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"True Do" - An idea.
- veyron 14y agoProblem is that if all you do is expose the top project, and that takes time (for example, waiting for a long compile), you lose the ability to switch to another task.
- ComNik 14y agoI'm not sure if that is what you mean, but the whole list is visible. So you could see your next task and work on it in the meantime. If your highest priority task finishes, you could cross off both. But with more than a few hours of delay, it might be hard to remember what you already got done. But this is a valid point, I'll have to think about. Thank you!
- j2bax 14y agoYou could always just have the option to check the task off or put it in some sort of hold state with a time attached to it. When that time is up the task could become active and top most again. If your compile still isn't finished, just set another hold on it and continue working down your list. Again this requires some honesty as a user, but the most important thing is that the user knows what the purpose of the app is... If they want to game it, they could save themselves some time and just use Things or Producteev.
- ComNik 14y agoYes, I think this would'nt work without some kind of honesty. This hold-state sounds like a good idea!
- Ride120 14y agoYeah...that's one point.
- redguava 14y agoWhat if I have two things to do. I am working on the first and most important one, but then there is a hold up. Perhaps I am waiting for someone to email me back. Now I want to finish some other tasks while I wait but I can't check them off. I don't think this is a good idea. I wouldn't use it.
- Ride120 14y agoInteresting Idea (at least for me). You have touched a very strong point i.e. procrastination + To-Do List. So what i think is that, if we model it as "procrastination killer" oriented To-Do list, It can be helpful to me and my friends. I'm on to this.
- bratsche 14y agoThis kind of defeats the purpose of even presenting a list. It should only display one task at a time if it only wants you to work on one task at a time.
- veyron 14y agoIf you are really trying to solve procrastination, you have to address the distractions. Now, here is what I would like to see: the OFF switch. Hitting a button that would block all electronic distractions (turning off television etc) and block distracting sites (like youtube/reddit/HN) and disable distracting apps (like iPhone games) for half an hour. This most likely will involve special outlets or plugs that can be turned on/off via wifi.
- ricardobeat 14y agoOr magically sends you away from home without any of those devices.
- ed209 14y agoRescuetime does this sort of thing, blocking distracting sites http://www.rescuetime.com/tour http://www.rescuetime.com/tour "Block Distractions and Get Focused"
- honzzz 14y agoOff switch did not work for me because I could not switch off staring out of my window or biting my nails. One day I watched a talk by Tim Ferris and he mentioned the so called flash diet - in order to lose weight you take a picture of every meal you eat which is supposed to make you aware of your decisions that were previously habitual or subconscious and change your behaviour. I realized this could also work when you are trying to fight procrastination. I created a little anti-procrastination tool based on that idea: http://www.simplyeasy.cz/war-on-procrastination http://www.simplyeasy.cz/war-on-procrastination. It's dead simple to use... all I have to do before I start wasting my time is to press the "pause" button. To my own surprise it really works for me. Tim Ferris might be on to something.
- lionhearted 14y agoSelfControl on OSX is game-changingly good -- http://selfcontrolapp.com/ http://selfcontrolapp.com/ Only one piece of the puzzle, but a big one.
- ComNik 14y agoA bit off-topic, procrastination vs. focus is a very different problem (imo), but try the "Strict Pomodoro" Chrome Extension, has helped me improve quite a bit.
- elliott99 14y agoLaw of Blocking Distracting Websites: No how matter how many websites you block, you will always find one that is just as entertaining.
- jrajav 14y agoI cringe a little whenever I see someone try to solve an issue with planning and productivity that's already been covered years ago by awesome systems like GTD - especially when they try to solve it with technology. I want a tool, not an infomercial-esque "solution." To be constructive -- in order to make this useful as a tool and retain the central value-adding idea, make sure you include tags and tag filters at the very least. That's all you need to make it both simple enough for casual users and versatile enough for power users. I can't tell you how many tools I would love to try but can't because they don't have tagging or replace it with something not versatile enough (like nested lists). Foremost among those is Google Tasks.
- CookWithMe 14y agoMake it free and monetize it like all the free-to-play games do: If you want to cross of a non-top task, you have to pay increasing amounts of (real) money, e.g. 2nd task 0.50 $, 3rd task 1$, 4th task 2$ etc.
- unjinxable 14y agoThe example given illustrates one of the flaws of almost all todo implementations: "Study for math exam" - you can never check this off the list because it can't be discretely finished.
- andrewflnr 14y agoYou said "almost". Do you know one that handles continuous tasks well?
- priestc 14y agoProcrastination is a motivation problem that is not solvable by software.
- adrianmn 14y agoThe problem with procrastination is not the todo list software/system but the procrastinator. Also a huge flaw of online task managers is they are rigid(just a list where you can mark things as done). Freeform task management makes organization easier.
- ComNik 14y agoGreat point as well. But I'm not quite sure what you mean by "Freeform task management". Could you elaborate on that?
- adrianmn 14y agoFreeform(think a piece of paper) allows having lists, random text ... on same page. Evernote is great for that( I used backpack from 37 signals before that) I like it this way because I can have my day schedule(very few things in it), tasks list and notes(I can easy add ideas and other stuff during the day) on same place. My productivity system is a bit more detailed and uses evernote and google apps. I am thinking to actually write a short book about this but not being native english speaker holds me back(never published a book before). Does anyone think this could be interesting?
- ComNik 14y agoI think it's interesting, but start with writing a blogpost about it. Even though I did'nt fully understand how your system works, but I'd like to read more.