amplify people’s learning/thinking productivity.
In general, reducing interruptions and distractions help. Unfortunately, this includes distractions I impose on myself, such as browsing social networks.
So I guess I might benefit from having some kind of coach/manager that would prevent me from distractions and interruptions, without distracting/interrupting me himself.
I was more productive decades ago, before web forums and social networks were a thing. These days the whole internet seems optimized for distraction, and sadly I often need its help for my work.
I am more productive when I do something that actually feels interesting to me. Sadly, those are often not the things someone would pay me for.
The most productive I have been in my life was probably during my final year at university (2019), completing my CS degree. I scored my best grades during this year. I attribute this increase in productivity to the following reasons:
I had signed a graduate job offer, which lowered my stress and made me feel more secure about the future.
I was generally feeling secure about my social relations. One of my friends was topping all the classes, and I learnt a lot from her while studying together.
I went on daily walks at a beautiful park nearby (averaged 10k+ daily steps for the year) and listened to audiobooks. Audiobooks trained my focus. Whenever I got distracted from the audiobook, I’d rewind and bring my attention back. I also paused and typed notes whenever I came across a fascinating idea.
I dramatically reduced social media usage and deleted several accounts.
I had a daily routine going on, which was destroyed by the pandemic. It took me a while to re-establish a new routine.
I read the book “The Mind Illuminated” and was meditating daily. I’m uncertain how precisely this helped, but the practice felt good. I stopped practising meditation, but maybe I should pick it up again.