3 ms·

I have mild to moderate ADHD, and in the long run, I haven’t found any tools that try and “get in my way” to block distraction to be that helpful. No tool can s

I have mild to moderate ADHD, and in the long run, I haven’t found any tools that try and “get in my way” to block distraction to be that helpful. No tool can save me from myself, and they usually end up interfering with my “productivity” in the process. For example, with this tool, what happens when I need to use a browser extension, or look up something from a random website, or research something on HN or Reddit? What happens if I need to use the terminal, or message my partner? And then aside from all that, how does it protect me from just turning to something else (phone) to feed my need for distraction? So while things like this can have some benefit, no productivity tool can come close to touching the things that have really helped me: therapy, meditation, psychedelics, self-compassion, medication, and some books that helped me see “productivity” through a new lens and recognize the pathological relationship with myself that it was keeping me trapped in. Books I recommend: 1. Four Thousand Weeks by Burkeman 2. Self Compassion by Neff 3. The Now Habit by Fiore If you can only read one, read 4000 Weeks. Game changer.

nvarsj 4y ago
I think there's definitely room for tools. But they have to discourage distraction, somehow. Personally I took one look at this Show HN and knew it wasn't for me. Too many things going on in one window - I'd find that very distracting and it would make it hard for me to focus. For me, I have to explicitly do things that reduce distraction. On OS X, this means having a virtual desktop just for work, for example. Browser only for reference pages. Then another desktop which has all my super distracting things, like calendar/outlook/browser/chat. And I force myself to stay on the work desktop when doing work things. What I have been looking for is a simple task tracker. This does help! Unfortunately I haven't found anything perfect on OS X yet. On Linux, I found the flowtime [1] app worked really well. All it needs to do is: - Let me enter a task I'm working on - Track how long I work on it That's it. Just the simple action of entering the task and clicking start seems to help kick my brain into focus mode. 1: https://github.com/Diego-Ivan/Flowtime https://github.com/Diego-Ivan/Flowtime
- daniel_sushil 4y ago
  Hey nvarsj, I do agree that you need to do what works best for you. Everyone have a method and if it works, great! However, I do feel like Floutwork really solves your problem of keeping work related things isolated. Although it comes with many producutivity features, you can simply use it just to work on your work related apps. It will be the same as logging into virtual desktop but if you ever need the extra productivity tools later on, you can always use them. It tracks productivity by default and helps you track your tasks with ease. Would love for you to give it a shot! But if it seems overwhelming to you, I totally understand.
daniel_sushil 4y ago
Hey ryanwaggoner, I do agree that this app is not meant to completely isolate you from everything and prevent all distractions, including distraction from smart phones. The one thing it does really well though is to help you setup goals and track all your tasks and reminders with ease. It also shows you your web apps in a single window with way less cluttered tabs. If you want to research or open any website, you can. You just open the command bar using CMD+1 shortcut (in mac) and just type the website you want to visit. By default, the command bar will open your websites or apps in split view so you don't lose focus of the work you were doing. But if going to a website is deliberate and you want to switch contexts fully, you can always press SHIFT+CMD+1 to open websites, apps, bookmarks etc in full view. Again, it is an extra but a deliberate step to switch contexts fully. Basically, a lot of things are built into the app to help you focus by default. Even the daily productivity goals help you track your work habits and even tracks focus time by default. A lot of things in the app are done by default so you get to build atomic habits to achieve greater success in the long run and on a consistent basis. Can you do all of this in other apps? Sure, you can do a lot of what this app offers by sticthing together many different and distinct apps. The problem is you will use those apps initially but revert back to your old habits. Since Floutwork helps you bring everything into one place, although it might feel restrictive at first, once you get used to it, you will realize you are able to focus way more. Would love for you to try it out. If it works, great! If it doesn't, at least you can say you tried ;-)
- Bedon292 4y ago
  I find ad blocking to be an important part of focus. Any support for extensions in the browser part? It would be nice to be able to add in uBlock Origin, and probably a password manager extension rather than using your vault.
  - daniel_sushil 4y ago
    @Bendon292 - I agree with you on ad blocking being an important part of focus. At least personally, I didn't find myself getting too distracted by ads because most web apps we use for work don't rely on an ad model. But I do get distracted if I need to research something or go to something like forbes.com to read an article etc. I am planning to add support for Chrome extensions soon. uBlock Origin seems like an excellent candidate to roll out as part of the initial extension support.

nvarsj 4y ago

I think there's definitely room for tools. But they have to discourage distraction, somehow. Personally I took one look at this Show HN and knew it wasn't for me. Too many things going on in one window - I'd find that very distracting and it would make it hard for me to focus. For me, I have to explicitly do things that reduce distraction. On OS X, this means having a virtual desktop just for work, for example. Browser only for reference pages. Then another desktop which has all my super distracting things, like calendar/outlook/browser/chat. And I force myself to stay on the work desktop when doing work things. What I have been looking for is a simple task tracker. This does help! Unfortunately I haven't found anything perfect on OS X yet. On Linux, I found the flowtime [1] app worked really well. All it needs to do is: - Let me enter a task I'm working on - Track how long I work on it That's it. Just the simple action of entering the task and clicking start seems to help kick my brain into focus mode. 1: https://github.com/Diego-Ivan/Flowtime https://github.com/Diego-Ivan/Flowtime

daniel_sushil 4y ago
Hey nvarsj, I do agree that you need to do what works best for you. Everyone have a method and if it works, great! However, I do feel like Floutwork really solves your problem of keeping work related things isolated. Although it comes with many producutivity features, you can simply use it just to work on your work related apps. It will be the same as logging into virtual desktop but if you ever need the extra productivity tools later on, you can always use them. It tracks productivity by default and helps you track your tasks with ease. Would love for you to give it a shot! But if it seems overwhelming to you, I totally understand.

daniel_sushil 4y ago

Hey ryanwaggoner, I do agree that this app is not meant to completely isolate you from everything and prevent all distractions, including distraction from smart phones. The one thing it does really well though is to help you setup goals and track all your tasks and reminders with ease. It also shows you your web apps in a single window with way less cluttered tabs. If you want to research or open any website, you can. You just open the command bar using CMD+1 shortcut (in mac) and just type the website you want to visit. By default, the command bar will open your websites or apps in split view so you don't lose focus of the work you were doing. But if going to a website is deliberate and you want to switch contexts fully, you can always press SHIFT+CMD+1 to open websites, apps, bookmarks etc in full view. Again, it is an extra but a deliberate step to switch contexts fully. Basically, a lot of things are built into the app to help you focus by default. Even the daily productivity goals help you track your work habits and even tracks focus time by default. A lot of things in the app are done by default so you get to build atomic habits to achieve greater success in the long run and on a consistent basis. Can you do all of this in other apps? Sure, you can do a lot of what this app offers by sticthing together many different and distinct apps. The problem is you will use those apps initially but revert back to your old habits. Since Floutwork helps you bring everything into one place, although it might feel restrictive at first, once you get used to it, you will realize you are able to focus way more. Would love for you to try it out. If it works, great! If it doesn't, at least you can say you tried ;-)

Bedon292 4y ago
I find ad blocking to be an important part of focus. Any support for extensions in the browser part? It would be nice to be able to add in uBlock Origin, and probably a password manager extension rather than using your vault.
- daniel_sushil 4y ago
  @Bendon292 - I agree with you on ad blocking being an important part of focus. At least personally, I didn't find myself getting too distracted by ads because most web apps we use for work don't rely on an ad model. But I do get distracted if I need to research something or go to something like forbes.com to read an article etc. I am planning to add support for Chrome extensions soon. uBlock Origin seems like an excellent candidate to roll out as part of the initial extension support.