5 ms·

Anyone know of a break-taking app that watches your activity and can wait until you've lost focus on your work before reminding you to take a break? Something

by dazmax 10y ago

Anyone know of a break-taking app that watches your activity and can wait until you've lost focus on your work before reminding you to take a break? Something like the alarms that wake you up at the right point in your sleep cycle. It would probably need to have a cut-off eventually, but I'd hate to be interrupted in the middle of tracing some complex logic if there's a perfect stopping point 10 minutes later.

witty_username 10y ago
http://www.workrave.org/ http://www.workrave.org/
- codemac 10y ago
  I've found workrave to be great on linux, and I highly suggest it for anyone, you can configure how the breaks are laid out in just about any fashion.
- mattm 10y ago
  How do you configure it for the situation mentioned in the parent comment?
- dvtv75 10y ago
  Wow, talk about your Mystery Meat interfaces.
pmoriarty 10y ago
You could put the reminder in to a screensaver that activates after a certain amount of inactivity.
kowdermeister 10y ago
It's called a dog :)
- matwood 10y ago
  You joke, but it's true. I've also started sitting in a large room in my house where it's easy to look and focus at a long distance. The more I think about it, the more of these issues that get solved naturally when working remote/at home.
- iagooar 10y ago
  My dog does definitely NOT wait until I lose my focus ;)
- athenot 10y ago
  Or children (when working at home). Or managers (when in the office). :) Joking aside, I view this as a necessary balance required in life. Even if my primary activity needs a lot of solo concentration, I must embrace the distactions as having value for reasons mentioned in the article. We are not ultra-specialized machines, even if we specialize in very narrow fields, we still live a life that comes with variety, diversity and in an environment filled with beneficial chaos.
kranner 10y ago
http://awaremac.com/ http://awaremac.com/ Not quite what you're asking but it tracks how long you've been working (or using keyboard/mouse) and simply displays that without interrupting you at any point. If it's an hour or more for me, when I happen to glance at it, I get up and take a walk or stretch.
nateberkopec 10y ago
Time Out for Mac has a "Pro" level feature which waits for a natural break: http://www.dejal.com/timeout/ http://www.dejal.com/timeout/ It's a very customizable tool - I've used it for months.
T0T0R0 10y ago
The of productivity overkill going on in this idea is painful to think about. The world can wait. Fuck it. Just slack off and waste some time. That's what I do. When my eyes feel bad, it's time to destroy an hour of the day, go for a walk and anyone who can't get on board with that can take a hike.
dvtv75 10y ago
Get a G-Shock watch and set the countdown timer to whatever duration suits you. Given the 20:20:20:20 rule I saw above, I figure a 20 minute countdown probably isn't a bad countdown. At school, I was taught that we have a short attention span of something like 10-15 minutes, so you could always do that. Every time the alarm goes off, go for a walk around the office. Not quite what you were asking for, I know.
- thesmallestcat 10y ago
  Why a G-Shock?

by dazmax 10y ago

witty_username 10y ago

http://www.workrave.org/ http://www.workrave.org/

codemac 10y ago
I've found workrave to be great on linux, and I highly suggest it for anyone, you can configure how the breaks are laid out in just about any fashion.
mattm 10y ago
How do you configure it for the situation mentioned in the parent comment?
dvtv75 10y ago
Wow, talk about your Mystery Meat interfaces.

pmoriarty 10y ago

You could put the reminder in to a screensaver that activates after a certain amount of inactivity.

kowdermeister 10y ago

It's called a dog :)

matwood 10y ago
You joke, but it's true. I've also started sitting in a large room in my house where it's easy to look and focus at a long distance. The more I think about it, the more of these issues that get solved naturally when working remote/at home.
iagooar 10y ago
My dog does definitely NOT wait until I lose my focus ;)
athenot 10y ago
Or children (when working at home). Or managers (when in the office). :) Joking aside, I view this as a necessary balance required in life. Even if my primary activity needs a lot of solo concentration, I must embrace the distactions as having value for reasons mentioned in the article. We are not ultra-specialized machines, even if we specialize in very narrow fields, we still live a life that comes with variety, diversity and in an environment filled with beneficial chaos.

kranner 10y ago

http://awaremac.com/ http://awaremac.com/ Not quite what you're asking but it tracks how long you've been working (or using keyboard/mouse) and simply displays that without interrupting you at any point. If it's an hour or more for me, when I happen to glance at it, I get up and take a walk or stretch.

nateberkopec 10y ago

Time Out for Mac has a "Pro" level feature which waits for a natural break: http://www.dejal.com/timeout/ http://www.dejal.com/timeout/ It's a very customizable tool - I've used it for months.

T0T0R0 10y ago

The of productivity overkill going on in this idea is painful to think about. The world can wait. Fuck it. Just slack off and waste some time. That's what I do. When my eyes feel bad, it's time to destroy an hour of the day, go for a walk and anyone who can't get on board with that can take a hike.

dvtv75 10y ago

Get a G-Shock watch and set the countdown timer to whatever duration suits you. Given the 20:20:20:20 rule I saw above, I figure a 20 minute countdown probably isn't a bad countdown. At school, I was taught that we have a short attention span of something like 10-15 minutes, so you could always do that. Every time the alarm goes off, go for a walk around the office. Not quite what you were asking for, I know.

thesmallestcat 10y ago
Why a G-Shock?