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I use timers aggressively for all kinds of tasks, both to nudge myself out of procrastination (I'll decide how long I want to allow, with a tacit "if I still ca

by vidarh 3y ago

I use timers aggressively for all kinds of tasks, both to nudge myself out of procrastination (I'll decide how long I want to allow, with a tacit "if I still can't make myself stop, at least make the next timer shorter"), or to overcome resistance to certain tasks by time limiting them. I find that often if I set myself a 30 minute timer for $boring_task, once I get into it I'll often then happily continue, or set another timer at least, or worst case time-limit my break from the task before getting back to it. It's not unusual for me to have several dozens timers go off during the course of a day.

winrid 3y ago
One thing a timer does is it gamifies it. This helps keep me focused. Probably same the psychology used in crappy mobile games ^_^ Sometimes I do go over, too, but I try not to. I try to have something to look forward to afterward (play with kid, do chore, eat candy, whatever) It also increases my happiness because I'm OCD and love lists, and I'll start to assign tasks BY DAY in asana (get these done mon, these Tues, etc) and then I go nuts. But just setting time blocks and not assigning tasks to days I'm just if not more productive and happier.