4 ms·

Remember that Lifehacker post about Seinfeld's productivity secret? I made a small site based on it.

43 points by brett 19y ago

brett 19y ago
The post: http://lifehacker.com/software/motivation/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret-281626.php http://lifehacker.com/software/motivation/jerry-seinfelds-pr... I tried a paper calendar on my wall for a few days after I read that. Then I decided this was a good chance to do something in python which I've been looking to learn. Looks like palish is working on something based on the same post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45374 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45374
- byrneseyeview 19y ago
  Nice. Feature request: could you offer more than one chain? Chains that aren't daily (e.g. if you're in sales, it wouldn't make much sense to expect the same quota for Wednesday as for Sunday)?
  - brett 19y ago
    Yeah. I've been thinking about how to best add more than one chain since I started. My main concern is making sure that at any time you can single click on a day with an unambiguous result (viz. it toggles color). So far I'm thinking some sort of tabbish view where you only see one chain at a time. Adding non daily chains is something to think about.
    - nickb 19y ago
      I've been using Apple iCal for chains! Implement it like Apple's iCal. Have a menu at the right side where you can display, hide, pick color, add new chains etc. (chain is equivalent to subscribing to a new calendar in iCal). Can't beat the iCal usability.
    - djonesx 19y ago
      Multiple chains concept sounds cool. In the shower this morning I thought of a dozen "chains" I want to start!
    - ph0rque 19y ago
      Brett, Here's a suggestion for non-daily chains: say I want to work out twice a week. I can set that property (somehow) in the chain name, and when I work out on Monday and market it on the calendar on Monday, it will have mon-wed marked off. Obviously, there's a problem with fractions, but it should work.
jsjenkins168 19y ago
Thanks for doing this! I actually printed out calendars and have been making X's but this is so much cooler...
palish 19y ago
Oh snap. You sneaky sneaky. We might just have to launch tonight instead of tomorrow. Well played! I really like how you've kept it drop-dead simple. Our site offers a little more social-wise, so I'm sure there will be plenty of people who prefer your application. Great design!
- brett 19y ago
  Thanks. And thanks for inspiring me to get it out. I look forward to seeing what you are working on.
  - palish 19y ago
    http://www.cha1n.com http://www.cha1n.com
- dlimeb 19y ago
  Me too, and I had to rush mine out the door also :) http://www.habitstarter.com/ http://www.habitstarter.com/
adamdoupe 19y ago
Pretty nifty, I must have missed the initial post. Now I have something to motivate me to workout daily. And something to haunt me when I consider marking my alcohol intake (in this case, you don't want to start a chain).
paulgb 19y ago
I like the iGoogle widget, this is something I could actually use.
- brett 19y ago
  At first I just tried to use the site itself as my homepage. I missed iGoogle.
  - paulgb 19y ago
    Actually, that's not a bad idea. I don't use iGoogle as a homepage anyway, I found that too distracting so I switched to something less boring (it backfired, now I am in the habit of opening iGoogle as soon as I open the new browser window anyway), but making this a homepage would remind me without distracting me.
joshwa 19y ago
Ah, datablogging. I did something similar back when I was jobhunting, to track how many resumes went out (and how many responses received): http://joshwand.com/php/jobsearch2.php http://joshwand.com/php/jobsearch2.php
mattjaynes 19y ago
LOVE the simplicity! Great job! And extra kudos for the iGoogle widget!
samson 19y ago
This is quite nice, i like the look that it has on iGoogle. P.S does anyone have a link to info on creating widgets for igoogle.
- brett 19y ago
  http://www.google.com/apis/gadgets/ http://www.google.com/apis/gadgets/
djonesx 19y ago
That's awesome! Wow. I have a new home/start page in my browser, and I NEVER normally use a start page! Please keep it as simple as it is now! Its beautiful! If you must add new features, please hide them away so as not to clutter it.
djonesx 19y ago
Although it does need a user timezone setting. It thinks its Thursday, when its actually Friday here in Australia! Threw me for a moment there!
- brett 19y ago
  Definitely. I knew I was going to get a comment on that.
bootload 19y ago
".. 500 - Error Opps broke the chain Whoops. Looks like something actually did get broken. ..." Damn... I broke it. Nice error message though ~ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/1218317738/ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/1218317738/ - created user account - logged in - clicked on 2 successive days after today - they went red - clicked 'last 4 weeks' - barfed - now 500 on every login
- brett 19y ago
  Nice. Thanks. Should be fixed now. I kept thinking that I should disable being able to toggle days after today because it did not provide any utility. It could have helped out in this case.
  - bootload 19y ago
    "... Nice. Thanks. Should be fixed now. ..." Thanks brett, checked it, works. "... I kept thinking that I should disable being able to toggle days after today because it did not provide any utility ..." so I shouldn't have been able to click the days after today? Oh also found another PIA which is going to require a bit of a login detail. I'm Aus and close to the date line. Today, now is 2007AUG241154 meaning I'm working yesterday. Any chance of making the default time format GMT, UTC ? Should allow everyone to be on the same page OR you'll have to (probably have to anyway) modify users time by selecting location then adjusting the date-time to the user location.
    - brett 19y ago
      "so I shouldn't have been able to click the days after today?" No, I did not get to that. I just fixed it so that if all the days you've clicked are after today (PST) then it does not try to calculate the streak of days between today and the beginning of time. And yeah, I was just lazy to not include timezones. I should fix that.
      - euccastro 19y ago
        I have no idea if this is possible, but what about trying to read the timezone settings in the host computer with Javascript, rather than asking the user to set that?
eusman 19y ago
interesting! but one detail: the advice talks about a chain created by X. So, it should look like XXXXX but in the app it's red boxes not connected...
- euccastro 19y ago
  I like the red boxes better. Big chunks of those are easier to recognize as a block.
Alex3917 19y ago
I like it. I added it as a link in my Firefox bookmarks bar. Definitely needs to support multiple chains though. Instead of multiple tabs, I think it would be best just to have a column of color blocks with the name of the chain on the right hand side of the page. Then when you clicked on a color that chain would be displayed.
- brett 19y ago
  I think you're on to something. nickb's comment about iCal had me thinking along the same lines.
henning 19y ago
after you've read the lifehacker post for this, the app is completely self-explanatory just by looking at the interface and clicking a few days. i'm impressed, and i'm a jaded snob who is totally cynical about web 2.0 crap.
abrown 19y ago
I like it. One nitpick is that when you go to the login page the cursor does not default to the login field. This is kind of expected behavior. Anyway, pretty useful little app. Thanks! Edit: Feature added, rock on.
- brett 19y ago
  Thanks. Should be fixed.
puneetht 19y ago
how about allowing me to track more than one project (i.e chain). Nice work.

43 points by brett 19y ago

brett 19y ago

The post: http://lifehacker.com/software/motivation/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret-281626.php http://lifehacker.com/software/motivation/jerry-seinfelds-pr... I tried a paper calendar on my wall for a few days after I read that. Then I decided this was a good chance to do something in python which I've been looking to learn. Looks like palish is working on something based on the same post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45374 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45374

byrneseyeview 19y ago
Nice. Feature request: could you offer more than one chain? Chains that aren't daily (e.g. if you're in sales, it wouldn't make much sense to expect the same quota for Wednesday as for Sunday)?
- brett 19y ago
  Yeah. I've been thinking about how to best add more than one chain since I started. My main concern is making sure that at any time you can single click on a day with an unambiguous result (viz. it toggles color). So far I'm thinking some sort of tabbish view where you only see one chain at a time. Adding non daily chains is something to think about.
  - nickb 19y ago
    I've been using Apple iCal for chains! Implement it like Apple's iCal. Have a menu at the right side where you can display, hide, pick color, add new chains etc. (chain is equivalent to subscribing to a new calendar in iCal). Can't beat the iCal usability.
  - djonesx 19y ago
    Multiple chains concept sounds cool. In the shower this morning I thought of a dozen "chains" I want to start!
  - ph0rque 19y ago
    Brett, Here's a suggestion for non-daily chains: say I want to work out twice a week. I can set that property (somehow) in the chain name, and when I work out on Monday and market it on the calendar on Monday, it will have mon-wed marked off. Obviously, there's a problem with fractions, but it should work.

jsjenkins168 19y ago

Thanks for doing this! I actually printed out calendars and have been making X's but this is so much cooler...

palish 19y ago

Oh snap. You sneaky sneaky. We might just have to launch tonight instead of tomorrow. Well played! I really like how you've kept it drop-dead simple. Our site offers a little more social-wise, so I'm sure there will be plenty of people who prefer your application. Great design!

brett 19y ago
Thanks. And thanks for inspiring me to get it out. I look forward to seeing what you are working on.
- palish 19y ago
  http://www.cha1n.com http://www.cha1n.com
dlimeb 19y ago
Me too, and I had to rush mine out the door also :) http://www.habitstarter.com/ http://www.habitstarter.com/

adamdoupe 19y ago

Pretty nifty, I must have missed the initial post. Now I have something to motivate me to workout daily. And something to haunt me when I consider marking my alcohol intake (in this case, you don't want to start a chain).

paulgb 19y ago

I like the iGoogle widget, this is something I could actually use.

brett 19y ago
At first I just tried to use the site itself as my homepage. I missed iGoogle.
- paulgb 19y ago
  Actually, that's not a bad idea. I don't use iGoogle as a homepage anyway, I found that too distracting so I switched to something less boring (it backfired, now I am in the habit of opening iGoogle as soon as I open the new browser window anyway), but making this a homepage would remind me without distracting me.

joshwa 19y ago

Ah, datablogging. I did something similar back when I was jobhunting, to track how many resumes went out (and how many responses received): http://joshwand.com/php/jobsearch2.php http://joshwand.com/php/jobsearch2.php

mattjaynes 19y ago

LOVE the simplicity! Great job! And extra kudos for the iGoogle widget!

samson 19y ago

This is quite nice, i like the look that it has on iGoogle. P.S does anyone have a link to info on creating widgets for igoogle.

brett 19y ago
http://www.google.com/apis/gadgets/ http://www.google.com/apis/gadgets/

djonesx 19y ago

That's awesome! Wow. I have a new home/start page in my browser, and I NEVER normally use a start page! Please keep it as simple as it is now! Its beautiful! If you must add new features, please hide them away so as not to clutter it.

djonesx 19y ago

Although it does need a user timezone setting. It thinks its Thursday, when its actually Friday here in Australia! Threw me for a moment there!

brett 19y ago
Definitely. I knew I was going to get a comment on that.

bootload 19y ago

".. 500 - Error Opps broke the chain Whoops. Looks like something actually did get broken. ..." Damn... I broke it. Nice error message though ~ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/1218317738/ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/1218317738/ - created user account - logged in - clicked on 2 successive days after today - they went red - clicked 'last 4 weeks' - barfed - now 500 on every login

brett 19y ago
Nice. Thanks. Should be fixed now. I kept thinking that I should disable being able to toggle days after today because it did not provide any utility. It could have helped out in this case.
- bootload 19y ago
  "... Nice. Thanks. Should be fixed now. ..." Thanks brett, checked it, works. "... I kept thinking that I should disable being able to toggle days after today because it did not provide any utility ..." so I shouldn't have been able to click the days after today? Oh also found another PIA which is going to require a bit of a login detail. I'm Aus and close to the date line. Today, now is 2007AUG241154 meaning I'm working yesterday. Any chance of making the default time format GMT, UTC ? Should allow everyone to be on the same page OR you'll have to (probably have to anyway) modify users time by selecting location then adjusting the date-time to the user location.
  - brett 19y ago
    "so I shouldn't have been able to click the days after today?" No, I did not get to that. I just fixed it so that if all the days you've clicked are after today (PST) then it does not try to calculate the streak of days between today and the beginning of time. And yeah, I was just lazy to not include timezones. I should fix that.
    - euccastro 19y ago
      I have no idea if this is possible, but what about trying to read the timezone settings in the host computer with Javascript, rather than asking the user to set that?

eusman 19y ago

interesting! but one detail: the advice talks about a chain created by X. So, it should look like XXXXX but in the app it's red boxes not connected...

euccastro 19y ago
I like the red boxes better. Big chunks of those are easier to recognize as a block.

Alex3917 19y ago

I like it. I added it as a link in my Firefox bookmarks bar. Definitely needs to support multiple chains though. Instead of multiple tabs, I think it would be best just to have a column of color blocks with the name of the chain on the right hand side of the page. Then when you clicked on a color that chain would be displayed.

brett 19y ago
I think you're on to something. nickb's comment about iCal had me thinking along the same lines.

henning 19y ago

after you've read the lifehacker post for this, the app is completely self-explanatory just by looking at the interface and clicking a few days. i'm impressed, and i'm a jaded snob who is totally cynical about web 2.0 crap.

abrown 19y ago

I like it. One nitpick is that when you go to the login page the cursor does not default to the login field. This is kind of expected behavior. Anyway, pretty useful little app. Thanks! Edit: Feature added, rock on.

brett 19y ago
Thanks. Should be fixed.

puneetht 19y ago

how about allowing me to track more than one project (i.e chain). Nice work.