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Ask HN: Procrastination tools for sites/apps other than HN

4 points by russjhammond 16y ago

I have enabled the procrastination settings for HN over the past week and love it. It keeps me focused when I am logged in and keeps me from coming back to waste time. I would love programs that are similar, especially for email (I use Apple Mail) or Reddit & Digg. Any suggestions?

satishmreddy 16y ago
http://www.rescuetime.com/ http://www.rescuetime.com/
jbrennan 16y ago
I've been a big fan of Concentrap http://getconcentrating.com http://getconcentrating.com It lets you set periods of time where you'll be focusing on a certain task, and lets you perform actions when you start and end that period. For example, when you start a "Work" concentration period of say, 50 minutes, you can have it block a list of domains (HN, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, whatever you choose), have it quit your IM apps, and launch your Text editor, for example. It's a wonderful and effective app.
- russjhammond 16y ago
  Wow, that looks awesome. Thanks for the suggestion. Have you setup any scripts to run with it? If so I would be curious what you setup?
  - jbrennan 16y ago
    I don't use any external scripts, I just set mine to block problematic domains for me (places where I find I sink a lot of time, HN, Reddit, Twitter are the primary ones), and usually I make it close my IM client (or sometimes set my status to Busy), close Twitter, and my feed reader. Then I'm good to go. I find 50 minutes is a good duration for me. During the ten minutes downtime in an hour, I let myself read Twitter, and get up and walk around the office. Then back to work. It's marvellous for staying on task.
    - russjhammond 16y ago
      Do you tend to use it everyday or only on the days you are having a hard time concentrating? And while we are at it, any other great anti-procrastination/focus apps or tricks you have found lately that work really well?
- jbrennan 16y ago
  Realized there's a typo. Should be "Concentrate.app", not Concentrap.
karlzt 16y ago
addon for firefox: http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html and chromium: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/laankejkbhbdhmip...

4 points by russjhammond 16y ago

satishmreddy 16y ago

http://www.rescuetime.com/ http://www.rescuetime.com/

jbrennan 16y ago

I've been a big fan of Concentrap http://getconcentrating.com http://getconcentrating.com It lets you set periods of time where you'll be focusing on a certain task, and lets you perform actions when you start and end that period. For example, when you start a "Work" concentration period of say, 50 minutes, you can have it block a list of domains (HN, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, whatever you choose), have it quit your IM apps, and launch your Text editor, for example. It's a wonderful and effective app.

russjhammond 16y ago
Wow, that looks awesome. Thanks for the suggestion. Have you setup any scripts to run with it? If so I would be curious what you setup?
- jbrennan 16y ago
  I don't use any external scripts, I just set mine to block problematic domains for me (places where I find I sink a lot of time, HN, Reddit, Twitter are the primary ones), and usually I make it close my IM client (or sometimes set my status to Busy), close Twitter, and my feed reader. Then I'm good to go. I find 50 minutes is a good duration for me. During the ten minutes downtime in an hour, I let myself read Twitter, and get up and walk around the office. Then back to work. It's marvellous for staying on task.
  - russjhammond 16y ago
    Do you tend to use it everyday or only on the days you are having a hard time concentrating? And while we are at it, any other great anti-procrastination/focus apps or tricks you have found lately that work really well?
jbrennan 16y ago
Realized there's a typo. Should be "Concentrate.app", not Concentrap.

karlzt 16y ago

addon for firefox: http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html and chromium: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/laankejkbhbdhmip...