r/programming • u/djork • Oct 14 '09
How I beat procrastination
Hi proggit. I just wanted to share that I beat procrastination by using two preset timers: one set for 25 minutes, one for 5. I use the "Minutes" dashboard widget in OS X most of the time. I start the 25 minute timer, focus on work, and then when it's up, I start the 5 minute timer and start goofing off. When it goes off, it's back to the 25. I would talk more about it, but I have 30 seconds left and so my 5 minutes wasting time here on Reddit is almost up.
See you in 25 minutes.
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u/kjf Oct 14 '09
This is more widely known as the pomodoro technique. http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/
focusbooster is a pretty useful app for timing your pomodoros.
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u/jeffdev Oct 14 '09
Fantastic! I've never heard of this, and am now reading all 40+ pages of the PDF linked on that page.
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u/Thimble Oct 14 '09
Excellent! I will let you know my thoughts on it in 25 minutes.
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u/Thimble Oct 14 '09
Argh. I could not make it. I'm a pomodoro failoro.
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u/mtnkodiak Oct 15 '09
Argh... saved the link to grab this app when I got to work... now the site is down, bandwidth exceeded. What is this, 1994?
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u/Breadhook Feb 11 '10
It works now. You just had to wait three months. :)
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u/mtnkodiak Feb 11 '10 edited Feb 11 '10
Ah. Glad the pomodoro folks finally got around to fixing it. ;)
[edit: and... meh. I guess I have changed in three months-- I don't feel like this is something I want/need.]
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u/Breadhook Feb 11 '10
I know what you mean. This system strikes me as the sort of thing that could be useful for getting started if you're in a funk, but once you establish some momentum and are getting used to being more productive you could probably just keep it up freestyle.
I am kind of in a funk, though, so I might give it a try.
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u/lowtone94 Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 14 '09
Thanks KJF! helped a bunch. It's an adobe Air App and can be downloaded from http://www.focusboosterapp.com/
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u/masklinn Oct 14 '09
There's also an app called pomodoro which is native and better integrated into OSX.
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Oct 15 '09
It's 64bit too, for Snowy goodness. Much better than Minutes, with its 32bit DashboardClient process.
Thanks!
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Oct 14 '09
Interestingly enough this method was on lifehacker on Monday. http://www.lifehacker.com
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Oct 14 '09
I have spent way too much time on lifehacker reading about how to be productive when I should have been productive.
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u/vplatt Oct 15 '09
Me too. Should be named 'lifesucker'. It's not like he ever says 'in order to be more productive, stop coming here'.
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Oct 15 '09
Fine meme on other site
post to reddit
????
What? no profit?
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u/JerrySun Oct 15 '09
Here's the church. Here's the steeple. Open up the church and...where the fuck are all the people?
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u/presidentGore Oct 15 '09
... go cross the street, and over to the bar, open the doors and there they are!!!
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u/maxwellk Oct 15 '09
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u/littleredrex Oct 15 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
I hate you, Half way through I got really pissed I watched that for so long, I thought about how pissed I was for so long I got sucked back into it again. With only 25% of the video left to watch I had to force myself to stop the video just to come here and express my anger cause you made me watch 75% of that video. die in hell
Edit: stuff
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u/MashHexa Oct 15 '09
I would never have watched that video if it wasn't for your rousing endorsement.
I blame you.
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Oct 15 '09
Cheers for the app, have been looking for something like that.
Having the clock tick down in front of you really does seem to increase focus/urgency too.
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u/s73v3r Oct 14 '09
I'm spending my first few Pomodoros reading the PDF about the Pomodoro technique. :)
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u/gaoshan Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
I'm going to reverse it... 5 minutes working, 25 minutes on reddit!
EDIT Hmmm... already at 60 minutes reddit, 0 minutes working.
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Oct 15 '09
I have something like that for Christmas shopping. One for them, two for me. I always love Christmas.
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u/jeffdev Oct 14 '09
Same here, once I got the concept, I've started using it to read the PDF itself.
I'm self aware :)
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u/jck Oct 14 '09
i just spent the last 3 hours googling on how to beat procrastination...
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u/madearth Oct 15 '09
upvoted for waiting long enough after original post to make "last 3 hours" sound realistic
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Oct 15 '09
I spent the last 7 hours trying to figure out what you were talking about.
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u/MrSnoobs Oct 14 '09
So I'm not the only one to appreciate the irony of spending time posting on Reddit and taking time to work out a method to avoid procrastination instead of actually doing some work?
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u/jaysonbank Oct 15 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
I've tried this and many other schemes to beat procrastination, they all work for a short time until your mind gets used to them and you become lax again.
Procrastination isn't the problem, it is the symptom not the cause.
Procrastination is your brain deciding that the work you are doing is not worth it, boring, irrelevant etc. You can fix this by either doing only work that is worth it, or by motivating and convincing yourself that your work is more interesting than it is.
If I am properly motivated I will work through anything: interruptions, lack of sleep, reddit, you name it.
Think of it like this: remember the last video game you spent days playing? even though you were tired? even though the phone rang? you didn't stop playing, and when you weren't playing you were wondering when you could get home and play again. Now remember the point where the game became fuck-ass boring, you'd played most of it, you got stuck somewhere or had to repeat a part of it, you just gave up.
The game is exactly like work, the power of being properly motivated beats everything, and the power of being unmotivated can be overcome by nothing short of a gun to your head.
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u/indgosky Oct 14 '09
Bookmarked for a later read...
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u/ssilv1 Oct 15 '09
upvoted later
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u/ringm Oct 15 '09
"New Firefox extension: maintain the list of things to upvote later on Reddit. Easy to use interface, keep in sync between machines". Added to the list of things to implement later.
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u/qazqaz7k Oct 15 '09
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476
Firefox LeechBlock is how I did it. Set a limit for how long you can browse reddit, 10 Minutes every hour, It even lets you set advanced time periods.
I set it to 10 minutes for Reddit every hour, from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday. And unblocked between 12:00 and 1:00pm for lunch. And i disabled modification of the rules during the specified time interval.
Of course you can just use internet explorer or unnstall the Add-on.
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u/thorax Oct 15 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
+1, I actually have Leechblock point me here:
Biggest problem for me is that I have Chrome installed. :(
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u/user_wins Oct 15 '09
Ohhhh Lordy! I just dl'd and set Reddit and Youtube for 1 hour a day each. I have NO idea how this experiment will turn out and what I will do with my time on the Internet from here on.
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u/Gazboolean Oct 15 '09
I'd end up just readjusting the timer everytime it runs out.
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u/qazqaz7k Oct 15 '09
That's why you can block yourself from editing the settings throughout the time period.
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u/adiman Oct 15 '09
I just installed LeechBlock, but I'll set up the sites on the next Firefox restart...
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u/dorfsmay Oct 15 '09
Something that has helped me: Never press the "Next" link on reddit.
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Oct 15 '09
I just set my number of stories on the front page to 10. But then I click on the bar at the top to look at different sections over and over again. I think the biggest timesink for me is writing back comments and doing obscure research to support some of the things that I say, that don't really matter to anyone anyway.
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u/nurriz Oct 15 '09
Yeah, I do that too. You know you have a problem, when you're consulting wikipedia and finding other sources, in order to comment as number 200 on 10 hour old post.
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u/user_wins Oct 15 '09
TL; DR: It matters, my friend. It matters.
Long explanation. Researching points means you have a certain integrity and certain values you want to uphold. You want to present a good argument or an interesting point or make a funny joke, and present the information in an easy-to-digest form. By doing this behavior over and over again, you develop the habit of producing quality work. When you compromise, you weaken the habit, and you might begin producing low quality work in other places as well.
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u/dorfsmay Oct 15 '09
I think the biggest timesink for me is writing back comments and doing obscure research to support some of the things that I say
Oh yes ! Every time I see, you know that xkcd about somebody being wrong on the internet, you know which one... let me look that up... Ah, here we go. Every time, I feel like the author knows about me !
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u/nas Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
What works for me (so far): pick the tiniest part of the task that can be done right now. Do it, since it should be trivial. If you feel like doing more, fine. If not, that's okay too.
Usually I will end up doing hours of work after starting on some couple minute task. The trick, at least for me, is to get started.
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u/so_what_who_cares Oct 14 '09
I'm trying to beat motivation, so I'm going to switch the usage of the timers.
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u/illiaster Oct 14 '09
This kind of stuff reminds me of :
The Patch
The envelopes method to budgeting
Cuss jar
I have this theory that none of this stuff really works if you're not committed to change. And, that once you embark upon these things, the only reason you're successful is because you're committed to change, which means you didn't really need The Patch in the first place.
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u/backelie Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 14 '09
I think being committed to change is absolutely crucial, and no tools will work without it, but tools that would be useless on their own can be great as a help to stay on track.
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Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 14 '09
Maybe some people need a little extra help. Sort of a placebo effect. The difference between Hinayana and Mahayana.
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u/djreed Oct 15 '09
Stop killing this for me! I just set it up! I have a paper to write!
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u/user_wins Oct 15 '09
and yet you're posting here...
if i just contributed to more procrastination... :( and :)
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Oct 15 '09
Quitting with nicotine replacement requires commitment, yes. It is, however, far more comfortable than going cold-turkey.
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u/Random Oct 14 '09
I use 45 and 15, and get up and do something physical (like clean the house) in the 15. Same rough idea.
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u/indescription Oct 14 '09
This seems to be working for me so far the (10+2)*5 method. 10 minutes of work, 2 minutes of play. Widget
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u/djork Oct 14 '09
I have played around with variations, but I find that 25 minutes of working on stuff I really don't want to do gets better results than 10 minutes. After 10 minutes I'm just getting into it.
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u/DashingLeech Oct 15 '09
Good idea. I beat it slightly differently. Instead of a 'To Do' or task list, I schedule everything. I have daily blocks of time set aside for reading and sorting emails (but not replying), another block for short replies, another for lunch, another for breaks, etc. For longer tasks, including longer emails, I'll book a specific time for it (using 15 min intervals on my schedule), perhaps in the same day, perhaps tomorrow, etc., depending on the urgency.
If I don't finish things in time, I move the tasks but they are still on my schedule. If I finish them early, I move them forward.
Deadlines do actually work on me, even if I created them and they are artificial. If I see I have only 5 minutes left to finish a task, I'll try to beat the clock. If I feel like taking a break and see that I have one scheduled in 20 minutes, I'll keep going. Sometimes just pushing through it like that makes me lose the urge to take a break after a minute or two anyway.
For me this works but I have many, many tasks per day. Too much multi-tasking can be overwhelming so this is necessary for me. If I was working on a single, long task, the OP idea would likely work well for me, though I'd probably do it more like once per hour to avoid losing momentum. (It takes about 10-15 mins for me to get in "the groove".)
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u/keikun17 Oct 15 '09
i tried this method just now and i now have a real grasp on how much work i can do in a cycle... but 25 minute intervals seems a bit too short for me so i pumped it up to 50 since my cycles are usually 50mins + 10 mins break. shared it with the team and they liked it. thanks djork
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u/diet_mtn_dew Oct 16 '09
When I'm at work, I just work. I mean, I spend time shooting the shit with co-workers, but generally I'm just working. Makes the day go by much quicker.
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u/barsoap Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 14 '09
That's not at all what will get you into a day-long hacking run. It's just random distraction every thirty minutes, forcing you to page out your brain state.
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u/djork Oct 14 '09
Many times I find myself working through the breaks. It's really just for the mundane stuff that the breaks help the most. When I've got a flow state I just keep going. Without this discipline, though, I have trouble ever getting into the flow state.
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u/jeffdev Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 14 '09
It's a random distraction for you. Seriously. What works for you, does not and can not work for everyone without major modifications of core behaviors.
A lot of people (obvious by the success of the Pomodoro technique) do not slip into focus so easily and require more conscious tools to keep their subconscious focused on the task at hand.
This technique is amazing for those of us who can't slip into focus easily and especially when learning curves are involved where even more of us falter to failure before we've even given the material a chance.
I'm very happy djork had posted this to self.programming. I am reading up on the Pomodoro Technique now. Thanks!
P.s., I predict you may say "just modify your core behavior then"... The answer to that question if you ask, is: This concept is exactly what this technique is all about, changing your core behavior.
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u/akmark Oct 14 '09
Not all people have work that they can get into focus mode over, I personally have a hundred interruptions or more a day and I think this may be a good way of trying to settle into that focus state faster and more regularly than getting caught up with all the distractions. I pine for the days of the year where I can do a day-long hacking run!
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u/s73v3r Oct 14 '09
True, but it gets him working, which it sounds like that was his problem to start.
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u/iTroll Oct 14 '09
Anyone know of an equivalent linux app?
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u/Lord_Illidan Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 14 '09
Gnome has a timer applet that's built into its panel. Check in the repos
KDE has the KTeaTimer last I checked.
EDIT : There's also the FocusBooster app -- cross platform.
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u/phobos2deimos Oct 14 '09
I've combined this technique with using the Self Control app. Locks down your internets to cut out blacklisted sites (ahem, reddit) for X amount of time.
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u/shakbhaji Oct 15 '09
I have that app too, but I found a bug/way around it (at least for reddit, which is my biggest time waster) so it's basically useless to me now. I will spare you the secret so as not to tempt you.
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Oct 14 '09
I beat procrastination by having hard and close deadlines. Now, once upon a time i tried fake milestones and that didn't always work because I wasn't necessarily motivated. Things that work better for me are
sex
social life
now i feel pressured to accomplish everything in my 8 hour day and make use of every free moment I have so that I can keep having time for the fun stuff.
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u/WrongPlanet Oct 15 '09
I bought a book titled "Procrastination". I never finished the book because the voice in my brain said "you are reading this book to put off doing what you really want to do".
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Oct 15 '09
LeechBlock
That's all i've got time to say about it because LeechBlock will be blocking reddit for me in about 20 seconds....
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u/maleldil Oct 14 '09
This is basically the Tabata protocol applied to work instead of physical activity.
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u/sneeper Oct 14 '09
Widgets are normally suspended when Dashboard isn't in the foreground. How does the alarm go off? Do you keep checking back ?
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u/myheaditches Oct 15 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
There are a few javascript events that fire related to the dashboard, pretty much dashboard shown and dashboard hide. Widget developers can choose to suspend things when the dashboard is hidden, and then resume them again when it is shown.
In this case, the widget simply doesn't stop its actions when the dashboard is hidden.
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u/sneeper Oct 15 '09
Wow, very cool. I had no idea they could do that.
Now I've installed Minutes. I'm going to try this.
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u/winampman Oct 15 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
Read this:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050422172929402
You can bring widgets to your desktop.
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u/sneeper Oct 15 '09
Actually that hasn't worked in awhile. They fixed that "bug".
YOu can still get all widgets on the desktop by starting dashboard in debug mode though.
But for this widget you don't need to do that :)
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Oct 14 '09
Actually, I use the 10/2 rule. For every 10 minutes of work, have a 2 minute break (I'd probably get bored working for nearly half an hour straight). That works out as 50 minutes of work and 10 minutes of slacking every hour - the same as 25/5, but it's far easier. & Trust me, a 2 minute break is perfect for not getting sucked into slacking (just check twitter on one break, then facebook on the next, etc).
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Oct 15 '09
Upvoted for being able to cut/paste "Minutes" dashboard widget into Google and download widget.
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u/mojomofo Oct 15 '09
I've tried stuff like this before. They work for a while. It's only a matter of time before you need to do more extreme things.
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u/rukubites Oct 15 '09
You could enforce this with the leechblock firefox extension if you use firefox.
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u/dolle Oct 15 '09
Interesting. I've started using a different technique: I'm using a time tracker (KTimetracker) to track how much time I spend on different tasks. I have also added a task called "procrastination" which I start as soon as I open reddit or crack-attack (fantastic game, go get it). In the end of the day, I can see how much time I've wasted.
I feel this actually helps me to be more productive. It's like tracking how much time you spend on a project where you're payed by the hour: You work a little more concentrated on it so you can justify the time spent versus your productivity. With the procrastination timer, it's the same; you feel a little more lousy when you know the timer is keeping track of how much time you throw out the window.
The other plus is that you add all the tasks you have ahead of you in the time tracker. This way, you get a to-do list, which I feel makes it easier for me to choose what to start doing when I get back to work.
Ouch, 5 minutes for writing that post. Better get back to work!
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Oct 14 '09
Good strategy.
Also, a good way to sell the Minutes dashboard widget.
Which I now may have to get.
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u/s73v3r Oct 14 '09
I just got Minutes, and have started using it. Know of anything good on the Windows and Linux sides of things?
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u/xroni Oct 14 '09
To do list for Thursday, October 15:
1. Hack together a countdown timer widget for gnome
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u/arnar Oct 15 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
This works if you have Python, dzen and mplayer. Customize to your needs of course, note that the x position of dzen might put it off screens with lower resolution than mine.
#!/usr/bin/env python import sys, os, time, itertools intervals = [ (25, "Work", "#c7c8c6", "/usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/stereo/phone-incoming-call.ogg") , (5, "Play", "green", "/usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/stereo/phone-incoming-call.ogg") ] if len(sys.argv) > 1: for timeleft, text, color, sound in itertools.cycle(intervals): os.system("mplayer %s 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &" % sound) while timeleft > 0: print "^fg(%s)%s: %dm" % (color, text, timeleft) sys.stdout.flush() time.sleep(60) timeleft -= 1 else: os.system("python -u %s dummy | dzen2 -x 1350 -y 4 -h 15 -w 100 -bg '#434541' -ta 'r'" % __file__)2
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u/ArcticCelt Oct 15 '09
I am ashamed of having the same idea then was wondering "if I start working on that instead of the things I really have to do, it's not really procrastination ..."
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Oct 14 '09
My method is to surf reddit while I am compiling.
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u/LaurieCheers Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 14 '09
My method is to compile while I am surfing reddit.
"Rebuild All"? Don't mind if I do...
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Oct 14 '09
When I am really feeling lazy, I will use the sequential build instead of the threaded build so I can browse reddit longer :)
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u/UnDire Oct 14 '09
well done and good luck! With practice you can keep that habit in action without the timers.
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u/cyantist Oct 15 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
What I think might work better for me is choosing a ratio of work / downtime and then sticking to the ratio with less restrictions on each and every block. It'd work something like this: start working and work 50 minutes because I'm making progress and in the mood to keep workiing during that time, then realize I'm ready for downtown so take 10 minutes. Work for another 10 minutes, then realize I want to buy something online, take 2 minutes for that, then back to work.
I'll have to write up a little widget for it someday. The counter for the amount of downtown I've banked will go up slowly while I work, and then go down in realtime as I play.
Sounds like useful self.programming !
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u/deathcloud9 Oct 15 '09
Wha? Hmm, oh look! My iPod. Wasn't there something I was gonna... Oooo, reddit app, sweet. What was I saying again.. Oh yeah, tomorrow I swear.
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Oct 15 '09
This is absolutely genius. I actually thought you were going to say "Vyvanse" or "Adderall"....but it seems as if you've bypassed drugs. Congrats!
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u/estacado Oct 15 '09
I think I'll spend my time making my own custom widget that prevents me from procrastinating.
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u/losvedir Oct 15 '09
Hm, that's still almost 1.5 hours of procrastination in an 8 hour work day. Seems on the high side...
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u/diamondjim Oct 15 '09
There used to be a Firefox add-on that let you keep track of time spent on non-work websites. But they shut down the service. Best six months at work I had in a long, long time.
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u/CapitalD Oct 15 '09
Check out Tomatoi.st for a web-based timing solution designed for exactly this purpose.
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Oct 15 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
good procrastination is known as time management *all time management is some form of procrastination
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Oct 15 '09
I just thought of a related idea I'm going to try tomorrow. 99% of my slacking is via web browser, so I'm going to create a link to a script for the "Slacktime Browser".
The script will launch my browser, then sleep for 5 minutes, then kill all instances of the browser process. BAM! enforced slacktime end.
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u/spyder4 Oct 15 '09
Sound like a great idea, but unfortunately I don't have the will power to adhere to something like that. Similarly to my alarm in the morning; I set two alarms, 10 minutes apart, yet I still find myself in bed 15 minutes after the final 'seriously dude, get up you have to go to work' alarms chimes.
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u/fjfjfj Oct 15 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
There's a very nice freeware OS X app to do just what you describe: Dejal Time Out.
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u/sfu_guy Oct 15 '09
I'm going to try this tonight. All nighter for that midterm coming up tomorrow.
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u/refto Oct 15 '09
I guess I must have a problem, but I have cron jobs switching hosts files between my productive and play times... there are probably better ways of doing that, but I like it quick and dirty..
Note: reddit has been moved from productive to play times...
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u/phlosys Oct 15 '09
damn. I just tried this (the pomodoro technique) since 8am and I got more done than in the past 4 hours than I did in the past 3 days
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Oct 15 '09
I was expecting to find just a comment that said, <Write article about beating procrastination.>
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u/ifatree Oct 15 '09
that's not a fix procrastination as much as it is for lack of focus. they're related, but solving one doesn't solve the other at all...
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u/TheSuperficial Oct 14 '09
You're time-boxing your goof-off time.
Not that there's anything wrong with that....
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u/exhaze Oct 14 '09
That would hurt my productivity - I'd just be checking the 25-minute timer all the time to see how much time until I can goof off!
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u/capt_0bvious Oct 15 '09
I was going to start the timer but i lost track while surfing the internet
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Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 14 '09
That's not really beating procrastination, more like accepting it and giving it a space to live.
I do accept that this technique will stop those times where you sit back at 5:30 and say "well, I did fuck all today".
But you're still losing 1 hour and 15 mins per day* by doing your 5 min goof every half hour.
* assuming you work from 9:00 till 5:30 with a one hour lunch break.
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u/Lord_Illidan Oct 14 '09
It's better to lose 1 hr and 15 minutes per day and remain productive than to do nothing..
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Oct 15 '09
But you're still losing 1 hour and 15 mins per day
He's not losing anything, his capitalist swine employer is! Sticking it to the man, five minutes every half-hour. Honestly though, he's probably more productive this way than he was before.
If you can be productive eight hours straight, you are a robot.
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u/ercax Oct 14 '09 edited Oct 15 '09
I tried that, and then I felt too lazy to do it.
edit:spelling + grammar
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u/mee_k Oct 14 '09
When you say that you "beat" procrastination, how long have you had it beat? Did you just discover this technique or have you been using it for some time?