Your Brain Thinks Your Whole Home Is One Room
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it constantly in work-from-home, burnout and procrastination threads as practical advice for separating work from life at home.
What it is
CGP Grey argues that your brain treats a whole home as one room during lockdown, blurring work, rest and leisure. He recommends creating separate spaces and routines for different activities to stay balanced.
Recommended by 17 HN commenters across 8 different months, 2020 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec vorpalhex · 2020-05 · on “Google, Facebook make statements to staff about working from home for 2020”
If you can setup a dedicated work area, even if it's temporary, do it and restrict work to that space. That means you only use that space for work, and don't use the rest of your home. Your sofa is for relaxing, don't let work ruin a perfectly good sofa. CCP Grey [^1] has an excellent video on this. [^1]: [this video] (Video warning)
Strong rec Jetroid · 2020-06 · on “Ask HN: How are you holding up?”
I'm doing well. Ironically I think I'm doing better now than I would have been if the pandemic didn't happen; but still not in a particularly good position. Optimistic, though! If you're struggling, it's probably because the systems that you put in place at the start of the pandemic have broken down. (Kinda like how we eventually forget/give up on New Years Resolutions...) I'd recommend these[1] two[2] videos from CGP Grey to help. The first talks about the kind of things that you might be doing that are making you miserable, and the second about specific ways in which we can cope with the pandemic (and specifically a lockdown, if you are still in one). Brief notes: Avoid doing any of these
Strong rec mark-ruwt · 2020-06 · on “Ask HN: How are you holding up?”
"Spaceship You" by CGP Grey has been a really powerful re-calibration tool for me whenever I feel unbalanced: [this video]
Strong rec goutham2688 · 2020-06 · on “Ask HN: How are you holding up?”
[this video] i found the above inked CGP Grey video to be helpful i watch it once a week to keep things in perspective. hope this helps others too
Strong rec ketanhwr · 2020-08 · on “Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?”
I think this is what he's talking about: [this video] Even if it isn't - this is a must watch video!
Strong rec randycupertino · 2020-11 · on “I Miss Working from the Office”
Checked out the video- really great! Thank you for the recommendation and here's the link for anyone else curious: [this video]
Recommends vageli · 2020-05 · on “Orca: an esolang for audio-visual live coding”
> It feels like we are on a space ship, drifting through time, but basking in peace and solitude. This comment reminded me of this video by CGP Grey which I think you may enjoy if you haven't yet seen it. [this video]
Recommends teddyh · 2020-05 · on “Why are some people better at working from home than others?”
CGP Grey did a video about the importance of having different spaces for different activities¹, and in one of the comments for the video², one Vallejo B. said that they have handled the lack of physical space by using tricks to fool the mind into thinking it is a different space, using different lighting, sounds, tastes for different modes. Like stage set design, a simple difference goes a long way, and as long your own brain is fooled, it works. 1. [this video] 2. [this video]