How to get into "the zone" while programming?

The Urban Dictionary definition of "the zone" is really on the spot IMHO.

Being Completely unaware of what's going on around you as you are so extremely into what's going on right in front of your face; like anything more than 3 feet away just doesn't register in the brain.

So, how do I get into "the zone" in order to work as much as possible?

It's really personal and here is what's working for me recently:

• A Spotify playlist of electronic music with few lyrics. I like this one from John Resig, the creator of jQuery, but there are many, just try some of them and find what you like
• Shut down notifications from your phone
• Use SelfControl or similar apps to block websites and social networks you use to procrastinate

Can you share some suggestion? What do you use to get into "the zone" while programming?

Comments

[Eljay-Adobe]

1. find a day that isn't chocked full of meetings, set that day aside as an all-day meeting with yourself as the only attendee, so it's marked as "busy" on the calendar
2. let your team know that you will be looking at email first thing in the morning, but not for the rest of the day. If something is so terribly urgent it has to be addressed immediately, to call you. After you read & responded to your email in the morning, exit out of your email program.
3. let your team know that you will be looking at your chat (e.g., MS-Teams, Slack) messages first thing in the morning, but not for the rest of the day. If something is so terribly urgent it has to be addressed immediately, to call you. After you read & responded to your chat message in the morning, exit out of your chat message program.
4. turn on some background music
5. get your favorite beverage, likely a caffeinated one (tea, coffee, soda)
6. focus on the program for the rest of the day, undisturbed and undistracted

If you do Scrum, you should probably still attend your 15-minute daily Scrum stand-up meeting.

[b0r]

Hi Francesco,

that's a really good playlist, tnx for the tip!!

In addition to things you mentioned, to get into "the zone" I also prefer places without lot of light and people. Preferably a quiet/isolated indoor environment with much fresh air.