Author here. It’s my first article. I’m a bit nervous but excited to get your feedback. If you deal with procrastination too, I hope this method helps you like it helped me.
I was about to be a little snarky but your comment reminded me to be kind. Thanks.
I don't have a receipt printer, what helps me is an A4-sized whiteboard with marker when I feel like I'm falling behind my tasks. Also, to use todos sparingly, so they retain their effectiveness. It's actually quite underrated to forget and let go of tasks; what's important tends to stick around in your head and keep you up at night.
The snark was from my personal experience that serial procrastinators ride a particular high when they change their methods, especially if they spend money for something that hopefully solves their issues. It never lasts long, we return to baseline quite fast. This is why there is tons of posts about "here's how I solved my procrastination issue" when they've only used the supposed panacea for a couple of days. What's I find more interesting, is methods that have worked for someone for years. Then one can claim to have found a cure, albeit one that probably only works for them.
In any case, keep writing. It helps a lot if you too suffer from squirrel brain.
You are absolutely right, and I have actually tried lots of different things and abandoned just as many methods after only a few days. But what pushed me to write this article is that this time, it was different. After several months, this method is still holding up.
> The snark was from my personal experience that serial procrastinators ride a particular high when they change their methods, especially if they spend money for something that hopefully solves their issues. It never lasts long, we return to baseline quite fast. This is why there is tons of posts about "here's how I solved my procrastination issue" when they've only used the supposed panacea for a couple of days.
This reflects my experience as well. Whether it's getting a special little "Getting Things Done" notebook/app or getting the accessories involved in this post, before long my brain has "helpfully" optimized them back out of my life and I'm back at square one.
This is why I've accepted it about my process. Even if something new only boosts my productivity for a little while, a bump is better than nothing, and I often learn something new about myself in the process. So, instead of beating myself up about going whole hog into something I saw online or heard in a podcast, I just accept it and enjoy the increase in energy and motivation for the time that I'm trying it.
> serial procrastinators ride a particular high when they change their methods, especially if they spend money... It never lasts long, we return to baseline quite fast
That's probably why the author has beginner tasks on the whiteboard like making a bed, washing the dishes, etc. It's hard to imagine having such tasks throughout one's entire life while struggling with procrastination.
Yes, that is exactly why this method works. Because breaking tasks down into micro-tasks really does work. And the ticket printer helps remove as much friction as possible.
That is what makes it a method that requires very little time and energy, and therefore something that can be sustained over the long term.
That matches my experience. “Write the report” will sit in my inbox forever. “Add 10 items to the outline for the report” will usually break the inertia and end up with me finishing the whole thing.
Then if "Add 10 items" seems to be sitting around for a while, I change it to "Add 5 items".
The part where I end up finishing the whole thing doesn't always happen, but breaking it down into chunks that I can power my way through even if I'm in the worst mood with the worst working conditions at least lets me accomplish a small thing and get a better sense of the task for the next time I try. Sometimes "Add 5 Items" actually turns into "Add 2 items and realize you only need 7 total items."
Some of my procrastination is "I haven't started the task because I can't completely visualize it, I can't completely visualize it because I haven't started the task."
That's exactly how it is for me. If I can visualize the whole task from start to finish, it's generally easy to go ahead and knock it out. If there's a part I'm unsure of, I can put it off forever. That's also true if one of the steps is "call so-and-so and ask about such-and-such," if I don't know what the answer is going to be. That uncertainty blocks the whole project in my mind.
Starting to write this comment was easy, because I knew what I was going to say before I started typing; but writing a book seems impossible, because I can't hold the whole thing in my mind at once. Funny thing is, this comment has changed and expanded since I started it, but since I didn't expect that, there was no uncertainty and I didn't hesitate to start it. Now if I could just find a way to fool myself about bigger projects.
4-8 weeks is about the range that a new task system works for me. Probably not coincidentally I had As in most of my classes around the midterms, but graduated with a C average (a semester was 17 weeks at my university).
If you’re procrastinating, but then find a method that works and go on to use it for several years, you didn’t have a procrastination issue, you just didn’t know how to get started.
Chronic procrastinators will inevitably procrastinate no matter what method they find.
Yes, that's true, but chronic procrastinators also get older which means they know what works best for them, and also accept that some stuff might fall through the cracks, and that's perfectly fine.
Wanting to have a perfectly organised life is unrealistic. We're not machines, but we're bombarded by the message that we can do better at organising our lives, often by those that want to sell us their product.
> What's I find more interesting, is methods that have worked for someone for years.
From 2020 I use a three column worksheet (Libreoffice in Debian): one row per day. One thin column for the date, the second for pending tasks, the third for the "done" ones. Theoretically I just copy-paste between the "pendings" to the "done", but I also add notes as the day progress, so it is also a kind of personal diary. At the end of the day tasks not achieved get moved to some rows below, and new ones are added as needed.
The spreadsheet is configured to start automatically on session login, so I can't forget to see my daily assignment.
Not perfect, but (mostly) works for me.
Whiteboards have been my main strategy too. And a little while ago I ran across this: https://community.frame.work/t/whiteboard-input-module/58985 and bought the same stickers and pens and it works much better than I expected - the pens write super-durably for dry-erase and light bumping doesn't erase them at all. I have weeks-old reminders on there that are almost new looking.
For day to day stuff I just use a more normal whiteboard that I do my best to erase at the end of the day, and migrate longer term stuff to some other location. I like it better than a regimented "always empty" system since reasonable leakage from one day to the next is pretty common for me.
The good thing about todos on physical objects like a whiteboard is that the space is limited. Todo software tends to accumulate tasks until there are so many you’re overwhelmed with anxiety just opening the app, and pruning them would be yet another tasks on top of the mountain.
I love it. Using a thermal printer to print physical tasks you can crumple on completion and throw in a bin is absolute madlad goblin energy and I'm all for it. I think you've actually perfectly distilled the essence of "game-loop" and operant conditioning, and mapped it to the real world. I have been using a whiteboard for tasks, which is better than nothing, but the problem with that approach is the feedback is minor, and once erased, it's like "wtf did I even do this week". So there is limited short-term feedback and zero long-term feedback. You need both the power-up noise and the level progression for a loop to be satisfying.
I have been planning on making a system based on those long scrolls of paper for doodle boards, so at least there is a history, but of course I procrastinated on building the mount for it.
I would love to use your application, I know there's a million to-do apps out there but I get the overwhelm/daunting very easily, so I really appreciate the scope-hiding aspect.
One comment: You're dopamine hacking. My belief is that eventually the process will stop rewarding you with dopamine, and you'll drop it.
Games eventually stop rewarding you with dopamine, and your brain loses interest in them. Same goes for the jar. ADHD brain needs to keep changing the process, in order to keep the reward novel. What works today won't work in six weeks.
(With me it was tearing the index card in half when I'd finished the task. Very satisfying - for a while)
As a former chef who lived by tasks on paper tickets for several years, I recommend getting a tab grabber and spike, for an extra little dopamine hit. It's very satisfying to pull the receipt from the grabber and spike it
Definitely a tactily-satisfying motion. Those spikes always freaked me out- you're one slip away from a Final Destination "spike through the eyeball" situation.
Thank you so much for writing this. I have recently discovered that I have both autism and ADHD, and increasingly it feels like this mind style has a steep counterintuitive learning curve but also very high skill ceiling.
The video game analogy rings very true for me. It helps me a lot to read articles like yours because it gives me new ideas to try. I fully agree with your premise and I've been experimenting with indeed card based systems but have been frustrated by, as you noted, how having to repeatedly make the cards every day basically means I'll probably stop doing it. The receipt printer is a fantastic idea. Making mental only systems physical seems to invoke the spatial parts of the brain. I've been trying to find good ways to synchronize my mental, digital, and physical information. I'd love to read more of your ideas if you publish anything else on your mailing list. Cheers
I would avoid massively increasing your exposure to receipts. They have endocrine disrupting chemicals and it's advised to not even handle them from retail stores let alone in higher quantities in your own home.
They are getting cancer. That's the problem, cancer rates overall are higher and we're working through figuring out why so we can stop it. This may be one of the reasons.
I loved your article! Thank you so much for sharing. Fellow procrastinator struggler here.
What's been working for me lately is carrying a Field Notes notebook everywhere with me combined with some of the ideas you talk about here (breaking down tasks into smaller and smaller pieces). It's the perfect size for me to carry around every day.
It's also been helpful as I've been defaulting to opening up my notebook as my basic distraction device as opposed to opening up my phone.
I loved it. I think it perfectly captures the itch that causes procrastination: you had a working solution but it was not good enough for you. You've perfected it but you still have issues with it. You still managed to live with the imperfect version while working on improving it, though. I think that's the part most of us procrastinators fail.
It's a great and well written article. I read all of it, and as a fellow ADHD sufferer, that's rare. :)
My experiences with ADHD align pretty closely with yours. We're of a similar age, but I was only diagnosed recently, and I'm still settling into this, adjusting medication and so on. But just knowing now what's wrong with me, is a game changer. It means I can work with it or around it, instead of being in a state of frustration and despair that I can't function like everyone around me.
In my experience, if I find a task interesting and intellectually stimulating, I can grind away at it for hours and lose track of time. But if it's boring and tedious, it's nearly impossible for me to make any progress at all, unless the consequences for not completing it are severe.
Breaking down tasks is a good idea, and it's something I've thought of myself. Just vacuum the stairs. Just press New Document in LibreOffice and write ONE sentence. Just wipe down the bathroom mirror. I'm not sure I'm ready for a solution as elaborate as yours, though I find the technical aspect of it fascinating, and I might explore it just for that reason.
I totally relate to the way you described it! You can try my solution in a really simple way using post-it notes. Just do a few tests and see if it works for you!
I will probably release the software as source-closed, but if you need help making a custom script, feel free to email me (you can find the address in the footer of my website).
What phone model do you have? I suspect the screen is on the narrow side.
Yes, I am even going to make a real little game to show that you can get absorbed by a very simple game if it uses the gameplay loop and multiple feedback mechanisms correctly.
Offtopic but rewarding your article on Firefox on Android, there's a slight misalignment on the side. The left side gets cut off about 5-8 pixels, I'd say. It cuts off most of the first letter on every line.
It might be just my phone, of course. But I don't have any particular extensions installed or anything else.
fyi I tried on my Android phone with Firefox and I don't see the problem you mention. Perhaps some additional display specs may be useful? My screen is 6.67" with 1080x2400px (20:9, 395ppi).
Trying it again to verify... You're right that it's the width. I get a small-ish horizontal scroll. But the problem is that no matter if I scroll it completely to that side the left still gets cut off.
Really appreciate the graphics, in-between summary elements and the progress bar widget. A bit too much colorful font variants my taste as it leans towards distracting, but hey everybody is different. That was a swell read, thanks for sharing!
As far as "app which helps create overview, reduce overwhelm and taks small steps" - I wonder how many of those are out there? I have written about 3 of those already for various use cases and in different flavors. Using them over a longer period of time, once the chaos subsides or the novelty wears off seems to be hard for me personally.
The one thing that is often a dead giveaway is how many stimulants seem to have the opposite effect on people with ADHD.
I have ADHD, amfetamines help me relax, caffeine causes me to fall a sleep, some anti-allergy medication can cause me to stay awake for 2 days straight.
I read that in some countries doctors can prescribe mild sleeping pills for babies to help them stay calm during long flights. They always advice to test it before going on the flight, because some babies can actually become hyperactive from that medication. If that happens, there's a good chance the baby has ADHD.
I think it still varies a lot between individuals. Caffeine often makes me more anxious, the effect on mental energy levels seems kind of random (either short burst of energy or just more tired mentally). Yet when I tried methylphenidate it made my mind calmer, clearly reduced anxiety and helped focus while increasing energy. At the same time it gave me pretty bad insomnia, stomach issues etc.
The best I can describe it is that I felt calmer in my mind, but overstimulated in my physical nervous system.
I think it depends on what sort of ADHD it is and what stimulant. I feel somewhat more alert after a coffee, but cocaine does nothing. Amphetamines calm the noise from my mind, but make it more difficult to sleep if they're long-release ones.
This has been the most difficult part for me. I see people in reddit subs talk about how stimulants changed their lives. They are suddenly alert and productive and happy with the world. I get medication envy. I take adderal and fall asleep. Other stimulants I either get no effect or I get anxiety and zero benefits. It's very frustrating.
It’s diphenhydramine, or Sudafed. Also sometimes sold as Unisom but to be distinguished from the Unisom that is Doxylamine. My 18-mo old had the paradoxical reaction.
- diphenhydramine aka Benedryl is an antihistamine with a common side effect of sleepiness
- doxylamine aka Unisom is also an antihistamine but these days people only really use it as a sleep aid or for nausea
- psuedoephedrine aka Sudafed is a decongestant. Not sold over-the-counter because it can be used to make meth. It's a stimulant and appetite supressant
Finally, there's "Sudafed PE" aka phenylephrine, which is also sold as a decongestant but it (literally) doesn't work
Hi, thanks for the nice idea and writeup. Just a newsletter tech tip from my experience - be careful with the subscription form. There are bots looking for email fields on websites and filling them with emails from credential leaks or bad-quality emails and spam traps. You may easily end up with a mixed subscription list which will be unusable / resulting in lots of spam reports, your domain reputation might get hurt. To solve, use a captcha or an invisible "honey-pot" subscription form before the real one, use services for checking emails, etc.
The thing with the different columns of tasks broken down into subtasks could be replicated in any columnar filesystem view that opens the contents of a folder into a new column when you click on it, meaning every folder is a to-do!
It's a very interesting solution. I've been thinking more about filling my online time sheet system in advance but I suspect its too impractical to stick to times or keep readjusting with interruptions, so maybe I will try post-its.
I notice a bit of a link in behaviors between people I know who have ADHD and/or OCD.
I'm not really sure what someone who "gives-in" to OCD impulses would feel as side effects, etc.. But I'm kind of curious if you see a downside to having followed loops for their reinforcing effects over days of work, etc?
Yes, the system needs to have as little friction as possible, otherwise it becomes very difficult to maintain. That’s why the ticket printer is interesting.
I don’t really suffer from OCD so it’s hard to say, but it’s a very interesting question. I hope someone will be able to answer it someday.
- How you stay motivated to create this task list each time. Or for another question - is it a new cool recipe, or have you been sticking to it for more that 3 months?
- What to do so not to go into the rabbit hole of creating and splitting tasks? For me, it is easy to overdo this step, both in breadth (too many things to accomplish) and in detail (too many steps; if you think about it, making and easting a sandwich is a dozen steps or so).
Hello! I did a similar thing - however I use TXTs and command line scripts to keep track of things (similar to task warrior). It's a great approach to pick up the list every morning as I have breakfast, put it in my notebook as I leave for the day.
Calendar, weather, to-dos, all in a single thing I can keep in my wallet if needed. I recall somebody posted a project for printing daily news on the roll too (I don't)
I liked your article, but I loved the design of your blog. Very clever use of colours and structuring, and the interactive demo is the icing on the cake. Nice one!
I'm glad you found a method that works for you, and as a fellow small-time blog author I can say I quite enjoyed reading your post.
Sadly, I've tried the task breakdown stuff before and it hasn't helped. It's not even just the fact that I procrastinate doing it, but that even when I manage to do it, it makes no difference.
Anything that requires more than a one off "session" of intellectual work is doomed. Even if I do manage to do some good work for a period of time, I'll undo it later, I cannot stop myself from throwing everything in the bin. If I force myself not to throw it in the bin, my brain refuses to function.
ADHD medication also does nothing to help me. It makes me feel anxious for a bit, gives me a pile of side effects, and that's about it. I've tried increasing the dose and all it did was make the side effects worse (including extremely smelly sweat, for whatever reason).
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? Helped a little while I was doing it, then I reverted back to normal.
I've even tried the whole accountability thing, but nope. Even if I'm on a call with someone who (like me) commits to do a task, and actually does it, while I committed to do mine, my brain will just tune out and at best I'll be able to do something on autopilot (works for loading up the dishwasher, but not much else).
On the days I manage to burn my willpower to fight it, it drains my energy like Windows 11 does battery on a portable gaming handheld.
Perhaps one day I'll find my own solution and become a multi-millionaire selling a book on it.
Nothing helps me procrastinate like trying out a new trick, a new tool, a new list-making method, etc. I've killed time on dozens of different solutions, and some of them were pretty good at getting me to focus and work hard on implementing that new method, but none translated much into getting more actual work done earlier.
Nothing really helped with that until one day I realized I was getting too old to keep being broke because I wouldn't finish work until I absolutely had to, so I got a job where other people give me stuff to do and expect it within a reasonable time frame. I still procrastinate more than I should, but there's too much to do for me to do nothing, so I'm always getting through something, and maybe that will become a habit.
But I hope tools and methods like this help others. It seems like every new method is a great fit for someone out there.
My first comments may have sounded pessimistic, but I do think you've found a couple interesting ideas that I haven't seen before, in making individual notes for your daily habits and throwing the crumpled notes in a jar. I have a couple pads of sticky notes in front of me right now, to get started on items for tomorrow, so thanks for the inspiration.
I've tried sticky notes before, but tended to use those just for the bigger tasks, while thinking I should put my regular daily habits on a single sheet that I could check off, to keep the sticky notes from becoming an unruly mess. But then the daily list always got neglected. I still got the dishes done, but I wouldn't get it checked off, so the overall system fell apart. Putting every task in the same single-note format may feel like overkill, but may be what it takes to work.
I totally understand! Just for this article, I restarted it 12 times!
What really made a difference for me was starting very very very very very small, with almost no ambition. That is truly the most important point in my article, but I am not sure if I managed to communicate it clearly.
The idea is really to say something like: my goal is to write for 5 minutes, and if that is too hard, I do 2 minutes. And if I manage that, I consider the task done and I can pick another one, also 5 minutes long.
This gives me a real sense of accomplishment and helps me focus on what I have already done instead of everything that is left to do.
Yup, I'm familiar, I've tried it, but my brain is somehow unable to treat the small accomplished tasks as separate from the larger task.
It still costs me the same "percentage of willpower", if you will, as I would have spent tackling it as the first step of the larger task. And once the willpower runs out, it's out.
With video games it's not that different. What keeps me playing aren't the small rewards. If small rewards were enough to keep me going I'd play pacman all the time. The only thing that keeps me going is curiosity.
Yep. Right now I'm trying to start an instructional video series. I know that I need to break it down into tasks and sub-tasks, and I've done that. So I could go pick a sub-task off the list, like "design a thumbnail image," and just work on that. But as soon as I think of doing that, the entire project looms over me, and I freeze up thinking about the whole thing, including even thoughts like "What do I do in 6 months if I'm out of ideas and I have paying subscribers expecting new content?"
I don't know how to zoom in mentally on a tiny, manageable task and block out the rest. I'm usually unable to start on any part of a project until I can comfortably hold the whole project in my mind.
Congratulations on your first article - it's a really good one. I found the jar filling method especially inspiring. Thanks a lot and good luck with the launch!
What a great color scheme! Changing colors over the course of the article makes it all a bit more fun and quirky and stand out against common templates.
I use one Intermec with android , I just print todo and lists for my pocket filofax - alas not possible to print under linux (proprietary drivers), and I even had to 'hack' the android intemec print-app (as it was designed for intermec android devices and if you don't use a such it put a watermark line) - TBH even their setup app is windoze only.. FFS
I would note there are some known health hazards in handling thermal-paper receipts(BPA/BPS)[1] with your bare hands if you do so often. I don't know much beyond this, I would look into it.
Yes, safety of thermal paper is the first issue that comes to mind.
Secondly, IME thermal print can fade to nothing after 1-10 years. So these are specifically for short-ish-term use. Not for labeling something that is supposed to last a long time.
It's come up every time something related to thermal printing has been mentioned on HN lately, but this is honestly great stuff if you're in Germany: https://www.oekobon.de/
These non-poisonous blue receipts have the added benefit of being able to be marked with a fingernail, which is nifty if you're using them to print your shopping list, crossing things off is very satisfying.
You can also use dot matrix / impact receipt printers, they work in the same way, just with an ink reel. So no special paper needed.
They are used in kitchens where thermal paper obviously won't work. Other advantages are they can usually print two colours: black and red. And the sound is rather satisfying :-)
Right, epiphenols. And despite some BPA-free options there are many alerts about the risks of the replacements.
Maybe is time for a cool old style matrix receipt printer using regular paper?
> With this new system, I haven't missed tracking my habits even once.
When I'm in a productive era like that it mostly feels amazing. But it also comes with this looming threat that it can't go on like that forever. The feeling that maintaining such a high standard will only lead to a big fall once something inevitably disrupts the system. It also creates a sense of burden because by being so 'active' in the world, people come to expect you to remain active. And many of the tasks you've completed lead to more tasks that wouldn't exist if you had just stayed lazy.
This, combined with the realization that I can get away with doing almost nothing productive as long as I have a job, has made it hard for me to even want to be productive.
For me, a stable job is key. The structure and accountability makes it hard to fail, and my (relative) lack of ambition ensures I don't over-commit or stress too much over work. It's everything else that I get lazy about! I have plenty of time, but it's too easy to do fun but unproductive activities.
If something doesn't trigger my "oh no, this will lead to more responsibility" alarms, I can be very productive. For example, I love to plan a trip, because it has a discrete start and end and is entirely within my control.
Otherwise, if the lack of doing anything productive is bothering you, search for work that
1. seems meaningful to you,
2. has enjoyable aspects to it (no job will be fun all the time),
3. renumerates you sufficiently to meet your current standard of living or at least a standard of living you can accept.
THEN you will have the sufficient motivation to be productive where looking for a system that helps you be productive could be useful.
Alternatively, there's always entrepreneurship, depending on your appetite for risk and stress.
Great first article, and very interesting to see someone else using a receipt printer for bite-sized task management!
I have a variety of automations running which print actionable tasks to my receipt printer via a Raspberry Pi. It’s nice having a real-life ticket I can take hold of.
One thing to be aware of if you’re handling receipts frequently: make sure to buy phenol-free thermal paper. Phenol is toxic and some types of it are banned in certain countries.
Receipt printers don't use ink, instead they use thermal paper which darkens when heated. You can test this by scratching it with your nail, the heat is enough to leave a mark
I agree with you on the first part, but are you sure that the heat from the fingernail is what's leaving that mark? I can take a cold object and run it on the receipt paper to get the same effect, so I think that's a different mechanism at play but I'm open to being proven wrong.
The developers in the paper only require a small flash of local heat to turn black, which is why thermal printers can print so fast given the time it takes to heat up and cool down the print head. Friction produces enough heat to do that. You can test this by pressing an object down only, or running it very slowly across the surface in comparison.
Yes, you look at it carefully and if it looks like thermal paper it may be toxic.
If the substances used are known to be toxic is another matter but you won't know that even with a correct label because it takes time for us to find out that new substances are toxic.
I think this is the right approach, speaking as someone who went down the rabbit-hole of looking at alternative non-bisphenol or non-phenol image developers. The very little research on the new ones tend to conclude "we don't know if it's toxic in the long term" or in the case of urea-based papers, "it's highly toxic against aquatic life."
To the GP, if the goal is to avoid phenol papers, phenol papers tend to develop deeper black. And in the US, phenol-free papers are new enough the backside often advertises it. Some are very misleadingly labeled BPA-free, which usually means it's made with the very similar and likely equally toxic BPS.
The "tasks on slips" remind me of the Cast Deployment System that was used at Walt Disney World 20 years ago (not sure when it started or how it evolved, but it was in use then).
All cast members in every park and other location were dispatched by PCs with receipt printers. To begin a shift or return from a break, you typed in your number to a CDS PC (located basically behind any convenient backstage door). The PC would just print a slip of paper and log your out. The slip would be one of:
1. Relieve John Doe at <Position> in <Location>. John Doe: return to PC (I think it also had a multi-stage bump possibility, where you replace John and John is sent directly to bump Bob.)
1b. Relieve John Doe. John's break time Start: 9:05 End 9:35
2. Do <TASK> until 9:08 (e.g. Straighten plush in <STORE NAME> or Stock candy in <STORE NAME>)
3. You're released to go home
It was a wildly efficient system, which basically allowed their operations software, which presumably knew about attendance, ride wait times, store sales, etc. to put each person to the most useful position at any moment, and also to give people specific useful things to do during slow periods (or indeed to release them early if they didn't have anything actually important for them to do).
Reading the description of this system, I wonder if Marshall Brain knew of it when he wrote Manna, which sounds like a fancier version with an AI gloss: https://marshallbrain.com/manna1
Yes, I thought of that when I read Manna like 15 years ago!! Also, I get the impression that he was one of the most prescient minds of a generation. I can only hope his "good" ending is in the cards for us.
It's increasingly strange how psychologically different something is when it's physically in front of you vs a representation of that exact same thing on a particular sort of display, especially given apparently some representations of activities on the display are addictive, while others become repulsive. As I mentioned yesterday I'm hearing more from people that attempt to avoid screens as much as possible, and this seems like yet another manifestation of that tendency.
If our UIs were more skeumorphic would that help with all this and remove the need for the physical printer?
I might have 5 virtual desktops and 3 different web browsers and each of those has 4 windows open and each window has 20 tabs. Never mind the terminal windows which themselves participate.
Conventional thinking is that if you can't find things you need to download and install some new program, maybe one that splits your tabs into "subtabs" or maybe one that organizes your virtual desktops into "virtual superdesktops", etc. Trouble is now you have another thing to find with all your desktops, windows, and tabs! You just can't win that way even though people insist that you can.
Paper, however, is privileged because it lives off the desktop. It doesn't disappear when you switch tabs, it doesn't disappear when you switch windows, it doesn't disappear when you switch virtual desktops. You can tape it here or there and it stays there even through reboots.
Correct. Computers are the realm of procrastination because there are so many ways work can hide and so many forms it can morph into. If you need to work from paper, there's not much you can do other than move through it. It may get disorganized, but it is still there. There is no question that modern workers have exponentially more reason to procrastinate than workers from 50 years ago.
Do not Mac sticky notes do all that, except they don't live in the physical domain?
Isn't it just reflective of the fact that you are more disciplined about tidying up your physical world than the virtual one? (And this might be the basis for why the hack works).
Mac Stickies absolutely can be set to float above everything else, and survive power outages (battery permitting) and reboots. It is true they are tied to the Space they are in though.
They also have the advantages associated with not being physical of course.
I see it like when you compare digital books vs physical books: physical requires less context in your mind, and it provides direct rather than abstract stimulus to the brain.
When you go digital, your brain is writing the sticky note, but also has in its cache the instructions for the menu, the apps you normally use, that annoying notification, etc, plus your rl context. But on physical, you only have loaded the instructions for the pen and paper (and your rl context).
Having too many things in mind can reduce your executive function battery. Hope this helps! (ofc, this is an oversimplification of ADHD)
I don’t think the issue is a lack of skeuomorphism. It’s more that the devices we use can’t replicate the feeling of something tangible that exists in the same space we do. And that these devices are bottomless portals to any number of other things unrelated to the task at hand.
Picking up the phone to check my todo list puts me in contact with 100 unrelated things, and at some point becomes counterproductive.
If something like the Apple Vision Pro was more accessible and wearing it was more like wearing eye glasses, I think its ability to render objects in space would make it more likely to be an effective interface for virtual task management. Emphasis on “more like wearing eye glasses” because it needs to be an always-on type of experience to come close to replicating a physical piece of paper.
You've started a very interesting discussion. I think that unfortunately nothing replaces paper. I understand Paul's comment, I have an infinite mess on my computer but on my desk I only have my paper tasks.
Great article! Many ideas that I have also noticed put together, nicely done. Although I'm kinda curious how long you have used this system to truly "know" it's bullet-proof.
In my experience, all systems fail without outside pressure and/or right nutrition and exercise. If I eat a lot of carbs and in general, gain fat and dont exercise I get nothing done. Eating ketoish and exercising every 2/3 days and I get a lot done.
Thinking about work as loops is the right idea, I do agree. Human brains slowly accomodate new thought-patterns and one must continously keep at them to make them appear easy. Any time I come back after vacation I feel immediate exhaustion and repulsion towards programming even though it's easy to me. You just lose the familiarity.
Anyway, I write tasks down as well although my system is just a webapp I built for myself. It's interesting I built it as hacky prototype but I've never come around finishing it even though I've been using it somewhat regularly for 5 years or so. Or I write down things on paper.
The least ceremony required for the process, to me, seems is the only long-term solution. But I appreciate this another take on it.
I had a time when my condition was acting up and I was struggling to deal with JIRA and got the idea of making paper tickets with a receipt printer. I bought a few receipt printers on Ebay and learned how to use them but never really wound up coupling them to JIRA because handwritten tickets were good enough and my condition got better. Wound up printing a lot of Pokémon characters do, as reference art for Pokémon is intended for low-quality small screens and does great on thermal printers.
You can get a range of different thermal printer types, one discovery I made was that if you went looking for thermal printers in North America and looked for a width in millimeters you'd get cheap Chinese printers that were often adequate, if you looked for a width in inches you'd get name brand printers that were more expensive. Most thermal printers these days connect to USB but you can get one that connects to Ethernet which I think is ideal if you want something to be controlled by a server.
That gives me an idea. We could have some kind of random character that comes out with each task from the printer, with different rarity levels. It is an idea that might hook some people and help them stay consistent.
Yes, I have a printer with both RJ45 and USB. I spent a bit more to get that, so I can stay flexible depending on what I want to do with it.
Absolutely brilliant. It's so stupid (in that it's kind of silly how easy it is to game our mammal brain) but I can absolutely see this giving an extra kick of motivation.
Have you heard of the INCUP model for ADHD? Interest, Novelty, Challenge, Urgency, and Passion. The more factors an activity has, the more drive the ADHD mind has. Rarity system adds novelty and a bit of passion.
Also if you have looked into operant conditioning at all, you know that variable interval reward schedules are the strongest behavior-forming systems (hence, slot machines and every game that act like them).
Yes, I was familiar with the concept of INCUP, but I had never seen it summarized so simply.
As for variable interval rewards, I knew about the concept, but I did not include it in the article because it is already too long, and also because I have not yet found a smart way to use it in my productivity system.
I tried creating my own loot box reward system where I earn points for completing tasks (literally spare change), and I can use the money to buy a die roll, with a d20 dictating what prize I got. Prizes would be things like permission to buy Pokémon cards or a full price video game, etc, with a guaranteed "high rarity" prize every X rolls.
Maybe it'd be fun to combine this with your receipts, where random tasks reward points to earn prizes.
This is a topic that's really interesting to me, and I've thought a lot about it.
The approach that this guy is taking to break out of the addicting loop of gaming/scrolling/whatever is to try to take the principles that make those things appealing and port them to the things that we know we should be doing. Video games have these short feedback loops and quick rewards, so his idea is to make real life more like a video game, in some small way. I was surprised to see that even this website has little achievements in the bottom right corner, when you scroll or see a section for the first time you'll get a little popup congratulating you.
There's nothing evil or wrong about this on the surface, of course. But I wonder if it's not making the situation worse by ingraining a need for quick feedback and frequent external affirmation into wider and wider areas of our lives. In one of my favorite books of all time, Amusing ourselves to Death, Neil Postman talks about the "entertainmentification" of education. The book makes the brilliant and alarming insight that over the centuries, all of humanity's efforts have gone into dealing with the problem of lacking information (and, I would add, entertainment). But now we have the opposite problem: we are so flooded with information, and entertainment, we don't know how to handle it, and society is totally unprepared. If memory serves, Postman warns that we are becoming a people who can't do anything that isn't entertaining. And this was published in 1985, long before Tiktok and its ilk.
Another approach, which admittedly does require some mental strength, is to allow oneself to get bored. Boredom is the mother of invention. I have a theory that our brain has a preferred level of stimulation; if external stimulation is high, internal stimulation will diminish to achieve the desired total; and if external stimulation is low, internal stimulation will increase. The most productive and satisfying times I've ever had in my life have been when I cut myself off from cheap entertainment. When I do that, suddenly I enjoy the hard things again.
I have another theory, that great things are accomplished by people with nothing else to do. If we allow ourselves to swim in an environment of endless entertainment, we're effectively kneecapping our ability to do great things.
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Also, isn't handling a lot of receipt paper bad for you or something?
I have similar ideas from my own experience. I believe that humans have a “set point” for dopamine hits, if you are constantly receiving quick cheap dopamine hits your set point goes higher and you are constantly craving more. Similarly, if you back off the hits it will initially become uncomfortable but your set point will lower and you will not have those cravings.
This may be controversial, but I believe a part of the prevalence of ADHD in younger people is that their set point is unnaturally high from childhood as they never learned how to be bored.
This is my mental model as I personally have observed my set point change throughout my life. I think it makes sense logically as well as these small dopamine hits can become addictive like anything else, just to a lesser extent than something like heroin.
There is some research about this. I'm by no means an expert but a lot of it seems to tie back to dopamine and addiction science. You might like to look into the research of Anna Lembke around this.
> Also, isn't handling a lot of receipt paper bad for you or something?
Yes if you are worried about microplastics. Dr. Rhonda Patrick has an episode where she talks about receipts specifically (at the 1hr 2m mark) [0].
To paraphrase: thermal paper receipts are loaded with BPA which gets absorbed through your skin. The chemicals are worse too since the plastics for receipts aren't scrutinized like they would be for a food storage item. They use BPA is used as a color developer in thermal printing.
It gets way worse if you've used hand sanitizer, lotion, or sunscreen recently since those increase skin permeability. Studies show dramatically higher absorption rates when your skin barrier is compromised. Although I can't find a link for that right now.
Definitely something to think about if you're a cashier or work somewhere handling receipts all day. I've started just declining receipts unless I actually need them for returns/expense reports.
I agree with everything you wrote. But for many people, giving up what entertains them is just not possible. That is why I think my method can really help those people. Thank you for this very interesting comment.
As for the paper, you need to choose one that is bisphenol-free, otherwise it is obviously problematic.
To add on top of this, it is interesting when you link it to ADHD and related conditions. Where do you draw the line between "low" executive function (core adhd symptom) and "normal"?
One may argue that if society were simpler or different than today, many of such cases would not be a problem as it is nowadays, kinda like people wearing glasses: you dont ask if they cant see or if they need help, because they have the proper tools (glasses) and environment (our own perception) that fully accomodate them when needed.
This could also apply to other things, but I am mind-wandering. Maybe somebody could draw more links to stuff like this.
That's really cool. I will just add that in my experience, with a bit of conditioning it is possible to get this satisfaction from crossing things off digital lists. The benefits are manifold:
- It saves paper
- It's easier and faster to reprioritize tasks
- It's always with you in your pocket
Personally I use Apple Notes which has checklists, as opposed to a task management system or even Reminders. The flexibility of just writing things into a freeform note and hitting a button to turn them into todos is the right balance of low friction and just enough structure. Hitting that circle to check it off when done is actually quite satisfying.
Bonus: I added a keyboard shortcut for strikethru which adds some extra satisfaction of crossing off the task (or portions of a task that i've written out).
He builds his list from scratch every morning. The list is flat, so as you go about your day and subtasks occur to you, they are added to the list without explicit links to the main task.
I thought it might be risky to start with a blank list, because something important might be forgotten. But it turns out that a blank list is a great filter for what is truly important and motivating. If it is important, you will remember it at some point during the day.
This system is also excellent for shorter periods of time. If I come home and want to get started on dinner, want to tidy up a bit and have a few other demands on my attention, I put my laptop in a central location, open up Notepad, and just start typing in everything I see around me that I need to do. Usually I start with maybe 5 items, but as I start doing things I quickly add tasks to the list, and it might grow to 15 or 20 items. But then at some point the list starts to shrink again as these small, granular tasks are completed. It is strangely satisfying to see the list initially grow and then shrink to nothing. It also leaves me with a feeling of having thoroughly attended to everything that was bothering me when I first walked in the door.
We're on the same brainwave. Literally thought to myself, "but I forget to eat all the time" and scrolled down to see this.
ADHD obviously can make stuff like this hard, and most neurotypical people seem to operate on a "if it's important I'll remember it" mentality, which I'm incredibly jealous of. I still haven't found a good system for tracking important tasks without getting "overloaded" with too many tasks and/or subtasks.
Serious question: in those scenarios, do you never have awareness about your need to eat? Or does it occur at some point, but then you decide not to eat at the moment, and after making that decision then you never revisit it?
I ask because I often realize I'm hungry or it's time to eat, but I'm too engaged in the task I'm doing and I think "I'll eat a bit later" and then once I've done that the first time I often never consider again, at least until the next meal time. I wonder if that's what people mean when they say it, or if the idea of stopping for a meal simply didn't even occur to them?
I don't usually forget to eat, but this happens to me all the time for tasks that don't have a physical feedback mechanism.
I missed a doctor's appointment today because I didn't remember to schedule a corresponding "you need to leave the house _now_" alarm to go with the calendar event, which I forgot about because I looked at my calendar once in the morning and the appointment was in the afternoon.
I will remember _some_ tasks if they "are important", but those are typically things that cause me enough anxiety that I just don't ever actually stop thinking about them until they are done. I can't really do reliable just in time recall of tasks unless it is for something I have deeply internalized into a habit.
How do you get so engage in the tasks you are doing so you forget to eat? I suppose most people here have the opposite issue, we do not engage in the task at all and once we start, we stop doing it after a short while because we find a more interesting things to do such as eating, grab a coffee or reading HN, news etc. We would love to be able to stay on the task and not go and eat.
Quite literally, my awareness vanishes into the task or nothing at all. The conscious experience of it is basically blinking at 2pm and discovering it's actually 7pm and I'm dizzy for some reason.
> It’s been my experience that any TODO list system I use will acquire an ugh field around it that gradually turns it into a thing I’m guiltily avoiding.
Considering that all of my tasks come from my to-do list and there's no way at all I could remember the dozens of tasks on my to-do list (I'm a manager, maybe that makes it worse), it's actually just impossible for me to avoid my list. Guiltily or otherwise.
The list doesn't make me anxious, having all of these tasks undone makes me anxious. Forgetting them makes me anxious. Having everything written down then doing everything and being on top of everything keeps me calm and sane.
> If it is important, you will remember it at some point during the day.
Varies person by person. My memory is nowhere near good enough for this to be true.
It would do people a whole lot of good, if they start looking at a great day as executing well tested 'checklist' rather than a 'todo list' built from scratch every day.
No wonder some of the most productive people like Knuth, or people like presidents many times have fixed schedules, clothes they wear, food they eat etc etc.
If something is working, do it more often, you want to do more of what works, at some point things that don't work wont be on your check list.
You can't generalize. Everyone has things that work for them.
Taking a few minutes to recreate that todo list for the day from a blank slate helps my brain get ready for the day and makes me more productive. (akin to stretching before exercise). I don't need a checklist for eating, cleaning, etc, but maybe some do.
I'm going to try that too. An ongoing todo list just starts to slip from my mind. I have a whiteboard in my kitchen, where I figured I'd write tasks I needed to do and erase them off when I finished them, so it'd be a continuous todo list. But after a while, it'd slip my mind and I'd go weeks without even seeing the whiteboard in my awareness, and then when I did remember it was there, it'd be half outdated and I'd have to start all over.
Getting into the daily habit of using any tool/method in the first place is the hard part for me, so making it as tangible as possible and not-too-convenient might help.
A recipe has a great chance of success, there are few such recipes.
If you think you will try out a new recipe from scratch everyday it shouldn't be surprising if most of your days don't add up to much, or even add up to a negative.
I did not know about this article, thank you! It definitely goes deep into task breakdown, just like what I am proposing. But I have a hard time starting from an empty list in the morning, because I can totally forget that I need to work if I do not jump straight into my tasks (ADHD brain).
>it turns out that a blank list is a great filter for what is truly important and motivating. If it is important, you will remember it at some point during the day.
I started using GTD, but due to sprawling list overwhelm, evolved it into nanoGTD, where I start each day with a blank page and recreate my projects and next actions from memory/imagination.
This works best on paper. To make sure nothing fell through the cracks, I just turn to the previous page.
The real value of paper year planner books is your todo list can't grow to infinate length - if you don't do something today you have to decide at the end of the day will you forget about it or manually copy it to tommorow.
it is easy to make todo items. The hard part is realzing you can't do everything and you must not do something
> The rule is simple: the more you procrastinate on a task, the more you should break it down into micro-tasks, even ones that take just 2 to 5 minutes in extreme cases.
This.
When I catch myself procrastinating, it often helps immensely to push myself to at least subdivide a task on my todo list further. Then try to push myself to do one of them, and if I still resist, try to subdivide tasks further.
I then move the task to a Done list by pressing a keyboard combo.
The only purpose of my Done list is exactly providing feedback the way the article recommends.
I never look back over past days "Done" entries. My Done list exists only there so that when I marka task done on my TODO list, the Done file that's open on the same virtual desktop gets the entry added to the top, under today's date, so I get the satisfaction of seeing the list grow. I used to just strike them out in my TODO list, by I found I like it better to see the TODO list actually empty out.
I could probably just wipe it every morning, but it feels satisfying knowing I have the timestamped records even though I never look at them.
Yes, the feeling of having made progress is so important. That little thing can sometimes be enough to lift our spirits on a day when we are not feeling our best.
my receipt printer is a whiteboard in the gym. I went from "I do some scattered, random assortment of lifts when I feel like it" to "I have 3 routines I cycle through every day" and what it took was writing down each routine and tracking the weight I did last time. Checking off my daily workout is my pulling a ticket down off the chore kanban. Every once in a while, as I get stronger, I get to "take a number off the board" meaning I've surpassed that amount of weight in my routine (eg: after a few weeks of doing 25 pound lateral shoulder raises I'm able to bump my routine up to 30. if no other exercises use 25 pound dumbbells I can erase the 25 off the board). That's my "dumping out the jar". It's worked for 2 years, I've gone from being at best a dilettante in this space to losing 50 pounds, gaining the ability to bench press my weight and, and this is the important part, I feel good about my body for the first time in my forty years. I think the difference is that it's several gameplay loops at once. The short loop is "do today's workout, get today's dopamine pop", the medium term loop is "let me see if I can work out more days this month than last month" and the long term loop is "let me see if I can get strong enough that 30 pounds is trivial for me". With those multiple, simultaneous loops there's a variety in the (ephemeral, immaterial, entirely made up and internal) reward that stops it from becoming meaningless. I think OP's system has a parallel structure: the two reward loops are completing a ticket and emptying the jar.
> and what it took was writing down each routine and tracking the weight I did last time.
I think there's a huge connection to physically writing it as opposed to typing and printing. I never did anything with the weight lifting logs, I thought I might, but the most I ever did with anything in the past was looking at the progression from the last few days or weeks.
I really do think that there's something reifying about the physical act of writing it down. I think that because in one of my many stutterstepping starts into the world of weightlifting I tried keeping a log on my phone and it did all the same things that keeping a log on the wall does (arguably more, the whiteboard doesn't track historical data and can't automatically generate charts for me) but it just felt like shouting numbers into the void every day. There was no sense of job-well-done satisfaction when I hit a personal best, there was no little ceremony of removing a number from the board to make room for a new, higher number. There was just a bunch of individual workouts and I either did them or I didn't and no one cared either way, including me.
One trick I learned a while back to just sort of get my mind right first thing in the morning was to make my bed. I got it from a TV show, The Bridge, I think. It's such a small and seemingly insignificant act, but the routine is comforting and it feels good to have done something that will also bring me comfort when I go to lay down that night. It's nice coming to lay down in a nicely made bed.
I'd love to learn more of these sorts of little actions that bring calm and joy to my brain.
In computer systems, this could be added by default as the first subtask when you create a task: "either do the entire thing, or split it into smaller parts".
I truly appreciate how well thought out this post is. However, it's one of those things where if you didn't have motivation in the first place, it's not going to work. I've tried atomic habits. I've tried different ideas from social media of grouping rooms and things into piles to sort.
Sure, I'll get it done... eventually. But no amount of gamification will motivate me to put this much effort into habitual cleaning. I hope the author's strategy helps someone, but it assumes you have the motivation but not the methodology.
If you can, actively examine your thoughts/emotions and dissect them from a distance so to speak, when you feel stuck and have trouble to reach for motivation.
There's a power in simply accepting that it's just a feeling, whether you're tired, motivated, hungry... The feeling that you want instead, is a sort of disassociation. The stronger the feeling, the harder it will be. And then you just do the thing you need to do despite lacking motivation or being tired or whatever.
There's something liberating about it that is a bit difficult to put into words. Like "fuck it, I'm going to do it anyway". Sounds a bit stupid, but it's not entirely wrong.
However it's not a magic trick, but rather a kind of thought muscle you can try to train so to speak. It works for me increasingly, despite being quite terrible at this kind of thing. Or rather two muscles: One is creating a distance/objectivity to your feeling or state of mind, the other is to start the action. Sometimes the second part is almost automatic once you do the first part well from my experience.
Yup, and conversely, we’ve all trained the opposite “muscle” that basically says “I don’t wanna so I won’t”. Being aware of your feelings and emotions is the first step to being in control. Most people fail to adequately understand themselves and thus fail to ever overcome their lizard brain behaviors.
Actually, my method works even with very very very little motivation. The idea is that having a list of easy, routine micro-tasks ready in the morning gives you momentum. Even on a day when I have no motivation at all, I still reach a basic, acceptable level of productivity.
I even gave an example in my article about this for initial cleaning, specifically with emails. We usually wait for a day when we feel motivated to sort everything out, but that day never comes, and we end up never doing the task. The idea is to have one micro-task every day, like processing a maximum of five emails. Or even five separate tasks of one email each. And on a day when you really have no motivation, you just push yourself to handle one overdue email.
My mom carries with her a physical notebook in which one full page is one day. The left side of the spread is for the task list, the right side contains notes/comments. When a task is done it gets crossed over. When the day is over, she manually copies important leftovers to the next day. The other (flip) side of the notebook is for longer running projects, similar approach. Naturally, she has to replace the notebook a few times a year. She says the secret sauce is the tedium of copying the leftovers, that's how she finds the balance between over- and under-planning.
I was diagnosed with ADHD at 38, and never expected to hear that diagnosis. Main reason was my misunderstanding of what ADHD is. Like most people, I just naively associated ADHD with hyperactive kids, and thought I was just lazy and having procrastination issues.
Now that I understand it so much better, I start to recognise it everywhere. After reading first paragraph of the article, I immediately though: Laurie must have ADHD!
For ADHD the things that often help are: breaking tasks up into smaller tasks and having a way of tracking progress. You don't want to do that on a screen, your phone is a distraction device!
I write my to-do lists on a paper notebook so I can tick them off. But the label printer idea is also a smart one! Though maybe a bit over-engineered, but I guess that was just a way for Laurie to procrastinate on the solution ;-)
Genuine question: isn't this everyone? Don't we all find large tasks hard to start and so we procrastinate? Isn't it common general advice for all people to break things down into smaller steps so you can get going
Alice, Bob, and Charlie would all say "I find getting up the hills of San Francisco difficult". But "doesn't everyone find that hard" conflates the causes and severity of the difficulty for the three of them in a way that isn't useful for making their complaints feel heard, or addressing the complaints such that they don't have that issue.
For example:
Alice could get an electric wheelchair.
Bob could take public transit / Ubers up, or get rides from their friends.
Right. But then when someone says "I see the symptom of broken legs everywhere now. When the blog author said they had trouble getting up the hills of San Francisco, I just knew they must have an undiagnosed broken leg", it's fair to be more than a little skeptical.
It seems silly because a broken leg is obvious and easy to diagnose. So the idea that someone has an undiagnosed broken leg is absurd.
A lot of illnesses are not as easy to spot. Even illnesses that have clear diagnostic factors might be undiagnosed if no one has done the right tests. For instance, gallbladder disease. Easy to test and diagnose, but only if someone has gone to the doctor and the doctor has done the right tests. If you've experienced gallbladder disease, you know the symptoms. So you might start noticing them in other people who just think its indigestion or a pulled muscle or whatever.
That analogy ignores what was actually confusing about this topic. A better analogy would be:
Alice has a medical problem related to hill walking so she walks up the hill wearing sneakers, Bob also had a medical problem related to hill walking so he uses a handkerchief to wipe off his sweat while walking up the hill, and Charlie, the out of shape adult, also uses sneakers and a handkerchief but not in a medical way even though his feet hurt without sneakers and he does sweat.
ADHD-I has a range of symptoms where the person needs 5 or more that are significantly disruptive to their life for at least 6 months.
So when someone reads the first paragraph and immediately thinks the author has to be ADHD because they talk about 1 of these symptoms that in isolation the majority of the world has, I ask "but aren't we all like this?"
Most symptoms of ADHD are things almost everybody experiences from time to time, some even regularly. What makes ADHD is combination of many symptoms cranked to 11.
ADHD is the difference between having difficulties starting some tasks and being absolutely unable to start a mundane task until you curl yourself into a corner and cry.
That being said, things that help people coping with ADHD can totally help people not having ADHD but suffering similar issues (case in point: planning and handling tasks)
> ADHD is the difference between having difficulties starting some tasks and being absolutely unable to start a mundane task until you curl yourself into a corner and cry.
Can't agree with this enough.
I'm currently suffering from absolutely crippling procrastination.
I'm a successful respected principal engineer with 25+ years industry experience but in the last couple of years my procrastination has got so so much worse. I've just got through my third PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) in the last 18 months. Thankfully my employer believes in me and continues to give me a chance, but they're not a charity and they've made it clear that I need to continue to perform or I'm gone.
For example, the last PIP I knew exactly what I had to do, it was agreed in advance and completely fair. I should have had no problem completing everything without having to work silly hours. I just needed to grind my way through it and apply my experience and expertise as and when needed (when to escalate, etc). Instead I sat on things for weeks and weeks until the fear and panic of not being able to provide for my family (I'm the sole earner in the house) started to really hit and give me the necessary motivation. It was an immensely stressful position I put myself in. (To be clear, the company is awesome, they're very supportive and they really want me to succeed.)
Taking any significant time off isn't an option. It's not burnout (been there, done that). I can't afford not to be working. We're stretched very thin already due to other medical problems amongst my immediate family but we can get by if I'm working. Changing companies isn't going to solve anything either; my current employer is not the problem. I am. Anywhere else would probably be far worse.
It is utterly crippling at times; and the majority of the time. I can sit at my desk for days and do 30 minutes of "work" each day. Then the deadlines hove into view and I'm doing a days worth of work in 30 minutes.
I'm awaiting an official ADHD diagnosis and expect to be diagnosed with Inattentive type. Hopefully medication will make things easier for me.
I should have gone down the diagnosis route many years ago but, guess what, procrastination.
When I was this way there were two things going on
1. It was one of the most stressful times in my life
2. I didn't know I had sleep apnea so was always exhausted
2 was a much quicker fix than 1 and boy did it makes things much more manageable and at least get me going in a positive direction.
Also for the meds part they are literally life changing for me so hopefully they help you.
Good luck out there hope you find something that works :)
With mental illnesses there is no clear limit between normal and sick. However there is a point when it's really hurting the person afflicted.
For example procrastination: everyone procrastinate more or less, but in people with ADHD, procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate.
Another example : depression. It's not easy from an external point of view to see where is the limit between sadness and depression, however at one point the sadness has no objective reason, and is so overwhelming the brain that the person cannot function normally or is able to mentally fight it
I get that this is partly HN devils advocacy and partly a very human bias towards thinking all brains are your brain, but it's like saying that everyone has creaky joints so people with arthritis are just complaining too much.
Inattentive type ADHD makes you physically incapable of concentration. Procrastination is a symptom of the underlying problem, which is that the attention mechanism in your brain is chemically broken. People with this disorder are forced to 'manually' drive executive functions in a way that people with fully functioning norepinephrine synthesis systems can't really understand.
It is surmountable, but it's very hard and it's an 'invisible' condition. The sad thing is that most people with this (actual, real, chemically identifiable) condition spend most of their lives internalizing that they are lazy and worthless and desperately wishing they knew how to not be that. I have vivid memories of thinking those things when I was in elementary school. I am relatively high functioning now because I understand that my mind needs external control loops to keep me halfway productive but it comes with a whole lot of constant anxiety and shame that I can't do anything about.
No, most people have never found themselves staring at a pile of unpaid bills and collection notices, while knowing there's work they should be doing that would pay those bills...and feeling physically and mentally incapable of starting that work. Not "I don't wanna" or "I'd rather play games right now," but "I know I should do that, I know it would make my life better and I want that so bad...but I just can't."
It's horrible, and definitely not something that applies to just about everyone.
I do need to push back because I think what you're describing here is an emotional dysfunction, not an executive dysfunction, and I think the former really is a nearly universal experience to some degree or another. Maybe not all the time but certainly some of the time.
I had never experienced this exact scenario before my thirties but I ran into an exceptionally busy period in my life where I found myself overwhelmed with tasks and accidentally ignored my credit cards for a couple months. I eventually realized this, but I put it off for at least another month, even though every other day I was thinking about it and I wanted to solve the problem, knowing it was an easy problem to fix and that I had the time to solve it despite being busy. The reason I didn't was because of fear, the dread of the unknown (how bad were the overage charges going to be?) but also a fear of being faced with such an obvious failure, even though objectively I knew the loss would be trivial.
I think this drives most forms of procrastination, certainly everyone I've talked to about it (parents, friends, coworkers) describe it in similar words, comparing it to the anticipation of touching a hot stove, etc.
I don’t think you understand depression. There’s a big difference between depression and sadness … like the difference between purple and green. They are just not comparable. This is not shades of a different color.
My personal experience is: “I’m sad” and that can mean… “I want to cry”
But If im depressed can be like “I’m happy.., and yet.. I don’t see the point of living.”
Then maybe it was just a choice of words. My main point was that being depressed is not the same as being sad like being happy is not the same as being manic.
I think with many things in psychiatry, yes this is a common experience, but part of a diagnosis is actually about it becoming a real problem in your life. We all have aspects of a lot of different things that become disorders depending on the impact they have in your life. Not a psychologist, but this is how I understand the distinction, and why the diagnostic criteria are set up the way they are.
There is a long running conversation within the medical profession about the usefulness of marginal diagnosis. When everyone has ADHD how do doctors help the people who really NEED help with ADHD. Who 'really' needs help is of course subjective.
I think we can all agree that we are in a period of over medicalisation and we've combined that with a misconception that doctors/drugs/science can cure, and even should cure, everything.
Well people differ. Look around at your colleagues, some have dry eyes and lower back pain from working hours without interruption on a boring task.
Others, like myself, are easily distracted, quickly bored and only work hard with a specific goal in mind. Working on smaller tasks makes it easier to not be distracted. I feel this is more important for people with ADHD.
But you are right, in the end it is useful strategy for everyone :)
Everyone experiences some symptoms of ADHD, ASD, etc. A genuine diagnostic is given when these symptoms become a big problem for daily life, work, social stuff, etc.
Every digital to-do app I've tried turns into another notification to ignore, or I end up doomscrolling instead of checking tasks off. The receipt/label printer idea is a little extra, but I get the appeal of making the process more tactile and even a bit fun. If it works, it works!
Same story for me. What has really helped is trying to make initiating useful and desirable tasks easier and seeking distractions harder. Bit by bit, cultivating that mindset changes things for the better over time.
The trap is usually "I've figured it out and this new system will solve my life" only to be burned out days or weeks later because this only addresses the symptoms and not that cause.
Cultivating a more friendly environment has been a great help for me. That and taking notes.
I rmemember what truly worked for me, as a chronic case, was a 1 day workweek. Granted I did work normal days, but I only mean things that cost motivation like side projects. On other days I even stopped myself when I started to kid myself about 'doing it'. It made me feel gross but that gross feeling helped when the scheduled day comes.
I stopped doing it for some reason. But I remember it worked. For what it is.
This idea really resonates. Like others have mentioned, there's a unique power to a physical artifact that a digital to-do list just can't replicate.
I went down this exact rabbit hole a while back, trying to bridge the gap between my digital planning and physical, actionable "tickets." The setup part can be a bit of a pain, especially getting a printer reliably online and talking to it from different apps and services.
This is the exact problem I built Printercow¹ to solve (author here!). It's a small service that lets you turn any thermal printer into a networked API endpoint with a one-line install command on a Raspberry Pi. The idea is to handle all the backend plumbing so you can focus on the fun part—triggering prints from Zapier, a script, or your own app to create a system just like the author's.
Happy to answer any questions about the setup!
This looks great! But it says it’s FOSS and that I can host it myself, but the link to GitHub in the docs doesn’t show any repos. Is it somewhere else?
There's also a kind of super-cheap Bluetooth "Chinese" thermal receipt printers, also known as "kitty printer" or "cat printer". There's plenty of reverse-engineered software for printing to them in a number of languages; one I use is: https://print.unseen-site.fun/ The disadvantage is they don't cut automatically, and their "cutter teeth" are super crappy. But cheap!
I have a version without cutter teeth at all, what I did was take a piece of the cutter thing from an aluminum foil roll and attach it to the printer. Works perfectly. Looks a little menacing though.
1) 3x5 cards printed on a printer dedicated to this task
2) Command line routine where I can:
a) Enter tasks
b) Be able to update card by putting in the card number assigned to the task (which also includes a date).
c) Be able to reprint a card if needed
d) Be able to view the card on the screen (obviously).
Written in bash.
This is not to be clear to do things that are procrastination but rather to be able to keep track various things that I want to get done the next day or other info that I want physically able to view on my physical desktop during the day.
(I hate to handwrite and can type very well so...)
The 3x5 card printout will contact a checkbox where you can just ink check any item.
The routine makes sure that you only type in the correct number of characters per line so it doesn't wrap.
I then modified this to be able to use larger index cards.
Index cards lay flat on the desk (as opposed to a receipt printer).
Important to have a dedicated printer for this taks otherwise to much friction changing paper.
What kind of printer prints 3x5" (or larger) index cards well?
IME most printers struggle with printing thicker cardstock, or non-normal sizes, e.g. trouble with keeping that size paper straight or with bending/feeding.
Is it just a normal-sized printer, or are there special index-card printers?
Brother HL-6200DW (or similar variation). Before that I used another brother printer. When I researched (noting this was years ago) that was the only one that it would work with (may be others now). I had tried on various HP printers but they didn't work. Now you have to be careful how many cards you stack in the manual hopper also it works but not super robust.
It's weird, but it's how it works. If you did 100 small things it feels like you achieved much more than if you did one big thing.
And pleasure experienced is scaled by the pleasure experienced that day so far. Which means if you do 3 things that provided 1, 10, 100 pleasure - you'll experience ~2.8 pleasure, but if you do the same things in reversed order 100, 10, 1 - you'll experience ~1.09.
So ordering the pleasures and splitting the achievements matters A LOT for your well-being.
Seriously though, I'm going to try your idea with the receipt printer (I didn't need an excuse to buy it, no-no, that's not it, haha) and I'll see if it can help me. Sadly, even games cannot interest me for long enough; the longest I could play a game, recently, is a week, then I abandon it.
I like how the author mentioned typing speed tests as a “warm up” to the day. I frequently find myself going to do a typing speed test when I’m at my desk but unable to work, and have often wondered why I do that and if anyone else does that.
Back at Polyvore we used real post-it notes on a board to track progress. We had a weekly cadence but the tasks were granular enough to be completed in a day or two. Each week we’d peel off and crumble the completed tasks into a bin. It was a really satisfying experience in a way that digital facsimiles can’t quite match.
I've also discovered that breaking down tasks into micro-tasks helps me get going on things. I've found that I get easily overwhelmed if I have a massive list of things to get done, and adding another task to it makes it even worse. However, just nesting tasks into parent tasks and finding the right "child" to place a new task in makes it feel more manageable, and I know that those nested tasks are typically small things that I can accomplish.
I use this system for my projects but I don't rely on any software other than a text editor. I like the app demo shown at the end of the article, but I find custom software never feels fast enough for jotting down tasks in the right place within a hierarchy as compared with a text editor. I just use a markdown file with indented lines to indicate nesting level. Once I complete a task, I put an x within a little box, like "- [x] bug: page layout ..."
It's very satisfying when you have a big task that's a little abstract and overwhelming at the start, but over time gets more and more subtasks as you dig into it, and then those subtasks get closed out one by one, leading you to finally close out the top-level task that started it all. The fact that the text of the subtasks remain also gives a quick indication just how big that task really was. (I don't delete completed tasks, but I do move them somewhere else in the file to keep it organized somewhat.)
I completely relate to what you are saying. I do not use Markdown, but I use Notion because I find it just a little more convenient. But with my software, I am actually trying to reach the same speed as Markdown for advanced users. I have coded dozens of keyboard shortcuts to handle all the actions.
The keyboard shortcuts should help a lot! If you can nail navigation from the keyboard, it'll go a long way to make the UX feel breezy.
I made a corkboard/index cards app for Mac and iOS called Card Buddy and I spent a lot of time working on the keyboard navigation there and it made a huge difference on the feeling of fluidity. For instance, even while you're editing a card, you can navigate to a neighboring cell and start editing it just through the arrow keys. That makes it super fast to jot down lots of notes right away. I noticed a lot of other apps would require you to move the mouse and double-click to edit somewhere else and even that friction makes those apps feel sluggish.
My worry about any new system, todolist, app etc is that when the initial busy of energy wears off I'll be back to square one. The novelty and energy that I have at the start is impossible to maintain, but I need novelty to engage with tasks
I wrote this article precisely because, for once, I found a system that actually sticks. I have been using it every day for six months, whereas other systems would last a week at most.
Having not thought about it at this level, the feedback loop explains why my Bullet Journal works well for me. I can write down any task and break it down to any level of detail without worrying about software, which is nice, and I get a nice little reward when I cross off a bullet. I have used post-its in this way in the past and found that it's more effective than the bullet journal if I need a real kick in the pants. Also I move around a lot between home, office, and work trips. While post-its don't travel well, the phone apps just don't work for me.
When I need to coax my kids (7 and 10) into completing a tedious list of chores, like cleaning their room and playroom, practicing their instruments, and doing their homework, I also reach for the post-its. They each get their own color and we talk through the best way to break things down, arrange them in a backlog on the wall, set a timer, and agree to meet when the timer goes off to review our progress.
I also had good results with bullet journaling, but I had consistency issues. The advantage of the ticket printer is that it is much quicker to print. But I also have the advantage of working from home, so I do not need two separate systems.
Thermal paper used for receipts is coated with endocrine disruptors. Touching them every day multiple times can decrease your testosterone levels. At least Rhonda Patrick says so: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/isteK4uQhQA
There was a study in Korea that showed it transfers into the body for folks like cashiers who handle them all day (gloves help prevent transfer). Besides lowering testosterone in men, these endocrine disruptors can have lots of other negative side effects.
I am not a mental health professional. But author may be suffering from mild depression and burnout. Vacation from electronics, online life and doing some of their hobbies would help a lot
> Imagine an FPS where you only meet an enemy every 30 minutes. That wouldn't be engaging. The loop must repeat quickly to keep you interested.
False! Plenty of horror games have basically nothing happen most of the time but are very engaging (perhaps even too much so). Alien games are my go to example.
If you're comparing multiplayer esports shooters, why not compare to multiplayer horror games like Lethal Company or REPO? I love those games and have played them for hours and hours. And these are games where you meet enemies infrequently.
The pre-canned single player horror games like Amnesia or whatever are what you're talking about.
nah bro, lethal company and Repo is game where you meet enemy pretty often lol
how can you say that, also like most horror games
this games would feel "dated" after few runs because "horror" aspect is not something you can replicate over and over again
In REPO it can be 10 minutes until you see an enemy, then if you kill it, the respawn timer is like 10 minutes. Towards the end of levels things get much more frantic, but if you're fast you genuinely can do multiple levels without even seeing enemies.
Anyway I agree horror can't be replicated, it's not like I'm scared after I know all of the enemies, what they do, and what affects respawn times.
I feel like you could increase the visceral satisfaction of task completion by getting one of those old desk spikes to spear each task receipt onto when you’re done with it.
I can practically guarantee you this'll never happen. They look really scary but never in my life have I heard of an injury on one of those things, and people tend to make all sorts of fantastical injuries in the restaurant industry. It just doesn't happen.
My problem is not only procrastination but motivation. Why should I be doing all these tasks? I appreciate having a clean house but having one isn't fulfilling or enjoyable. Am I just a work machine? I want to soar with the eagles not toll with the ants.
Interesting system. There is also a simpler idea, that works well for some people: at the end of each day, leave something simple and easy undone. Use it as a starting point for your work the next day. Doing that simple task gives you the initial momentum to start work the next day.
Great read. I'm sure I have some undiagnosed ADHD and I suffer from getting stuck into to work or executive dysfunction...the tactile effect of pulling the receipt paper down and chucking it in the bin must feel very satisfying.
Kinda like those chefs working the plating section. Order up!
I've implemented something similar (but digital-only) which has been working for me lately. I have a script running continuously that monitors my Obsidian files for new due tasks, and whenever it detects one due today, it sends it to my notifications server. Now I have a notification for each thing I need to do today, which I keep up on my device(s) until I've completed the task, and then I clear it.
I am a compulsive notification-clearer so this mostly works for me. But I also have a receipt printer and have thought about doing something like this before, so I appreciated the ideas in the article! Maybe I'll rip up some scrap paper and try it that way (or just send the tasks to my printer instead of my notifications server, haha).
Unless I stuff the note in my pocket and promptly forget it, but my phone/computer is always nearby :) Maybe the notifications are best for things I have to do out in the real world and the paper is better for sitting and doing things in one place.
She worked as a librarian in the seventies. Tasks like restacking books was not fun, so she turned it into a game. Her coworkers, on the other hand, drew out the boring tasks as long as possible. When it came time to pick someone for advancement, they chose my mom, because she was more productive at the menial tasks.
I also use post-it notes, but if I used them for everything, I don't think it would work for me. The reward is in pulling down the note and setting the wall cleaner. But if I were to add notes every day, I have a feeling the effect would be disheartening. Similarly, I love getting the living are clean, but when kids/family make a mess again within hours, I'm less incentivized.
I try to frame it as meditative. I can think about other stuff while I wash dishes. It can be a nice break from work, while actually being less boring than a normal break because you still have something to do.
Cleaning the entire house is first and foremost a gigantic task that many people tend to procrastinate. Cleaning your desk, on the other hand, is quick to do and much less likely to be put off.
I like the overall idea and glad it helped. OP, how do you feel about the waste produced by this? I would personally feel guilty to a good extent—curious to know how that goes for you.
Same here. Going through dozens of post-its feels super wasteful. Even more so the dozens of thermal printers that will be ordered as a result of this post, and might end up gathering dust on someone's attic in two weeks.
Ultimately there's going to be a lot of repetition. Many of these tasks are going to be the same. I'm wondering if there's a variant of this system that involves reusable kanban tickets.
Get married, make a couple of children and a lot of life issues go away — you'll always have something to actually get done ASAP instead of just staring at a todo list and wandering around.
My biggest concern (besides "following through with this? hollow laugh") is when you're not always working in the same place - either hybrid or going to customer sites.
I like it! For me, I can confirm that the smaller the task, the less likely it is for me to procrastinate on it.
I also didn't know that receipt printers don't need ink, that's cool.
On a similar note: me and my partner recently also started using an app that divides up the household chores into small tasks and schedules them for us (e.g. "today you have to vacuum the living room"). For us, this prevents conflicts and also frees the mind of having to keep track of those things.
There is also one that is called "tody" that we didn't try out.
Both require a small subscription fee though, which I really dislike. I wish I had found a nice open source alternative. Besides the subscription fee (which was like 18€/year for us both), I have no complaints yet about the app.
For creative tasks this won’t work, the issue is with the many branching direction and dependencies each new idea creates that affects the system. I’m having great difficulty with this
I am a developer and I actually struggle with this myself. That is why I use the app I showed in the video in the article. When I get stuck on a task, I break it down into smaller tasks. But at first, I only write basic logical steps. I do not try to plan my whole day in advance because that usually leads to failure.
And if something is really hard to plan ahead, like doing research, I can create 5 minute tickets.
Yeah I do the time “ticket” concept for this, I create a timer. But I do have hard time jumping to create these tasks.
To me I sometimes see past these patches for my problem, which is a pain threshold that I need to resist running away from when facing a complicated problem, and why is there pain at all? It all becomes a math equation where you have a better thing to do vs the one you are doing and how to rework your mind to calculate it differently
Not bad. I have a stack of unused index cards. I just tried writing down some recurring household chores, one per card, with some instructions below the title. I'm now thinking of hanging two boxes -- todo, and done -- in the hallway, so that I can just pick up a task, complete it and then move the card from "todo" to "done". I suspect the wife will have no trouble moving the full stack from "done" to "todo" at the end of each week.
I've found that having tasks last 10 minutes is an activation energy economizer (with option to extend 2x10 or 3x10 if in flow). It also simplifies the overhead of deciding how long something should take. I think the key takeaway from it all is that one would benefit most from iterating on their system of choice, keeping what works and carrying it forward, instead of doing impassioned rip-ups or switching to entirely new systems frequently
> Modern games provide much stronger feedback. Now, when you hit an enemy, you might see:
> the crosshair briefly changes to confirm the hit, damage numbers pop up above the enemy, sound effects, enemy death animations, a progress bar filling up, a new skill unlocked, random reward and more...
I wonder if we can gamify todo apps in the same way, most are too boring and too corporate. It should implement all gaming bells and whistles for ensuring you complete your tasks.
It is coming along more and more. But I think the core is being able to handle a lot more tasks, and therefore being able to easily break them down into smaller ones. That is really the heart of the game loop.
I'm going to try and see if this works better for me. The daily printout of "things that need to happen today" is a fun idea, especially if I could keep it by my bed and have it print off when my alarm goes off.
Are there any receipt-style printers that can directly print some kind of sticky note? I feel like that would be even more useful since you don't have to keep pins around, though I can see the running cost getting a lot higher
It must exist. I noticed at McDonalds (in Denmark), that each item on the tray has a printed label attached that peels off easily, almost like a sticky note.
Oh yeah, I don’t think you’ll be able to remove them. If you’re referring to the photo I included in the article, it’s actually just not a good idea. I only stuck the tickets on a vertical surface to get a good photo.
> The rule is simple: the more you procrastinate on a task, the more you should break it down into micro-tasks, even ones that take just 2 to 5 minutes in extreme cases.
This breakup alone could allow someone who can procrastinate on something big but doesn't like to be burdened by many tasks the shortcut, without further gamification, of performing some micro-tasks either to reduce the queue or to "procrastinate" on the rest.
The analogy to video games and the need for fast, tangible feedback really lands for me. But I do wonder how sustainable is the receipt printer setup? The novelty and fun factor are real, but do you think you’d still get the same motivation after six months, or will it just become another background habit? (Not that "good habits" are bad, of course)
I have been TickTick for daily-habit tracking for years now. It has a monthly GitHub-like graph widget for phones which is amazing for feedback. I also use TickTick for misc. task-tracking like "laundry", "buy apple", etc.
Then for non-recurring areas like job-tasks, I use a separate tool with a simple Kanban board. Prior to Kanban, I used to just track time, and write a list of things I did for the day, but I realized there was no feedback and it was just a passive "I did this stuff".
So coming from that, a Kanban board has been god-sent. Because otherwise Parkinson's Law was a common occurrence for me. Each task in the board is somewhat tied to a project/outcome through a tag. So there is a feedback/working-backwards/active concept to it. I have just started using it, but the more I use it, the more I automatically learn how to set better tasks, because otherwise they do not go from TODO -> DOING -> DONE.
Oh this sounds amazing! This reminds me of a todo list app some indie dev has been running for years which has a ton of configuration parameters based on various psychological models for productivity. There were options for gamification, Getting Things Done, task breakdown. It was kind of expensive. Does anybody remember the name of this software? I’ve been trying to remember for a while.
I think most competent games innately flashes you your progress constantly(levels, maps, story progress, upgrades) and also how easy you can start making progress after you started playing. This system is exactly doing that with the see through jar of finished micro sub tasks. In theory you can create your own “easy progress” flasher system that is tailored to you and would achieve this.
This is immediately one of my favourite articles of all-time. It's well-written, visually appealing, and the subject matter is absolutely down my alley. I might actually just buy one and try this out.
I absolutely love how you show and tell, by having an article with an EXP system. But when do I get skill unlocks? I'm really hoping to be able to enjoy your next article with upgrades.
Thank you for your comment, it really means a lot to me! I put so much time (and heart) into making it that a comment like yours is the best reward I could ask for.
Haha, I’m planning to make a real mini-game for an upcoming article!
> Write each task on a sticky note. When you finish the task, crumple the note into a ball and throw it into a clear jar.
I independently stumbled upon this same system. It sounds like the author takes it further than me (I don't create notes for routine/repeating tasks, and don't break them down so much—in a typical day I only complete around 2-3 notes).
I've used sticky notes for years, but ~6 months ago added the jar (prior to that I just recycled them). It helps to have a visual reminder that I'm making progress over the long term, even if it doesn't feel like it some days.
My current jar is just about full and I've been debating what to do with it. Save it as desk art? Find a bigger jar and transfer the notes? Burn them in a cathartic ritual? I'm open to suggestions.
My gf and I are the stereotypical software nerd meets astrology girlie (but doesn't take it too far). She likes to do rituals every so often and I've found that it does create a moment of reflection that you can use however you like. The last time we were camping she told me she wanted to do one so I bought some of that fire color changing powder (mostly just fine metal shavings of various types) and then glued a bit of that on some paper and made sort of a paper packet and then I had the whole group write on a packet something they wanted to let go of and then we all tossed them into the fire at the same time and the fire changed colors. It was pretty magical and I scored a lot of brownie points! So you could sprinkle some of that into your jar and just toss a handleful into the fire and watch the magic of your productivity ascend to the heavens. Or, you know, just watch physics at work.
Having a to-do app that really pushes you to break down tasks into tiny pieces actually sounds really nice. I think that's the biggest takeaway for me here. The receipt print might seem a bit extra, but there's also something nice about having a physical motion to finish tasks while also not having to write everything out by hand. I dunno, writing doesn't actually take a long time. The post-its do feel a bit wasteful though, because they're so expensive.
Yes, but it is very difficult because in the end we all have slightly different workflows. But I have a few interesting ideas that I hope people will like soon :)
Is there a name for organizing things based on bite-size? I have something similar system for myself but literally use a text file with dashes. I tried workflowy and other tools but I keep coming down to using text files because of how fast it helps me to offload memory on a scratchpad.
Thank you for sharing, this is a very useful article. I believe I have procrastination; many times I prefer to put things off and don't want to do them until it's absolutely necessary. After reading this article, I think I should try to change this.
I've wanted a receipt printer for years just for giggles, after doing some custom integrations with them in medical labs. It turns out F**book marketplace in my area has some for movie night prices, just in case someone else is thinking along the same lines..
People are intimidated by large tasks because they're thinking about the entire task all at once. This blog post points out the key element which is that you have to think about small easy tasks instead. Once you move your focus to small easy sub-tasks, it becomes much easier to start doing them because it's not hard.
The truth of the matter (especially with ADHD or HFA people) is that once you even start doing a small sub-task, you then quickly become addicted to or motivated to getting more and more of it done, and before you know it, you've gotten many sub-tasks done or even accomplished a large task you'd been procrastinating about.
I used to sit in front of my task list and just stare at it. Then I tried the author’s approach and broke everything down into tiny game-like tasks. I printed each one on a little receipt printer. Every time I finished one, it felt like taking down a small boss, tear it off, and toss it. Suddenly the task list felt way less intimidating and much more efficient. Surprisingly, the ritual worked. I was able to stick to it and even started to get a small sense of accomplishment every day. Definitely more productive than my old habit of tackling huge chunks at once.
A colleague shared her productivity tool: Sticky Notes.
She has them on her screen with the more immediate items listed on a sticky on the top right side of her screen.
The one on its left has higher level / bigger items, and so on (a decimal system?).
Her focus is on clearing out the top right one, and disassembling the higher level ones towards the right.
Postscript: Installing it on my laptop needed going through some IT bureaucracy. And my #1 procrastination creator is filling out forms. Guess they'll just keep paying me the same for less work.
The problem with methods like this is that there is no priority and rewards you for doing tasks that don’t actually matter. It’s better to do one really important thing per day than 10 meaningless tasks.
Perhaps for some, but the entire point of the article was about building momentum. She didn't talk much about the bigger tasks, but frequently alluded to getting more "real work" done. If you find yourself never getting thoae bigger tasks with this method, then yeah you've got to keep thinking, but that doesn't make it a "problem".
I already replied to part of this in another message, which I am reposting here:
It makes the task tangible. You will have a much harder time ignoring your tasks if they are physically on your desk. Tearing up the ticket and putting it in a transparent jar adds an extra layer of satisfaction.
You are right, crossing off an item on your to-do list is a form of feedback. But having it on paper and throwing the paper into a transparent jar makes the feedback even stronger. If you look at the first part of my article, modern video games strengthen feedback loops much more than they used to.
As for list indentation, it may work well for many people, but not for me. I deal with very large and complex lists, with many levels. If I use one single indented list, I end up with a task list that is too long to be pleasant or practical to use.
If games work, why not gamify your idea?
The printer and paper approach doesn't work well for people on the move. We need a pure online version that's accessible from everywhere: home, office, customer sites, vacation spots, and during commutes.
Even better: add a voice interface too.
"Hey assistant, what do I have to do?"
"1. Send email to Bob"
"2. Clean your desktop"
"3. Read paper XYZ"
"...and more"
"OK assistant, set 1 as done"
"Congratulations, great job! You achieved the bronze badge this week by completing 70% of your tasks!"
I've been thinking gamification of my daily chores too and this article pops up! Amid health concerns of receipts, I think I'm gonna try this with just sticky notes and a jar.
But how about making this a platform on its own, that just runs on a secondary monitor (I think everyone has one of those nowadays anyway). The idea is to just make this a GAME. For example, various stats of a player can be shown, history of every achievement, goals, chapters etc.
Great article by the way!
Thanks for the tip. I struggle with my procrastination all the time. I use software like OmniFocus to breakdown my tasks and merge them into the projects, yet it never occurred to me to use the receipt printer for that. And your idea of using the jar for completed tasks is really nice.
Have you ever thought of assigning priorities to your tasks (like Eisenhower matrix or Franklin-Covey)?
I'm surprised nobody mentioned that these paper tickets have BPAs: Beat Procrastination Abilities.
On a serious note, the article so cool and well written. I appreciate demonstrating the gamification effect right on the page. When I finally get a receipt printer for tasks, I hope to implement timed reminders that print throughout the day.
And to be clear, I don't mean yet-another-source-of-notification-overload, I mean things like "Go eat lunch." Maybe some can relate to how helpful and delightful that might be :D
Social media, YouTube and television before them shows us that people don't need feedback in order to stay glued. You can drop the back and just give them a feed.
Feedback is a response to an input. Okay, sure, clicking the remote to turn on a TV and selecting a channel is input. So, by a stretch, we can call the four hour binge a kind of feedback generated by two button clicks.
Sometimes people get glued by a screen that they did not turn on; is that still feedback? E.g. kids watching a screen in some waiting room at a children's dentist.
I think we can talk about feedback without input, yes. The reality of feedback is actually very broad. If we just look at the world of video games, and consider all the different types that exist, there is a wide variety of feedback, some more or less tied to input. In some cases, like narrative games, the feedback is much less connected to the input than in a fast-paced FPS, for example.
I think that the consumption of streams is not entirely passive; there is an internal feedback. The stream itself is not part of the feedback loop.
E.g. suppose the subject is watching a game show. They get internally involved, within their mind, by trying to guess an answer before the contestant does and then fist pump when they get it.
When watching a crime story, they try to guess whodunit. That sort of thing.
There can definitely be a sense of working toward a reward.
> The only way I could get things done was by relying on stress, coming from clients or financial pressure. That worked for a while, but it cost me my health (I burned out)
I’ve seen this called something like “using your adrenaline as adderall”
Any recommendation for a good thermal printer that works with macOS? This thread gave me a few ideas that I might hyper fixate on and then forget about in the span of a day or two.
Nice piece. You and I (and I know many others) have come to the same conclusion: (an old video of mine on breaking down tasks into tiny bites https://youtu.be/b3blsuTqN9s?si=W373y92JzDfHIDvS). No doubt informed by our good friend David Allen.
Ps, I linked to your article in my newsletter this week. Hope it sends some visits!
I had a similar experience when I decided to use a pencil and paper, along with a few simple rules, to manage my to-do lists. This method worked so well for me that I started thinking about the reason for its success. These are my conclusions:
- It was MY method
- It was simple enough to fit entirely within one piece of thought
- It provided a clean feedback loop when I could strikeout the completed task
- I like handwriting
So it relied on things that my brain finds pleasurable
If it is just chores, gamifying it with a receipt printer would be just fine. But these are just such minor stuff compared to the real challenges of life.
A little out of scope since the article wasn’t about the finer points of ADHD but I’ve always wondered if we’re being disingenuously hard on ourselves by labeling it a disorder.
So many people show the symptoms and they’ve only gotten worse as the world has become more complicated that it seems less like a problem with the individual and more like an natural effect of putting what are essentially still caveman brains in a world of flashing lights, vibrating phones and notification noises.
Agree with both. I’m undiagnosed and slowly wondering if I have it the more I see exact language matchups to what feels to be a very hard to describe experience.
Puts me in a tricky spot as I experience similar descriptions of the problems, and I deeply resonated with deliberately seeking out stress as a fix, which I realized worked over time. I have specifically done this.
That said, that’s an unhealthy approach via playing with fire (missed deadliness, etc) and the over time negative impacts of stress.
That said, I am firmly in the camp that some or a lot of modern ADHD is caveperson brain finally DDoS’ing itself via too much info throughput. We hit a max ingest limit sometime in 2013, and it never got better. Some folks loose their mind very publicly online, others live and die in tech jobs via if they can manage tabs and attention properly. Not a bad outcome vs worst case, if the latter is my case.
So where does that leave me - I go on modern era drugs with what seems to be life-long requirement bc of modern era tech decisions I never agreed to? This seems wrong in 10 different directions. To start if I can barely maintain control over what goes into my mind and attention for reasons I didn’t agree to but must adapt to, at least I can control if I put new problems, fixing other problems, into my body.
So… needless to say receipts sound like a cool method to test. At least it was nice to see others discuss the exact buzzwords I think to myself - I can pay attention there, but god f’ing dang it why can’t I do it over here?
I've always been a list maker. It feels good to put a check mark next to a finished item. I once read an article declaring that list making can turn into a form of bondage. I thought this might have value, so I quit making lists. This was a mistake, because without the list I had problems prioritizing tasks. (And I'm a little forgetful.) Things get done when I list.
this sticky notes method likely works well when it comes to breaking down tasks into small pieces. I struggle on that sometimes but I think I struggle more when the task is inherently boring like exercise with long (boring) rest periods or the outcome is uncertain, like working on software with no users. In this case I think I would procrastinate on making the sticky notes too
got hit hard by that jar thing. just plain receipts piling up. no fancy tracking, no filters, it's not even a todo list, it's a physical backlog you can't mute. stack grows, pressure builds. brain stops negotiating. most tools hide your mess with tabs and swipes. this one prints your laziness and puts it in a jar. that's brutal. that's honest.
It’s such a great idea. I have a giant metal whiteboard I’ve been using for post-it’s for a few years, I am always having to move them around because they are at “project” granularity, and things get recaregorized or reprioritized, to the point that it’s mostly useless. Going to try this!
First some feedback (I see the author is interested), and then a personal take on how I deal with this stuff.
As someone who has spent decades procrastinating, reading about systems to get things done, trying many of them, working with coaches and mentors, and teaching project management, I like to think have a cultivated interest in the topic. I’m very happy that the author found something that works for them. I’m not a gamer, so I didn’t find the comparison particularly relatable. What I did find relatable was the point about getting the dopamine hit (I know that’s debated, but let’s use it as a metaphor) off crumpling up the paper and throwing it away. That’s something I always found gratifying about a physical board full of sticky notes, and it’s just not as rewarding to mark a ticket done in Jira.
In my personal experience of ADD, novelty is a major motivator. A system like this has the appeal of all sorts of new sources of stimulation - physical objects, a new electronic toy, software to write, etc. The problem is that once that wears off, if I’m only doing it for the novelty, I won’t stick with it. I need to engage some of the other sources of motivation (interest, challenge, urgency).
Also, I would love to see someone write an article like this where they keep it entirely in the first person. In other words, focus on “my experience” and “I do this” and “this works for me”. I experience a sort of automatic pushback when I read things like “this will help you” or “you need to”. It may be linked to demand avoidance, or just my belief that there is not a single productivity system or hack that works for everyone. “You need to” try things out, reflect on your own personal struggles, and tailor the solutions to fit. Also, I’m not sure if I would ever call it a cure.
Something I’ve found very helpful is an app called Llama Life. It is not free, so stop reading if that’s a deal breaker. I think of it as kind of a pomodoro timer that someone cleverly fixed for me. I find pomodoros appealing, but they never worked for me. With Llama Life, I stack up what I plan to do for the day along with a guess at how long each task will take. The first benefit this has is that I know what I’m meant to be working on. And when the timer goes off, if I’m not done, I can snooze or extend it, or cut my losses and move on. The other thing I like is that it shows me the total amount of time I’ve allocated, and when each item ends. This helps me to avoid overcommitting: when I look at the end time and see 9:30 at night, I’m forced to reevaluate and cut some things. Anyway, I’m a happy customer.
Super cool idea !!
Todo list tend to be kinda overwelming, because cross out an item leave it on the list. I tried to do a todolist (on a text editor) and just delete the element when it's done, but it's far less satysfing than juste throwing it in a glass
It is a piece of software I developed myself using Tauri. The only major difficulty is that you need to send a specific format to these printers. But there are plenty of libraries that make it fairly easy to do.
Won't comment on the procrastination aspect (if it works for her, that's great), but handling thermal receipt paper a lot is unhealthy according to some. I would want to use a plain-paper impact printer despite the noise that they make.
One part that is not addressed is procrastination because of tasks that are scary.
I think I have fairly low levels of anxiety in general, but there are things I know I need to do but I’d just rather ignore them because they somehow terrify me.
Things like “call someone to negotiate a price”, or “find a holiday place to rent when I know it’s already too late”, or “reverse-engineer what this giant pile of untested legacy code does, rebuild it in something else, and make sure everything works like before”.
I am 100% sure I’d rather let the receipt printer take a day off than tackling any of these.
Seriously. I'm so jealous of people who only need to do things that are so tractable that splitting them creates a series of microtasks that are all easy, rather than a series of distracting trivialities that mean nothing without actually accomplishing the one thing that I really don't want to do.
does anyone know how i get a bluetooth reciept printer (STAR TSP100iiiBI) to register as a default print device in android (12)? presumably i have to install something that bridges the ip address request in default printer settings with transmitting to the bluetooth device...
This is my first comment. I felt compelled to write. As a person with ADHD your article is too long. But thanks for motivating me to get on hacker news
I do something like this, but use notes in Evernote. Making them physical objects wouldn't add anything for me personally. (My wife loves writing down and crossing out to-dos on paper though. To each their own.)
Thanks for taking the time to read and give me feedback!
I wrote 12 different versions to try to be shorter, but I was losing way too much information that I thought was important to understand why this method works.
something that I did some time ago, if the printer is able to print images, you can generate an HTML page, screenshot it and than print it. The print will be much better and you can play with a lot more things
Yes, it is possible, but if you print directly from the browser, you cannot tell the printer when to cut.
In my case, I generate multiple images and tell the printer when to cut. I also have another version without images. The difference between the two is that the version without images is two to three times faster to print.
It makes the task tangible. You will have a much harder time ignoring your tasks if they are physically on your desk. Tearing up the ticket and putting it in a transparent jar adds an extra layer of satisfaction.
I write individual tasks (or steps of larger tasks) on index cards. When a task is done, I stick the index card on a receipt spike.I limit WIP myself to 3 index cards at a time.
THAT SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING THAT COULD WORK. Does anyone have an idea or know of a 100% digital alternative? I work in different locations, so using a printer isn't an option
I am working on my app to break tasks down into smaller tasks (you can see it in the video at the end of the article). I think I will release it in the next few weeks :)
What I am talking about is really very different from the Pomodoro method. That method uses 25-minute sessions, while I am talking about micro-tasks of 2 to 5 minutes printed on receipt tickets.
As for todo.txt, I mentioned in the article that this kind of tool with a hierarchy does not work for me at all, given the massive number of tasks I have. And I proposed a more interesting and truly innovative solution in response to that :)
I accidentally found an effective speedup tracking tasks to be done. Normally we make Github issues and Pull-requests to fix them with long descriptions in both.
Instead made a single issue with a table and each row having an emoji, item title, and when complete link to the fix. As new items were identified I added a row with emoji for 'not started'. Had emoji's were 'under construction', 'already done above', 'not needed', etc. This snowballed with me completing one item per day over 30 days until it was all done. I'm called it EDD Emoji-Driven-Development.
Hi Laurie, reading your article, I'm wondering to myself, maybe I should copy this, and add a Duolingo aspect to it, the first feature I can think of is a button (near the printer, or a virtual one on the app) that is basically "Give me a random task". Duolingo also has lessons (where the learner has to complete several questions), and maybe a "lesson" can be a big task, that encompasses its subtasks.
In Sleek (todo.txt for linux) I can have multiple txt with multiple context inside.
On the other hand, I don't think pomodoros are strictly 25 minute sessions. I can setup any structure in my pomodoro app of choice Solanum and chain sessions.
You just need to switch of job, if you don’t feel rewarded when doing it then it’s just not the right fit for you. And even then, something fun can become boring later on.
I know electricians for instance who love doing their stuff, so they have no issue in being motivated, while they were a mess in their previous work field.
And vice versa.
It’s not always possible of course, but the solution is not to ‘gameify’ your life, it will only work for a little while before getting bored of it.
And for the « home » task, I believe it’s more of a routine. If you know every Saturday morning will be to clean the whole house, you just do it without thinking much.
I think it's great that you don't have executive dysfunction. That's not the case for me, and obviously not for the author.
If you've never had your dream job yet still wasn't able to do shit, you don't have to crack down on other people's attempts to become functioning members of society.
I do have issue tho, that’s the reason I’m saying that. I can’t concentrate at all on something that isn’t interesting to me to the point where I needed 4 hours to learn basic trigonometric algorithms when I was a kid.
Call it adhd or something else, my point is that doing something interesting is 99% of the solution.
It’s like poker, when you got a bad hand you deal with it. Play on your qualities, not on your flaws.
My problem is that when I use an LLM to break a task into smaller steps, it is often not exactly how I would have done it. But maybe that is because in my line of work, it is difficult to feed all the right parameters into the system for an effective breakdown.
I've never understood why people have "work procrastination" problems. I've never had to play games to get myself to do work. You're paid to do a job, so do the job. Is this a generational thing and is it really that big of a problem?
I've worked remotely since 2016-ish and still can't comprehend why this is an issue.
Not everyone's wired the same. A close family member was diagnosed with ADHD and he describes his battles with procrastination as if there was a glass wall stopping him from doing whatever he was meant to be doing. So easy for someone else to say "what's the big deal? Just do it!".
I understand ADHD and mental illness can make this extremely difficult, if not possible. You make a good point.
The type of procrastination I was referring to wasn't related to that. It was related to the idea of work being more optional than required and seems much more prevalent that\n the % of the population that struggles with the above.
What does it say about me that I stopped reading the article to play with the progress bar down at the bottom right?... And now I'm writing this comment before finishing the article.
> Why can I focus for hours on a game but procrastinate when writing an email?
OK I got a bit triggered by this sentence. Not at TFA, but sharing my own experience: Games are fun. And I don't mean Type 1 vs Type 2 fun and the email is somehow type 2 fun. I mean that the stimulation / "hit" from a game is just higher than 90-99%% of work tasks (writing a new CLI or optimizer excluded!!). We pile on much stimulation to the work to get it to hit harder: Working by others (social/peer), snacks (biological rewards), free caffeine, money (sometimes lots), etc. And physical trinkets.
We have studied this to death in other parts of our own biology, like food. Unhealthy food/drink is fun. It's a pleasurable reward sometimes, but if it forms the basis for your diet you are going to have a lot of trouble enjoying healthy stuff. You can't outrun a bad diet. You can't add a kale salad after a bowl of ice cream and expect your insulin levels to go down. You have to treat the underlying problem: A hugely stimulating / rewarding thing is displacing the healthy stuff. Almost every piece of sane health advice after 1900 has focused on removing unhealthy factors first.
Work/hobby is no different. When I'm obsessed with factorio (it happened a lot once or twice), I find it harder to focus on work. When I "fast" from those "treats", work takes on new enjoy-ability. Dopamine diet is probably the wrong technical term, but it nails the practical effects well.
I'm sure phones are just as stimulating for some. We all have our vices.
> I'm sure phones are just as stimulating for some.
This is one of my big objections do 2FA. My work has been pushing it hard, and from a security perspective, I get it. However, it’s all via an Authenticator app on the phone. We can no longer set down our phones and simply work. To start working, and periodically throughout the day, we are now forced to pickup our phones to authenticate. This invites the chance to see other notifications, check and app quickly, or more generally, break flow as we have to switch to another device and back again.
You should try a CLI-based workflow for 2FA. As long as you can exfiltrate the secret (and you often can by pretending you can't scan QR codes), then you can use oathtool to generate passcodes.
1. use 'pass' to save the secret: 'pass edit work.secret' <enter it and quit>
2. use oathtool to generate 2fa given a secret:
'
#!/bin/bash
oathtool -b --totp "`pass show $1.secret`" >&1
'
use it like '2fa work'
If you have 'xsel' you can even do
'oathtool -b --totp "`pass show $1.secret`" | xsel -ib'
Even if you only have the QR code, you can download the image or screenshot it and then extract the secret without ever having to use a smartphone by using zbarimg and then manually extracting the secret from the URI:
If you have some 2FA that you need to enter 10 times per day, then you can also add a global shortcut to automatically paste it. Of course, this undermines the "second device" security. Some PC password managers also support 2FA, e.g. https://github.com/paolostivanin/OTPClient ( sudo apt install otpclient )
Works great if you have xfce4-screenshooter, gxmessage, and zbarimg installed. It allows you to draw a box around a screen region, screenshots it, decodes it via zbarimg, and pipes the output into a dialog box with copyable text.
Heh, I use pass like this; but it's on my (Pine)Phone, so it doesn't solve the parent's original problem ;-)
Although the nice thing about CLI workflows is that I can easily run it by SSHing into my phone (just make sure you set up GPG so the passphrase prompt will appear in your terminal, and not as a popup on the phone!)
My company also uses MS auth + 2fa for everything. Even signing into corporate G-suite :-). But I do not like the Microsoft Authenticator - I previously had issues where it would not show the number - and I was able to switch to a different TOTP provider. It’s a bit buried in the menus but possible
In my union contract we have language that requires the employer to provide us with a hardware 2FA token for just this reason. I and some of my coworkers don't use smartphones, and we didn't want to be obligated to use one for work.
"So long as [employer's] access management vendor... supports the use of physical two-factor authentication devices (for example, a YubiKey), [employer] shall make such devices available to Employees upon their submission of a request for the device."
I've worked in places that wanted to push cell phone apps on the team for auth and we also pushed for hardware tokens. It worked extremely well. The concerns we had were mainly centered on privacy since the app wanted location/camera access and apps can (or at least at the time could) get a ton of data from your device without requesting any permission at all like getting a list of every app you have installed, or data from sensors like the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, barometer, thermometer, etc.
I'm old enough to have lived through the era of standalone authenticators. The downsides of that approach are also numerous.
I understand where you're coming from though, and I think this is where OS features like Focus Modes come into play.
When I'm in a "Work" mode, I literally don't see notifications from most of my apps. They don't show up in the notification center, or on app icon badges, or anywhere.
This takes a few minutes to set up, but once it's in place, it's fantastic. I also do this for other aspects of my life: Photography, Research, etc. When I'm in those modes, I don't want to see anything except for the apps that are specific to what I'm doing. It's worth the effort of setting this up IMO, and extends far beyond just work.
Hmm. I wonder if there would be a market for a super simple TOTP authentication device with an e-paper display. Kind of like those RSA tokens with the LCDs, but more modern and able to hold any number of TOTP credentials.
Getting the credentials loaded could be a bit of a pain without a camera for QR code scanning. Easiest solution would be via Bluetooth to a companion app, which you would probably want anyway for periodic time sync (likely wouldn't be worth it to embed a GNSS receiver just to update the time).
Probably be a pretty small market, but as a niche Kickstarter device? I could see a small but loyal customer base.
Sounds like a job for a second phone, one which you'd just be extra careful to only use for one purpose. It can be cheap as balls, but it will have a QR-compatible camera and whatever else we may have come to expect from such a device. :)
Make sure your GNSS receiver supports OSNMA, and be _extremely_ trusting of your battery-backed RTC and profoundly skeptical of time jumps over a certain magnitude.
GNSS spoofing is trivial now and it's an extremely useful way to manipulate a target device's idea of time, which breaks all sorts of things. (SSL certificate validity periods...)
I would love this, but only if it also successfully implemented a few disparate authentication protocols that essentially do the same things (prove identity) but are regrettably proprietary - like the de facto standard electronic ID in Sweden, BankID.
Yubikey does TOTP on-board, but you need to connect it to a phone or computer (no display or on-board power). It solves a different problem, where you want to have your TOTP credentials on a tamper resistant hardware security module. It doesn't solve the "don't want to carry around a phone for TOTP" problem.
This doesnt make sense. If you need a 2FA code then you are obviously using some device like a laptop already. Yubikey totally solves the "need a second personal device" problem.
they exist, in my country they are available as alternative to smartphone apps for identity auth. (ie you can choose between android, iphone, and TOTP LCD device.)
Have you tried a smart watch? The Duo 2FA app lets you add an arbitrary TFA code based authenticator with same QR code Google Authenticator supports and generate those from their Apple WatchOS [0] or Android WearOS apps. I have used it successfully for years, it's a huge reason I got an Apple Watch in fact. Now you'll have to configure your watch with a "work" focus mode that turns off all notifications and not install any fancy apps on the watch (do those still exist?), but it can free you from your phone.
Along the same lines the Meta Wayfarer[2] smart glasses lets you take slice of life photos and videos without needing to whip out your phone. You lose a ton of quality but stay in the moment more. The AI features are getting better so eventually you'll be able to use it for basic information lookup.
Thanks for sharing a potentially useful tool but I will not use it without a lot more details about how this browser extension secures the 2FA secrets from sketchy websites/ads.
Most trusted desktop password manager apps can manage and autofill OTPs in browsers as well, e.g. KeepassXC and 1password. (If you're making the tradeoff anyway, I think you may as well use a password manager you already trust with other secrets.)
First of all, I'm not a fan of constantly needing to re-authenticate.
But for your specific problem there is a simple solution that isn't particularly expensive. Buy a new phone. Install 2FA on it, and don't install anything else.
I imagine you've considered it already, but maybe your work would be willing to put the 2FA secret into something like 1Password, which you could access on your computer instead of your phone.
Defeats the purpose of 2FA though. I'd argue a cheap 2FA-only phone would be good, if they're struggling to touch their real phone without being consumed by distractions.
Isn't that just remembering two passwords instead of one? And isn't two passwords instead of one basically the same as remembering one very long password?
For that matter, how do they prevent you from using the same password for both?
I posted another comment explaining why 1Password Vault with both a password and a OTP code is still secure, but in short it does not defeat the purpose. Your vault's are protected and in the situation where someone gets access to your vault it's most likely to be full access to your computer at which point they have other viable methods to get access to a specific service you use.
No the two factors are something you have and something you know. Not something you have and another thing you have. In this case decrypting the vault requires two factors.
In my view the factors are attach vectors. If i wrote both my token and my pass down on a single sticky note, it's 1FA. If i have them on two stickies stored in two locations, it's 2FA.
Though i have no idea, that's just how i internalized it over the years. In your 1Pass example, it's a single attack vector (the password of my 1pass) to compromising both the token and the password of the product/server/thing.
In the spirit of the idea, it would be the attack vector imo. So behind locked doors, buildings, safes, etc.
Eg a hacker can access my computer, even have a clipboard/keylogger on my machine, and have a difficult finding my token if it's on my phone. They need to attack my phone and my computer.
Having them both in your unlocked 1Password vault means if someone walks by your computer they can access your account. A single location with both of your "2FA". If they had a keylogger installed on your machine, they only need your single 1Pass password to breach your "2FA".
Granted i imagine that a Phone TOTP would still be a concern with a keylogger on your PC, since you still enter it on your compromised machine. Still more difficult than the having the totp key though, of course.
You're inventing a new definition of the term 2FA. The problem it was created to solve was the ability of attackers to remotely access services using weak or compromised user passwords. This is relatively low cost to do on a mass scale whereas rooting each individual's computer to compromise their password manager is not.
I carried 2 phones for many years. It was more trouble than it’s worth. Especially these days. Working from home, my only work use of the phone is for the Authenticator app.
If it's Authenticator you can use bitwarden from your browser, that's what I do. If you're using a custom app or something different then yeah it's annoying
I see some evidence that yubikeys are used somewhere in the organization, but not sure where or how.
The only information we were sent to get this all setup was specifically for a phone. The portal that exists to add devices only appears to support phones.
I have a co-worker who simply tried to use Authy instead of MS Authenticator and it didn’t work. There is a lot of bureaucracy that typically makes it not worth the fight.
I use MS Authenticator for work too. It doesn't do standard TOTP, at least not for Entra. The QR codes don't contain the secret. IDK that anyone has been able to exfiltrate a secret and generate codes with a third party app.
I personally use an Android emulator on my laptop, which achieves the same goal. It saves and restores state automatically for quick startup.
Ever since I disabled all the notifications on my phone my life has been happier. It won't work for everyone (50% of the time it doesn't even work for me), but I can't help but write this anecdote here.
1Password can be your 2fa and autofill those fields. It has a built in scanner which will look at your screen and read the QR code on the screen (no separate device needed).
Two Factor doesn't mean 2 devices.
Two factor generally has been thought of as "something you know, and something you have."
Let's do a quick threat model on putting both passwords and MFA tokens in a 1password vault.
1Password employees a recovery key + password login by default, and logging into a vault requires you to either have a device with the encrypted vault on it and your password, or have knowledge of your password and knowledge of your recovery key (normally in a file which makes it something you have) essentially traditional 2fa needed to log into a new device.
If someone steals your phone with 1password installed - they need your 1password to be able to access your credentials on the physical device. At that point they already have both your factors - your phone (have) and your password (know) - still protected by 2fa.
If someone manages to fully root your computer, they could wait until you unlock your vault and then extract your credentials. However, if you use traditional 2fa on a separate device - then they can just wait until you log into the target app, and then ride your session and get the same level of access to the target. While there may be a small difference in level of effort or how long it takes, the same access level is possible, and the requirements are that they have very privileged access to your operating system. Someone rooting the device that you login to services is grants them "single factor" access to your services when you access them.
There is some subtle differences between these, but except for situations where you have very high privileged requirements, at which point you should be using yubikeys or standalone MFA devices, using 1Password with OTP and password is very comparable to using a separate device for MFA.
I'm a previous red teamer and currently a blue teamer.
Even doing nothing beyond the authentication, it is still requiring task switching, changes devices, waiting for codes, entering them, switching back. It’s very disruptive to any type of flow state.
I often trick myself imagining life is a game that throws boring or difficult tasks (boredom often equals difficult ) at me that I need to survive. It often helps because I I can picture finishing these things as rewards that help me get to the next "level". It was particularly helpful getting beyond difficult times (many bad events coinciding). Not sure if this can be transferred to others, or if it works because of my brain chemistry.
This stops working after a while. The real deal is you begin the realise the 'points' you accumulate playing this game can't be redeemed to do something fun or satisfying. This game begins to appear totally pointless as you age(Points are less useful as you age, and dying with lots of points means time and effort was spent to acquire a thing that can't be spent now). Which causes even more procrastination.
I think humans crave freedom and free time, with good health more than anything else. This frees you up to care about doing things which we feel more rewarding and fun.
Several times you are better off skipping the drills and rituals and just focus on making lots of money as quickly as possible. And of course competing to accumulate more money just for the heck of it is equally demotivating as well. Focus what you want from the money and that is likely to move you along better use of your time and effort.
I take time spent on HN as an example. I used to think if i limit my HN time to under 10-15 mins a day, would be ideal. But the slippery slope was stopping. It felt rude. And i had no one but myself to get angry on. Weird loop.
I then go the opposite, allow myself to binge. Kinda forced looking at HN every occasion i had a few mins. I get bookmakes to avoid typing the url. Browse on every device. Add comments, browse past lists, front page, best comments, etc. All the dopamine boosts. And I notice the dopamine effect reduces. The fun in comments, upvotes and finding something new just evaporates. A day or two of this makes me sick of the orange banner and the beige background. I delete bookmarks, remove everything. Make a new account to start fresh. Add a rule to block the domain, all out of a natural reaction, mind you.
i dont have real stats but it feels like over 2 years of this, i've spent less time on HN, than before. I'm not constantly fighting myself. It comes and goes in waves, like seasons of nature. Right now its spring and slowly getting into HN summer as explained by my flurry of comments past few weeks.
Pretty sure my commenting pattern is similar. I write a bunch of comments in a short period then none at all and just lurk for a while. All the HN comment data is published, right? (BigQuery?) I wonder if we can find cyclic comment patterns for individual users. It might be harder to find patterns if the user creates a new account every cycle like parent, but maybe just users that have been active for 2+ years.
That’s also occurs with me, but in games! Sometimes, I feel “obligated” to play, the urge of playing that unique game, then suddenly, it disappears.
I’m not a psychologist, but I believe that occurs often, some things just lose that sparkle with the time, and it’s okay, you just need to find a new way to make your task. This article is a good example of how you can do this, and, with some time, change your methods!
I believe that having urges come and go is the natural way human motivation works. Doing something every day, whether you feel like doing it or not, is the artificial thing that you need to be trained to do.
Some things require larger blocks of time. For example, you need several days in line to take a vacation; you can't simply take "5 minutes of vacation" every day. Some things are done much better if you dedicate an entire day, or at least a few consecutive hours to them: whether it is learning something new, writing a blog article, relaxing, hanging out with your friends, etc.
It would be more natural to work 16 hours a day when you feel like it, and then take a day off.
My approach is to gather HN articles via RSS (then convert to maildir) a couple of times a day. That has two effects:
- It reduces the subconscious slot-machine mechanic (compared to refreshing a Web page) since I know there won't be anything new in my feed for the next several hours.
- There are also tangible benefits to using a proper feed reader, like only seeing unread items. That also discourages "cheating", since reading things outside of my feeds will require me to mark them as "read" after the next update.
I receive comment-replies via email, filtered into an IMAP folder that refreshes a bit faster than the RSS feed, to allow conversations.
These don't have notifications, but if I'm in the mail reader I can see their unread count (usually zero; and hence can be dismissed with a glance)
Yeah. Sometimes the reason you can't focus on something is that some part of your brain is trying to tell you that you shouldn't.
Unfortunately, that part of the brain usually sucks at coming up with an alternative plan, and "do something else, anything" is not very actionable. And you still need to pay your bills somehow.
The natural reward for work is work done. I don't need a motivational system to do the dishes. The motivation is seeing the dirty dishes gradually disappear, and the kitchen become cleaner. I don't need to create pieces of papers to represent that, because it is already happening right there, in real life.
If I work on a project, it helps to specify all things that need to be done (as opposed to working on something open-ended), so that I can see how I am getting closer to the moment of "done". A nice thing about test-driven development is that you produce a set of checkboxes first, and then you gradually check them off. Even if the work is open-ended, if I keep thinking about new features that would be nice add, it helps to specify a "version 1.0", and after achieving it, a "version 2.0", etc. The idea is that after each version I can take a break and feel that my work is done.
The least motivating thing is probably the job, as an employee. You work for 8 hours a day (generously assuming no overtime). There is no way to complete those 8 hours in e.g. 4 hours of working harder and then take a walk. In theory, if you do Scrum, you should have a certain reasonable amount of work assigned per sprint, and if you do it faster, then I guess you can take a short break and do something enjoyable (such as refactoring). In practice, almost no one does Scrum by the book; you will probably be randomly interrupted by extra tasks, and given unrealistic deadlines to avoid the possibility of completing the work earlier.
Another demotivating thing about the job is that there is no personal consequence of completing a project; you immediately start working on a new one. The natural response to completing a work is to congratulate yourself and take a break. But at work, the vacations are mostly unrelated to projects. Also, you are paid per time spent working, not by the number of projects finished. So it is all disconnected.
So I guess it all needs to be a part of some greater project, which can possibly be completed one day. Such as, putting your money in index funds, and planning to retire as soon as you reach a specified amount. Then each day you can congratulate yourself for getting 0.01% closer to the goal. (Or you can save money for other specific things, if that is what you desire.)
Or if you work remotely, lie. Complete your projects and do whatever you want with your newly minted free time. You still need to be available and maybe keep a status indicator green but otherwise you should be free to reclaim 10 - 20 hours a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. Thoughts?
Really, most people's adult lives are just a constant stream of boring/difficult tasks they need to grind in order to get through: School, work, paying bills, managing money, doing taxes, cleaning the house, cooking food, doing dishes, fixing this, maintaining that... If you don't have a way to trick your brain into grinding these things over and over, you're not going to get very far.
This is the point I think many people fail to understand about consumption. Yes, it is usually perfectly sustainable to spend most of your free time scrolling tiktok or playing high-reward video games, yes you can live without regular exercise or a strict diet, but there are hard to quantify effects on an entire range of other things in your life. I think it is very important for the modern person to pay close attention to their mental state with and without the things they turn to the most, especially if experiencing problems with focus or motivation.
> You can't add a kale salad after a bowl of ice cream and expect your insulin levels to go down
Sorry for being off-topic, but you actually can (not a scientist, just speaking from experience). My guess is the digestion slows down and the sugar gets released into the system at a slower rate (probably because of the lower overall Glycemic index?). Anyways, it actually works! Just eat your salad before the ice cream to make sure it does :)
I think I do some of this, but my framing is not explicitly about adopting monastic practices - rather, it's about having a "novelty budget" each day. Every novel stimulus is an opportunity to careen off course.
However, if the task ahead of me is great and I'm motivated, then I automatically seek less novelty to focus on it. IOW, maintaining a boring baseline of routine so that novelty is selective is important as a way of being able to "jump into action". It's good to get off the phone. It doesn't replace the intrinsic motivation.
There's an aspect to productivity advice that is about shouting down your burnout by adding more productivity hacks or taking stimulants or flagellating oneself. Burnout's root cause has to be approached by asking the tougher questions about life and aligning with a philosophy that is truthful to that. The work itself will have moments of routine boredom, exhilaration, and heartbreak, but the motive has to endure all of it.
And what about those of us that find they have stretches where they don't focus well on anything? Games included. There are several games I'd like to spend a bit of time on. It ain't happening.
When you are feeling this way it's good to take stock of your 3 fundamentals... Food, Sleep, Exercise. If any are suffering, then it's almost guaranteed to be the source of your problem. It sounds elementary but I have to remind myself of this constantly. Particularly the sleep part
I posted in another thread how reliable some old/popular answers can be. Frustratingly so. :D
Exercise is annoying, as without a lot of modern life, it largely takes care of itself. Back when I could just walk to a grocery, as an easy example, it was unsurprisingly easy to stay in decent shape.
Murkier mental health issues? You desire what games used to give, unadulterated innocent fun, but nowadays they don't? You are a bit "stuck in life" (maybe even going through mild depression) and you are not the addictive/escapist type.
I find this intensely amusing. In grade school, I got "mono" and dang near literally slept for several days. Granted, being sick is a bit different than being disinterested.
My problem is typically more that there are plenty of more interesting things to do than anything I'd like to do right now.
> I'm sure phones are just as stimulating for some. We all have our vices.
Hard agree, and yes we have our vices, but wouldn't life be better if we had more agency over them?
My phone is overwhelmingly a detriment to my life, it's just disguised as a necessary utility by doing the same things I could do anyway if I didn't have it. It's not never uniquely valuable to me, but those rare signals don't need to be tightly coupled with so so so much noise.
The big one for me lately is the aptly named tethering. It's wild that it's not just built into my mac at this point, if it weren't for that, (maybe 2Fa as well) I'd leave the phone at home so often I'd probably forget about it, and I long for that future.
It's not necessarily true that games being fun is the reason why you can play them for hours.
Think about games where you're grinding doing tedious stuff to level up your character. Not nearly as fun, but still something you can end up doing for hours.
I don't even get that kind of hit from a game though unless playing with friends, and that's because I'm with my friends. If I was playing alone I'd play for 30 minutes max and then stop.
>When I "fast" from those "treats", work takes on new enjoy-ability. Dopamine diet is probably the wrong technical term, but it nails the practical effects well.
Man no offense but this sounds devastatingly sad. "We must starve ourselves of fun so that the barest excitement at work feels good."
If not then you're already 'starving' yourself of the purest form of pleasure (which is a good thing, don't get me wrong). I don't think taking one step further is that sad.
I think this is more akin to literally starving yourself so that a single bit of spinach tastes great. It turns out you can in fact eat a candy bar and have pizza and not become obese or otherwise damage your health. It's not one or the other and OP might need some kind of professional help to mediate their moods...
When I was a kid, I'd eat Trix cereal. I enjoyed it. Now - I find it sort of gross. It's too sweet. You can reach that same point with cake or pizza or a candy bar, etc. - in that, those foods become sort of gross. Foods like spinach become more satisfying. Not only that, but that satisfaction may yield a higher reward than you ever could with Trix cereal. But you'd never reach that higher level of satisfaction as long as you're eating Trix cereal every day.
I wouldn't overthink it, or take it to extremes just to find a strawman. A charitable reading of my comment shows we agree. I talked about indulgences displacing healthier options.
More specifically, when TFA talks about difficulty writing an email vs playing hours of video games, I thought it was worth mentioning that 2 hrs of factorio 3 or 4 nights a week might actually dampen the excitement of work a little by providing a perfectly tailored experience designed to engage the part of your brain that your employer would pay your for.
The analogy isn't about "hunger is the best seasoning" (although isn't that an apt colloquialism !), the analogy is insulin resistance is something like "dopamine resistance" both take consistent large over indulgences or poor decisions (however socially acceptable!) to cause a runaway effect which degrades "health".
Hope that's clearer. It's about establishing healthy habits not starving oneself.
> It turns out you can in fact eat a candy bar and have pizza and not become obese
That is extremely dependent on an individual's metabolism. When I was young I had hyperthyroidism and could not keep enough weight on. I could, and needed to, consume a huge amount of calories without gaining a pound. Now, my thyroid's burnt out, and my sleep is terrible, and it feels like I gain wait from breathing in air.
It's quite difficult for some people to allow themselves a candy bar without sliding down a slippery slope. I'm formerly obese, I lost 100 lbs, and I know when I relax my standards even for a few days, it can spiral.
Self-discipline looks different for everyone. I don't think it's necessarily unhealthy.
That’s insanely stereotypical. There is no ”drugs” that is ”the purest form of pleasure”.
Instead, there are many thousands of different substances which can elicit, heighten, prolong or enable pleasure; some illegal, some legal, some included in your favourite meals and snacks.
Even vanilla is a ”drug” which enhances pleasurable feelings. (Vanillin and ethylvanillin are monoamine oxidase inhibitors and consuming them will increase serotonergic and dopaminergic activity)
> There is no ”drugs” that is ”the purest form of pleasure”.
Having had fentanyl for a couple of surgical procedures, I am inclined to disagree. No one should feel that happy after having their colon inflated like a balloon or chunks of metal screwed into their bones.
You are missing the point. Sure there are individual substances that can provide such experiences. However, talking about drugs as some sort of infinite pleasure inducers is intellectual dishonesty: the category is not homogeneous.
> There is no ”drugs” that is ”the purest form of pleasure”
Yeah, I mean I think we barely know what that would even be. But some drugs come pretty damn close I'd wager, and I'm not talking about vanilla or ethylvanillin.
I think if you've dabbled in opiates, you've come pretty close to what the purest form of pleasure would feel like.
Most ”normal” people react to opiates/opioids with intense nausea and discomfort.
People unable to feel the full spectrum of pleasure sober have quite a different experience, since these substances completely eradicate any pain, grief, anxiety and stress that commonly prevents pleasurable feelings for occurring.
Yeah, it denies that games are any good, and demonizes fun as a vice. People who talk about dopamine and procrastination are just looking for ways to beat themselves up and start conflicted fights with themselves over what they want.
I suppose in some sense, but how is this sadder than the reality that we're not all doped up on space cocaine?
A desirable (practical) reality would seem to stem not just from first order effects now, but also in summation of all the credits and debits that it leaves us over time.
> "We must starve ourselves of fun so that the barest excitement at work feels good."
Don't worry, that rule only applies to poor people!
.
More seriously, how long does it take to stop the dopamine high? Could we schedule our lives so that we would e.g. spend one month doing the most exciting things ever... followed by three days of meditation... which would make us ready for a few months of hard work... and then do it again?
You know, so that we are still productive at work, but don't have to sacrifice most of the joy in life to achieve that.
I agree with both of you, but when I am fasting and also doing activities with a high level of dopamine release, I actually find it easier to focus on my tasks as well.
I don't want to be a downer on this because it sounds like a cool system, but it might be worth checking whats in the receipt paper as a lot of it is pretty bad for you:
Even though bisphenol-A is banned in EU, I believe bisphenol-B is still allowed. I suspect - though I don't know how to research whether it's true or false - that everyone just switched to bisphenol-B, which is said to be either similarly, or more toxic than BPA... :(
Even assuming that "BPA-free" paper I'd buy is really so, and not just BPA-covered one imported from China and said/labeled to be "BPA-free" by someone somewhere in the pipeline...
If the labeling can be trusted it isnt hard to find phenol-free receipt paper on amazon.
However, none of them say what their actual 'active ingredient' is and I am curious if these are necessarily known to be better. Most of them describe themselves as 'plastic coated'.
A while ago, I tried writing tasks on sticky notes at home and crumpling them up to toss in the trash once they were done. It felt pretty satisfying at first, but writing each note took too much time, and I eventually gave up.
Now that I’ve seen the idea of using a thermal printer to print out little task tickets, it instantly feels like a much easier system. I’m planning to get one next week and see if it actually helps me get started more easily than writing things by hand.
The biggest killer for any task tracker I find is an accumulating backlog of items that seem too important to quit but too intractable to make progress on. Often it's those exploding-in-complexity type things that you thought would taken an hour and it's constantly requiring refactoring into more tasks.
Accumulate enough of those and you start finding yourself writing more notes than you are crumpling them and can get demoralized pretty quickly every time you look at the board.
I have ADHD, and my daughter was recently diagnosed as well.
Been reflecting on this post as it's been soaking up the front page for the last 24 hours.
I want to commend you for shipping maybe the perfect HN post:
- Personal Journey
- Old school hardware
- DIY software
- Productivity hack
- Great title
- Quantified results (2-3x productivity) over non-trivial duration (few months)
- A low-effort offline solution that delivers real value for the 98% who will never build the thing
- Great polish on the reading experience with lots of little details
- Effective call to action (subscribe to get the software in a few weeks)
You inspired me to get my organization back on track. After researching receipt printers for 30 minutes, I realized what I actually need is to dust off the system that has worked for me in the past. But I'm picking up some post-its today and my daughter and I are going to try implementing your system for her over the weekend.
Author here. It’s my first article. I’m a bit nervous but excited to get your feedback. If you deal with procrastination too, I hope this method helps you like it helped me.
I was about to be a little snarky but your comment reminded me to be kind. Thanks.
I don't have a receipt printer, what helps me is an A4-sized whiteboard with marker when I feel like I'm falling behind my tasks. Also, to use todos sparingly, so they retain their effectiveness. It's actually quite underrated to forget and let go of tasks; what's important tends to stick around in your head and keep you up at night.
The snark was from my personal experience that serial procrastinators ride a particular high when they change their methods, especially if they spend money for something that hopefully solves their issues. It never lasts long, we return to baseline quite fast. This is why there is tons of posts about "here's how I solved my procrastination issue" when they've only used the supposed panacea for a couple of days. What's I find more interesting, is methods that have worked for someone for years. Then one can claim to have found a cure, albeit one that probably only works for them.
In any case, keep writing. It helps a lot if you too suffer from squirrel brain.
Thank you for your message!
You are absolutely right, and I have actually tried lots of different things and abandoned just as many methods after only a few days. But what pushed me to write this article is that this time, it was different. After several months, this method is still holding up.
> The snark was from my personal experience that serial procrastinators ride a particular high when they change their methods, especially if they spend money for something that hopefully solves their issues. It never lasts long, we return to baseline quite fast. This is why there is tons of posts about "here's how I solved my procrastination issue" when they've only used the supposed panacea for a couple of days.
This reflects my experience as well. Whether it's getting a special little "Getting Things Done" notebook/app or getting the accessories involved in this post, before long my brain has "helpfully" optimized them back out of my life and I'm back at square one.
This is why I've accepted it about my process. Even if something new only boosts my productivity for a little while, a bump is better than nothing, and I often learn something new about myself in the process. So, instead of beating myself up about going whole hog into something I saw online or heard in a podcast, I just accept it and enjoy the increase in energy and motivation for the time that I'm trying it.
> serial procrastinators ride a particular high when they change their methods, especially if they spend money... It never lasts long, we return to baseline quite fast
That's probably why the author has beginner tasks on the whiteboard like making a bed, washing the dishes, etc. It's hard to imagine having such tasks throughout one's entire life while struggling with procrastination.
Yes, that is exactly why this method works. Because breaking tasks down into micro-tasks really does work. And the ticket printer helps remove as much friction as possible.
That is what makes it a method that requires very little time and energy, and therefore something that can be sustained over the long term.
That matches my experience. “Write the report” will sit in my inbox forever. “Add 10 items to the outline for the report” will usually break the inertia and end up with me finishing the whole thing.
Then if "Add 10 items" seems to be sitting around for a while, I change it to "Add 5 items".
The part where I end up finishing the whole thing doesn't always happen, but breaking it down into chunks that I can power my way through even if I'm in the worst mood with the worst working conditions at least lets me accomplish a small thing and get a better sense of the task for the next time I try. Sometimes "Add 5 Items" actually turns into "Add 2 items and realize you only need 7 total items."
Some of my procrastination is "I haven't started the task because I can't completely visualize it, I can't completely visualize it because I haven't started the task."
That's exactly how it is for me. If I can visualize the whole task from start to finish, it's generally easy to go ahead and knock it out. If there's a part I'm unsure of, I can put it off forever. That's also true if one of the steps is "call so-and-so and ask about such-and-such," if I don't know what the answer is going to be. That uncertainty blocks the whole project in my mind.
Starting to write this comment was easy, because I knew what I was going to say before I started typing; but writing a book seems impossible, because I can't hold the whole thing in my mind at once. Funny thing is, this comment has changed and expanded since I started it, but since I didn't expect that, there was no uncertainty and I didn't hesitate to start it. Now if I could just find a way to fool myself about bigger projects.
You should try harder, I can easily keep “Add 10 items to the outline for the report” or even "Add 1 item" tasks in my inbox forever.
Oh, I’m great at that. Trust me.
4-8 weeks is about the range that a new task system works for me. Probably not coincidentally I had As in most of my classes around the midterms, but graduated with a C average (a semester was 17 weeks at my university).
If you’re procrastinating, but then find a method that works and go on to use it for several years, you didn’t have a procrastination issue, you just didn’t know how to get started.
Chronic procrastinators will inevitably procrastinate no matter what method they find.
Yes, that's true, but chronic procrastinators also get older which means they know what works best for them, and also accept that some stuff might fall through the cracks, and that's perfectly fine.
Wanting to have a perfectly organised life is unrealistic. We're not machines, but we're bombarded by the message that we can do better at organising our lives, often by those that want to sell us their product.
> What's I find more interesting, is methods that have worked for someone for years.
From 2020 I use a three column worksheet (Libreoffice in Debian): one row per day. One thin column for the date, the second for pending tasks, the third for the "done" ones. Theoretically I just copy-paste between the "pendings" to the "done", but I also add notes as the day progress, so it is also a kind of personal diary. At the end of the day tasks not achieved get moved to some rows below, and new ones are added as needed. The spreadsheet is configured to start automatically on session login, so I can't forget to see my daily assignment. Not perfect, but (mostly) works for me.
Whiteboards have been my main strategy too. And a little while ago I ran across this: https://community.frame.work/t/whiteboard-input-module/58985 and bought the same stickers and pens and it works much better than I expected - the pens write super-durably for dry-erase and light bumping doesn't erase them at all. I have weeks-old reminders on there that are almost new looking.
For day to day stuff I just use a more normal whiteboard that I do my best to erase at the end of the day, and migrate longer term stuff to some other location. I like it better than a regimented "always empty" system since reasonable leakage from one day to the next is pretty common for me.
The good thing about todos on physical objects like a whiteboard is that the space is limited. Todo software tends to accumulate tasks until there are so many you’re overwhelmed with anxiety just opening the app, and pruning them would be yet another tasks on top of the mountain.
Yep. Forces me to erase some and/or move it to some kind of backlog that I never look at.
Related: 3m has an easy erase whiteboard roll that is both easy to erase will even let you use permanent marker on it. It's been working great
I love it. Using a thermal printer to print physical tasks you can crumple on completion and throw in a bin is absolute madlad goblin energy and I'm all for it. I think you've actually perfectly distilled the essence of "game-loop" and operant conditioning, and mapped it to the real world. I have been using a whiteboard for tasks, which is better than nothing, but the problem with that approach is the feedback is minor, and once erased, it's like "wtf did I even do this week". So there is limited short-term feedback and zero long-term feedback. You need both the power-up noise and the level progression for a loop to be satisfying.
I have been planning on making a system based on those long scrolls of paper for doodle boards, so at least there is a history, but of course I procrastinated on building the mount for it.
I would love to use your application, I know there's a million to-do apps out there but I get the overwhelm/daunting very easily, so I really appreciate the scope-hiding aspect.
Instead of crumpling, put a fun sticker on the task to mark it complete!
You could also put the task on a spike like they do in restaurants with signed receipts.
Thank you for your comment. Seeing the tickets in the jar really helps you feel like you actually got something done.
I cannot wait for you to try my app :)
One comment: You're dopamine hacking. My belief is that eventually the process will stop rewarding you with dopamine, and you'll drop it.
Games eventually stop rewarding you with dopamine, and your brain loses interest in them. Same goes for the jar. ADHD brain needs to keep changing the process, in order to keep the reward novel. What works today won't work in six weeks.
(With me it was tearing the index card in half when I'd finished the task. Very satisfying - for a while)
> dopamine hacking
Can we just not? Can we wean ourselves from the "addiction" instead?
As a former chef who lived by tasks on paper tickets for several years, I recommend getting a tab grabber and spike, for an extra little dopamine hit. It's very satisfying to pull the receipt from the grabber and spike it
I love this, a great improvement or alternative on the original idea.
Definitely a tactily-satisfying motion. Those spikes always freaked me out- you're one slip away from a Final Destination "spike through the eyeball" situation.
What features are you planning for your app?
Thank you so much for writing this. I have recently discovered that I have both autism and ADHD, and increasingly it feels like this mind style has a steep counterintuitive learning curve but also very high skill ceiling.
The video game analogy rings very true for me. It helps me a lot to read articles like yours because it gives me new ideas to try. I fully agree with your premise and I've been experimenting with indeed card based systems but have been frustrated by, as you noted, how having to repeatedly make the cards every day basically means I'll probably stop doing it. The receipt printer is a fantastic idea. Making mental only systems physical seems to invoke the spatial parts of the brain. I've been trying to find good ways to synchronize my mental, digital, and physical information. I'd love to read more of your ideas if you publish anything else on your mailing list. Cheers
Thank you so much for your comment, it means a lot to me!
I would avoid massively increasing your exposure to receipts. They have endocrine disrupting chemicals and it's advised to not even handle them from retail stores let alone in higher quantities in your own home.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/receipt-paper-harmful/
Since the article was written, bisphenol has been banned in Europe.
You can buy phenol-free thermal paper.
If the grocery store cashiers aren't getting cancer from handling 150 receipts a day then the todo list should be fine.
They are getting cancer. That's the problem, cancer rates overall are higher and we're working through figuring out why so we can stop it. This may be one of the reasons.
I loved your article! Thank you so much for sharing. Fellow procrastinator struggler here.
What's been working for me lately is carrying a Field Notes notebook everywhere with me combined with some of the ideas you talk about here (breaking down tasks into smaller and smaller pieces). It's the perfect size for me to carry around every day.
It's also been helpful as I've been defaulting to opening up my notebook as my basic distraction device as opposed to opening up my phone.
Thank you for your comment. It is so important to be able to resist the temptation of a bad distraction.
I loved it. I think it perfectly captures the itch that causes procrastination: you had a working solution but it was not good enough for you. You've perfected it but you still have issues with it. You still managed to live with the imperfect version while working on improving it, though. I think that's the part most of us procrastinators fail.
Yes, that’s exactly it! If the system doesn’t work 100% or feels like a hassle, we just abandon it. You’ve summed it up perfectly!
It's a great and well written article. I read all of it, and as a fellow ADHD sufferer, that's rare. :)
My experiences with ADHD align pretty closely with yours. We're of a similar age, but I was only diagnosed recently, and I'm still settling into this, adjusting medication and so on. But just knowing now what's wrong with me, is a game changer. It means I can work with it or around it, instead of being in a state of frustration and despair that I can't function like everyone around me.
In my experience, if I find a task interesting and intellectually stimulating, I can grind away at it for hours and lose track of time. But if it's boring and tedious, it's nearly impossible for me to make any progress at all, unless the consequences for not completing it are severe.
Breaking down tasks is a good idea, and it's something I've thought of myself. Just vacuum the stairs. Just press New Document in LibreOffice and write ONE sentence. Just wipe down the bathroom mirror. I'm not sure I'm ready for a solution as elaborate as yours, though I find the technical aspect of it fascinating, and I might explore it just for that reason.
Thanks for your comment!
I totally relate to the way you described it! You can try my solution in a really simple way using post-it notes. Just do a few tests and see if it works for you!
I just picked up a used thermal printer to try it out myself and I'm looking forward to the release of the code.
I did notice that on mobile the left edge of text on your website is cut off by about half a character.
Also I liked how reading the article was its own game loop with progress bar, level up notifications and items! I hope you use that on future posts!
I will probably release the software as source-closed, but if you need help making a custom script, feel free to email me (you can find the address in the footer of my website).
What phone model do you have? I suspect the screen is on the narrow side.
Yes, I am even going to make a real little game to show that you can get absorbed by a very simple game if it uses the gameplay loop and multiple feedback mechanisms correctly.
Thank you for your comment!
Just so you know.
Offtopic but rewarding your article on Firefox on Android, there's a slight misalignment on the side. The left side gets cut off about 5-8 pixels, I'd say. It cuts off most of the first letter on every line.
It might be just my phone, of course. But I don't have any particular extensions installed or anything else.
fyi I tried on my Android phone with Firefox and I don't see the problem you mention. Perhaps some additional display specs may be useful? My screen is 6.67" with 1080x2400px (20:9, 395ppi).
I have the same problem - missed the first couple of letters on every line. Also FF on Android (Pixel 5).
I also think, like petemir, that it is a width issue. What model do you have?
Thank you for your comment! It is super helpful.
Ah, sorry for not answering sooner.
Admittedly it's not a hi-end phone. I use a Moto G7. Screen is 1080x2270 at 6.2 inches according to [ https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g7-9357.php#eu ]
Trying it again to verify... You're right that it's the width. I get a small-ish horizontal scroll. But the problem is that no matter if I scroll it completely to that side the left still gets cut off.
s/rewarding/reading/
Really appreciate the graphics, in-between summary elements and the progress bar widget. A bit too much colorful font variants my taste as it leans towards distracting, but hey everybody is different. That was a swell read, thanks for sharing!
As far as "app which helps create overview, reduce overwhelm and taks small steps" - I wonder how many of those are out there? I have written about 3 of those already for various use cases and in different flavors. Using them over a longer period of time, once the chaos subsides or the novelty wears off seems to be hard for me personally.
Great article, however, the word interactive in this sentence is styled like a link despite not being one, which was kind of frustrating.
Thank you!
You are right! I will change it!
The first two paragraphs made me realize I have ADHD. I had thought I didn't have it.
I realized after 40 years. I had a talk with a guy with ADHD about how drinking coffee makes us sleepy
The one thing that is often a dead giveaway is how many stimulants seem to have the opposite effect on people with ADHD.
I have ADHD, amfetamines help me relax, caffeine causes me to fall a sleep, some anti-allergy medication can cause me to stay awake for 2 days straight.
I read that in some countries doctors can prescribe mild sleeping pills for babies to help them stay calm during long flights. They always advice to test it before going on the flight, because some babies can actually become hyperactive from that medication. If that happens, there's a good chance the baby has ADHD.
I think it still varies a lot between individuals. Caffeine often makes me more anxious, the effect on mental energy levels seems kind of random (either short burst of energy or just more tired mentally). Yet when I tried methylphenidate it made my mind calmer, clearly reduced anxiety and helped focus while increasing energy. At the same time it gave me pretty bad insomnia, stomach issues etc.
The best I can describe it is that I felt calmer in my mind, but overstimulated in my physical nervous system.
I think it depends on what sort of ADHD it is and what stimulant. I feel somewhat more alert after a coffee, but cocaine does nothing. Amphetamines calm the noise from my mind, but make it more difficult to sleep if they're long-release ones.
This has been the most difficult part for me. I see people in reddit subs talk about how stimulants changed their lives. They are suddenly alert and productive and happy with the world. I get medication envy. I take adderal and fall asleep. Other stimulants I either get no effect or I get anxiety and zero benefits. It's very frustrating.
It’s diphenhydramine, or Sudafed. Also sometimes sold as Unisom but to be distinguished from the Unisom that is Doxylamine. My 18-mo old had the paradoxical reaction.
You mention three different medications here:
- diphenhydramine aka Benedryl is an antihistamine with a common side effect of sleepiness
- doxylamine aka Unisom is also an antihistamine but these days people only really use it as a sleep aid or for nausea
- psuedoephedrine aka Sudafed is a decongestant. Not sold over-the-counter because it can be used to make meth. It's a stimulant and appetite supressant
Finally, there's "Sudafed PE" aka phenylephrine, which is also sold as a decongestant but it (literally) doesn't work
I think a lot of people are unaware of it :(
Hi, thanks for the nice idea and writeup. Just a newsletter tech tip from my experience - be careful with the subscription form. There are bots looking for email fields on websites and filling them with emails from credential leaks or bad-quality emails and spam traps. You may easily end up with a mixed subscription list which will be unusable / resulting in lots of spam reports, your domain reputation might get hurt. To solve, use a captcha or an invisible "honey-pot" subscription form before the real one, use services for checking emails, etc.
The thing with the different columns of tasks broken down into subtasks could be replicated in any columnar filesystem view that opens the contents of a folder into a new column when you click on it, meaning every folder is a to-do!
Exactly what I thought, if you have macOS, just create a folder and use the columnar view.
Yes, exactly! But as coliveira said, you need a Mac.
It's a very interesting solution. I've been thinking more about filling my online time sheet system in advance but I suspect its too impractical to stick to times or keep readjusting with interruptions, so maybe I will try post-its.
I notice a bit of a link in behaviors between people I know who have ADHD and/or OCD. I'm not really sure what someone who "gives-in" to OCD impulses would feel as side effects, etc.. But I'm kind of curious if you see a downside to having followed loops for their reinforcing effects over days of work, etc?
Thanks for your feedback!
Yes, the system needs to have as little friction as possible, otherwise it becomes very difficult to maintain. That’s why the ticket printer is interesting.
I don’t really suffer from OCD so it’s hard to say, but it’s a very interesting question. I hope someone will be able to answer it someday.
Thank you for sharing!
I am curious for two things:
- How you stay motivated to create this task list each time. Or for another question - is it a new cool recipe, or have you been sticking to it for more that 3 months?
- What to do so not to go into the rabbit hole of creating and splitting tasks? For me, it is easy to overdo this step, both in breadth (too many things to accomplish) and in detail (too many steps; if you think about it, making and easting a sandwich is a dozen steps or so).
Hello! I did a similar thing - however I use TXTs and command line scripts to keep track of things (similar to task warrior). It's a great approach to pick up the list every morning as I have breakfast, put it in my notebook as I leave for the day.
Calendar, weather, to-dos, all in a single thing I can keep in my wallet if needed. I recall somebody posted a project for printing daily news on the roll too (I don't)
I think the authors solution is clever since this is like getting orders in a kitchen.
You dont have to do this yourself. A partner or friend could remind you about stuff and literally send you an order.
I’d personally use one of those spikes instead of scrunching up in a ball.
I liked your article, but I loved the design of your blog. Very clever use of colours and structuring, and the interactive demo is the icing on the cake. Nice one!
(Late reply because I procrastinate reading HN).
I'm glad you found a method that works for you, and as a fellow small-time blog author I can say I quite enjoyed reading your post.
Sadly, I've tried the task breakdown stuff before and it hasn't helped. It's not even just the fact that I procrastinate doing it, but that even when I manage to do it, it makes no difference.
Anything that requires more than a one off "session" of intellectual work is doomed. Even if I do manage to do some good work for a period of time, I'll undo it later, I cannot stop myself from throwing everything in the bin. If I force myself not to throw it in the bin, my brain refuses to function.
ADHD medication also does nothing to help me. It makes me feel anxious for a bit, gives me a pile of side effects, and that's about it. I've tried increasing the dose and all it did was make the side effects worse (including extremely smelly sweat, for whatever reason).
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? Helped a little while I was doing it, then I reverted back to normal.
I've even tried the whole accountability thing, but nope. Even if I'm on a call with someone who (like me) commits to do a task, and actually does it, while I committed to do mine, my brain will just tune out and at best I'll be able to do something on autopilot (works for loading up the dishwasher, but not much else).
On the days I manage to burn my willpower to fight it, it drains my energy like Windows 11 does battery on a portable gaming handheld.
Perhaps one day I'll find my own solution and become a multi-millionaire selling a book on it.
Nothing helps me procrastinate like trying out a new trick, a new tool, a new list-making method, etc. I've killed time on dozens of different solutions, and some of them were pretty good at getting me to focus and work hard on implementing that new method, but none translated much into getting more actual work done earlier.
Nothing really helped with that until one day I realized I was getting too old to keep being broke because I wouldn't finish work until I absolutely had to, so I got a job where other people give me stuff to do and expect it within a reasonable time frame. I still procrastinate more than I should, but there's too much to do for me to do nothing, so I'm always getting through something, and maybe that will become a habit.
But I hope tools and methods like this help others. It seems like every new method is a great fit for someone out there.
I totally recognize myself in your comment!
My first comments may have sounded pessimistic, but I do think you've found a couple interesting ideas that I haven't seen before, in making individual notes for your daily habits and throwing the crumpled notes in a jar. I have a couple pads of sticky notes in front of me right now, to get started on items for tomorrow, so thanks for the inspiration.
I've tried sticky notes before, but tended to use those just for the bigger tasks, while thinking I should put my regular daily habits on a single sheet that I could check off, to keep the sticky notes from becoming an unruly mess. But then the daily list always got neglected. I still got the dishes done, but I wouldn't get it checked off, so the overall system fell apart. Putting every task in the same single-note format may feel like overkill, but may be what it takes to work.
Yes, that is exactly it. It is annoying to do, but it works well, at least for me.
I totally understand! Just for this article, I restarted it 12 times!
What really made a difference for me was starting very very very very very small, with almost no ambition. That is truly the most important point in my article, but I am not sure if I managed to communicate it clearly.
The idea is really to say something like: my goal is to write for 5 minutes, and if that is too hard, I do 2 minutes. And if I manage that, I consider the task done and I can pick another one, also 5 minutes long.
This gives me a real sense of accomplishment and helps me focus on what I have already done instead of everything that is left to do.
Yup, I'm familiar, I've tried it, but my brain is somehow unable to treat the small accomplished tasks as separate from the larger task.
It still costs me the same "percentage of willpower", if you will, as I would have spent tackling it as the first step of the larger task. And once the willpower runs out, it's out.
With video games it's not that different. What keeps me playing aren't the small rewards. If small rewards were enough to keep me going I'd play pacman all the time. The only thing that keeps me going is curiosity.
Yep. Right now I'm trying to start an instructional video series. I know that I need to break it down into tasks and sub-tasks, and I've done that. So I could go pick a sub-task off the list, like "design a thumbnail image," and just work on that. But as soon as I think of doing that, the entire project looms over me, and I freeze up thinking about the whole thing, including even thoughts like "What do I do in 6 months if I'm out of ideas and I have paying subscribers expecting new content?"
I don't know how to zoom in mentally on a tiny, manageable task and block out the rest. I'm usually unable to start on any part of a project until I can comfortably hold the whole project in my mind.
I understand perfectly, when I'm curious or it's new it's so easy!
> ADHD medication also does nothing to help me.
I found that the usual ADHD medication (methylphenidate) does not work for me. However, modafinil does. YMMV.
https://gwern.net/Modafinil
Congratulations on your first article - it's a really good one. I found the jar filling method especially inspiring. Thanks a lot and good luck with the launch!
What a great color scheme! Changing colors over the course of the article makes it all a bit more fun and quirky and stand out against common templates.
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This is great. I'm starting a new job after the summer. I'll get a printer and set it up in my new office and let it automatically print tasks.
This article is so good! I applaud your efforts into making a change for your life for the better.
Liked you included one of many studies from M Csikszentmihalyi
Your writing is good - I especially liked the intro about the "game loop" and the flow state.
Really well written. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
I use one Intermec with android , I just print todo and lists for my pocket filofax - alas not possible to print under linux (proprietary drivers), and I even had to 'hack' the android intemec print-app (as it was designed for intermec android devices and if you don't use a such it put a watermark line) - TBH even their setup app is windoze only.. FFS
Good article and DYI work. But I was surprised that you didn't plug a GenAi api to break the tasks for you, maybe on version 2.0?
Cool idea!
I would note there are some known health hazards in handling thermal-paper receipts(BPA/BPS)[1] with your bare hands if you do so often. I don't know much beyond this, I would look into it.
[1] https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-...
You can buy phenol-free thermal paper, it’s about 20% more expensive where I live but much safer for you, and the quality is just as good.
Yes, safety of thermal paper is the first issue that comes to mind.
Secondly, IME thermal print can fade to nothing after 1-10 years. So these are specifically for short-ish-term use. Not for labeling something that is supposed to last a long time.
Yes, very true. It's paper with bisphenol. These papers are now banned in Europe, but not in the USA.
It's come up every time something related to thermal printing has been mentioned on HN lately, but this is honestly great stuff if you're in Germany: https://www.oekobon.de/
These non-poisonous blue receipts have the added benefit of being able to be marked with a fingernail, which is nifty if you're using them to print your shopping list, crossing things off is very satisfying.
Are these the ones that Lidl use?
And many other retailers, yes!
You can also use dot matrix / impact receipt printers, they work in the same way, just with an ink reel. So no special paper needed.
They are used in kitchens where thermal paper obviously won't work. Other advantages are they can usually print two colours: black and red. And the sound is rather satisfying :-)
Right, epiphenols. And despite some BPA-free options there are many alerts about the risks of the replacements. Maybe is time for a cool old style matrix receipt printer using regular paper?
There are plenty of phenol free replacements. All the "problems with replacements" discussions are about other phenols.
Good point, but luckily it's pretty easy now to find BPA free paper.
Maybe someone can relate to me on this...
> With this new system, I haven't missed tracking my habits even once.
When I'm in a productive era like that it mostly feels amazing. But it also comes with this looming threat that it can't go on like that forever. The feeling that maintaining such a high standard will only lead to a big fall once something inevitably disrupts the system. It also creates a sense of burden because by being so 'active' in the world, people come to expect you to remain active. And many of the tasks you've completed lead to more tasks that wouldn't exist if you had just stayed lazy.
This, combined with the realization that I can get away with doing almost nothing productive as long as I have a job, has made it hard for me to even want to be productive.
You've put into words beautifully one of my main argument against getting a job.
I have a better one though: a job leaves almost no time or energy for actual work.
For me, a stable job is key. The structure and accountability makes it hard to fail, and my (relative) lack of ambition ensures I don't over-commit or stress too much over work. It's everything else that I get lazy about! I have plenty of time, but it's too easy to do fun but unproductive activities.
If something doesn't trigger my "oh no, this will lead to more responsibility" alarms, I can be very productive. For example, I love to plan a trip, because it has a discrete start and end and is entirely within my control.
>"oh no, this will lead to more responsibility" alarms
these are the bane of my life, but as an anxious and unconcientious person, I just don't know how to solve them without doing literally nothing!
What's your alternative solution for paying rent / getting food?
Not having a job feels like a good option if you can select into it but the barrier is high for me
Are you happy?
If so, don't change anything.
Otherwise, if the lack of doing anything productive is bothering you, search for work that
1. seems meaningful to you, 2. has enjoyable aspects to it (no job will be fun all the time), 3. renumerates you sufficiently to meet your current standard of living or at least a standard of living you can accept.
THEN you will have the sufficient motivation to be productive where looking for a system that helps you be productive could be useful.
Alternatively, there's always entrepreneurship, depending on your appetite for risk and stress.
I find any system I create works really well because it's exciting and interesting, and then I get bored of the system, and it becomes ineffective.
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Great first article, and very interesting to see someone else using a receipt printer for bite-sized task management!
I have a variety of automations running which print actionable tasks to my receipt printer via a Raspberry Pi. It’s nice having a real-life ticket I can take hold of.
One thing to be aware of if you’re handling receipts frequently: make sure to buy phenol-free thermal paper. Phenol is toxic and some types of it are banned in certain countries.
Yes, I think having a tangible task is really important!
Since I’m in Europe, we don’t really have paper with bisphenol anymore, but that’s not the case everywhere.
What about the ink? What's the keyword to search for nom toxic printer ink/cartridge
Receipt printers don't use ink, instead they use thermal paper which darkens when heated. You can test this by scratching it with your nail, the heat is enough to leave a mark
I agree with you on the first part, but are you sure that the heat from the fingernail is what's leaving that mark? I can take a cold object and run it on the receipt paper to get the same effect, so I think that's a different mechanism at play but I'm open to being proven wrong.
The developers in the paper only require a small flash of local heat to turn black, which is why thermal printers can print so fast given the time it takes to heat up and cool down the print head. Friction produces enough heat to do that. You can test this by pressing an object down only, or running it very slowly across the surface in comparison.
I thought most receipt printers were thermal, no ink, just heat
AFAICT, BPS is still widely used in Europe.
Is there any way of knowing, just by examining it, whether a given thermal paper is toxic or not?
Yes, you look at it carefully and if it looks like thermal paper it may be toxic.
If the substances used are known to be toxic is another matter but you won't know that even with a correct label because it takes time for us to find out that new substances are toxic.
I think this is the right approach, speaking as someone who went down the rabbit-hole of looking at alternative non-bisphenol or non-phenol image developers. The very little research on the new ones tend to conclude "we don't know if it's toxic in the long term" or in the case of urea-based papers, "it's highly toxic against aquatic life."
To the GP, if the goal is to avoid phenol papers, phenol papers tend to develop deeper black. And in the US, phenol-free papers are new enough the backside often advertises it. Some are very misleadingly labeled BPA-free, which usually means it's made with the very similar and likely equally toxic BPS.
Thank you for your insightful reply, I greatly appreciate it. However, it does not answer my question, unfortunately.
The "tasks on slips" remind me of the Cast Deployment System that was used at Walt Disney World 20 years ago (not sure when it started or how it evolved, but it was in use then).
All cast members in every park and other location were dispatched by PCs with receipt printers. To begin a shift or return from a break, you typed in your number to a CDS PC (located basically behind any convenient backstage door). The PC would just print a slip of paper and log your out. The slip would be one of:
1. Relieve John Doe at <Position> in <Location>. John Doe: return to PC (I think it also had a multi-stage bump possibility, where you replace John and John is sent directly to bump Bob.)
1b. Relieve John Doe. John's break time Start: 9:05 End 9:35
2. Do <TASK> until 9:08 (e.g. Straighten plush in <STORE NAME> or Stock candy in <STORE NAME>)
3. You're released to go home
It was a wildly efficient system, which basically allowed their operations software, which presumably knew about attendance, ride wait times, store sales, etc. to put each person to the most useful position at any moment, and also to give people specific useful things to do during slow periods (or indeed to release them early if they didn't have anything actually important for them to do).
Reading the description of this system, I wonder if Marshall Brain knew of it when he wrote Manna, which sounds like a fancier version with an AI gloss: https://marshallbrain.com/manna1
Yes, I thought of that when I read Manna like 15 years ago!! Also, I get the impression that he was one of the most prescient minds of a generation. I can only hope his "good" ending is in the cards for us.
that's pretty amazing and not at all how I thought the park would run. Thanks for sharing.
It's increasingly strange how psychologically different something is when it's physically in front of you vs a representation of that exact same thing on a particular sort of display, especially given apparently some representations of activities on the display are addictive, while others become repulsive. As I mentioned yesterday I'm hearing more from people that attempt to avoid screens as much as possible, and this seems like yet another manifestation of that tendency.
If our UIs were more skeumorphic would that help with all this and remove the need for the physical printer?
It's not the skeumorphism but this:
I might have 5 virtual desktops and 3 different web browsers and each of those has 4 windows open and each window has 20 tabs. Never mind the terminal windows which themselves participate.
Conventional thinking is that if you can't find things you need to download and install some new program, maybe one that splits your tabs into "subtabs" or maybe one that organizes your virtual desktops into "virtual superdesktops", etc. Trouble is now you have another thing to find with all your desktops, windows, and tabs! You just can't win that way even though people insist that you can.
Paper, however, is privileged because it lives off the desktop. It doesn't disappear when you switch tabs, it doesn't disappear when you switch windows, it doesn't disappear when you switch virtual desktops. You can tape it here or there and it stays there even through reboots.
Correct. Computers are the realm of procrastination because there are so many ways work can hide and so many forms it can morph into. If you need to work from paper, there's not much you can do other than move through it. It may get disorganized, but it is still there. There is no question that modern workers have exponentially more reason to procrastinate than workers from 50 years ago.
Do not Mac sticky notes do all that, except they don't live in the physical domain?
Isn't it just reflective of the fact that you are more disciplined about tidying up your physical world than the virtual one? (And this might be the basis for why the hack works).
I switch virtual desktops.
Physical objects don't disappear.
I switch tabs.
Physical objects don't disappear.
The power goes out.
Physical objects don't disappear.
Hard to understand in 2025, isn't it?
Mac Stickies absolutely can be set to float above everything else, and survive power outages (battery permitting) and reboots. It is true they are tied to the Space they are in though.
They also have the advantages associated with not being physical of course.
But they cover up things you might want to interact with on the screen!
I think an old e-ink reader could be the solution here.
I see it like when you compare digital books vs physical books: physical requires less context in your mind, and it provides direct rather than abstract stimulus to the brain.
When you go digital, your brain is writing the sticky note, but also has in its cache the instructions for the menu, the apps you normally use, that annoying notification, etc, plus your rl context. But on physical, you only have loaded the instructions for the pen and paper (and your rl context).
Having too many things in mind can reduce your executive function battery. Hope this helps! (ofc, this is an oversimplification of ADHD)
I don’t think the issue is a lack of skeuomorphism. It’s more that the devices we use can’t replicate the feeling of something tangible that exists in the same space we do. And that these devices are bottomless portals to any number of other things unrelated to the task at hand.
Picking up the phone to check my todo list puts me in contact with 100 unrelated things, and at some point becomes counterproductive.
If something like the Apple Vision Pro was more accessible and wearing it was more like wearing eye glasses, I think its ability to render objects in space would make it more likely to be an effective interface for virtual task management. Emphasis on “more like wearing eye glasses” because it needs to be an always-on type of experience to come close to replicating a physical piece of paper.
You've started a very interesting discussion. I think that unfortunately nothing replaces paper. I understand Paul's comment, I have an infinite mess on my computer but on my desk I only have my paper tasks.
I doubt it. Skeuomorphs make me think of ipods, Shadowrun and Papers Please.
Great article! Many ideas that I have also noticed put together, nicely done. Although I'm kinda curious how long you have used this system to truly "know" it's bullet-proof.
In my experience, all systems fail without outside pressure and/or right nutrition and exercise. If I eat a lot of carbs and in general, gain fat and dont exercise I get nothing done. Eating ketoish and exercising every 2/3 days and I get a lot done.
Thinking about work as loops is the right idea, I do agree. Human brains slowly accomodate new thought-patterns and one must continously keep at them to make them appear easy. Any time I come back after vacation I feel immediate exhaustion and repulsion towards programming even though it's easy to me. You just lose the familiarity.
Anyway, I write tasks down as well although my system is just a webapp I built for myself. It's interesting I built it as hacky prototype but I've never come around finishing it even though I've been using it somewhat regularly for 5 years or so. Or I write down things on paper.
The least ceremony required for the process, to me, seems is the only long-term solution. But I appreciate this another take on it.
So approximately 6 months, considering that I usually give up on any somewhat complex system after about a week.
But I agree with everything you said, especially the part about how we need to be minimalist when it comes to task management.
Sometimes the best tool really is just the one that's easiest to keep using
I had a time when my condition was acting up and I was struggling to deal with JIRA and got the idea of making paper tickets with a receipt printer. I bought a few receipt printers on Ebay and learned how to use them but never really wound up coupling them to JIRA because handwritten tickets were good enough and my condition got better. Wound up printing a lot of Pokémon characters do, as reference art for Pokémon is intended for low-quality small screens and does great on thermal printers.
You can get a range of different thermal printer types, one discovery I made was that if you went looking for thermal printers in North America and looked for a width in millimeters you'd get cheap Chinese printers that were often adequate, if you looked for a width in inches you'd get name brand printers that were more expensive. Most thermal printers these days connect to USB but you can get one that connects to Ethernet which I think is ideal if you want something to be controlled by a server.
That gives me an idea. We could have some kind of random character that comes out with each task from the printer, with different rarity levels. It is an idea that might hook some people and help them stay consistent.
Yes, I have a printer with both RJ45 and USB. I spent a bit more to get that, so I can stay flexible depending on what I want to do with it.
"I got a shiny task!"
Absolutely brilliant. It's so stupid (in that it's kind of silly how easy it is to game our mammal brain) but I can absolutely see this giving an extra kick of motivation.
Have you heard of the INCUP model for ADHD? Interest, Novelty, Challenge, Urgency, and Passion. The more factors an activity has, the more drive the ADHD mind has. Rarity system adds novelty and a bit of passion.
Also if you have looked into operant conditioning at all, you know that variable interval reward schedules are the strongest behavior-forming systems (hence, slot machines and every game that act like them).
Yes, I was familiar with the concept of INCUP, but I had never seen it summarized so simply.
As for variable interval rewards, I knew about the concept, but I did not include it in the article because it is already too long, and also because I have not yet found a smart way to use it in my productivity system.
I tried creating my own loot box reward system where I earn points for completing tasks (literally spare change), and I can use the money to buy a die roll, with a d20 dictating what prize I got. Prizes would be things like permission to buy Pokémon cards or a full price video game, etc, with a guaranteed "high rarity" prize every X rolls.
Maybe it'd be fun to combine this with your receipts, where random tasks reward points to earn prizes.
Or maybe this is just more procrastination!
> Or maybe this is just more procrastination!
Well, what is life but procrastinating on death?
Now you've got me thinking about hacking one of these into my home network for random reminders or even silly prints from friends.
This is a topic that's really interesting to me, and I've thought a lot about it.
The approach that this guy is taking to break out of the addicting loop of gaming/scrolling/whatever is to try to take the principles that make those things appealing and port them to the things that we know we should be doing. Video games have these short feedback loops and quick rewards, so his idea is to make real life more like a video game, in some small way. I was surprised to see that even this website has little achievements in the bottom right corner, when you scroll or see a section for the first time you'll get a little popup congratulating you.
There's nothing evil or wrong about this on the surface, of course. But I wonder if it's not making the situation worse by ingraining a need for quick feedback and frequent external affirmation into wider and wider areas of our lives. In one of my favorite books of all time, Amusing ourselves to Death, Neil Postman talks about the "entertainmentification" of education. The book makes the brilliant and alarming insight that over the centuries, all of humanity's efforts have gone into dealing with the problem of lacking information (and, I would add, entertainment). But now we have the opposite problem: we are so flooded with information, and entertainment, we don't know how to handle it, and society is totally unprepared. If memory serves, Postman warns that we are becoming a people who can't do anything that isn't entertaining. And this was published in 1985, long before Tiktok and its ilk.
Another approach, which admittedly does require some mental strength, is to allow oneself to get bored. Boredom is the mother of invention. I have a theory that our brain has a preferred level of stimulation; if external stimulation is high, internal stimulation will diminish to achieve the desired total; and if external stimulation is low, internal stimulation will increase. The most productive and satisfying times I've ever had in my life have been when I cut myself off from cheap entertainment. When I do that, suddenly I enjoy the hard things again.
I have another theory, that great things are accomplished by people with nothing else to do. If we allow ourselves to swim in an environment of endless entertainment, we're effectively kneecapping our ability to do great things.
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Also, isn't handling a lot of receipt paper bad for you or something?
I have similar ideas from my own experience. I believe that humans have a “set point” for dopamine hits, if you are constantly receiving quick cheap dopamine hits your set point goes higher and you are constantly craving more. Similarly, if you back off the hits it will initially become uncomfortable but your set point will lower and you will not have those cravings.
This may be controversial, but I believe a part of the prevalence of ADHD in younger people is that their set point is unnaturally high from childhood as they never learned how to be bored.
This is my mental model as I personally have observed my set point change throughout my life. I think it makes sense logically as well as these small dopamine hits can become addictive like anything else, just to a lesser extent than something like heroin.
I was never bored as a kid because I was almost always reading books. I don't think it has had negative effects on me.
Books are not particularly optimized for addiction or dopamine, but social media is. Very intentionally and expertly so.
There is some research about this. I'm by no means an expert but a lot of it seems to tie back to dopamine and addiction science. You might like to look into the research of Anna Lembke around this.
> Also, isn't handling a lot of receipt paper bad for you or something?
Yes if you are worried about microplastics. Dr. Rhonda Patrick has an episode where she talks about receipts specifically (at the 1hr 2m mark) [0].
To paraphrase: thermal paper receipts are loaded with BPA which gets absorbed through your skin. The chemicals are worse too since the plastics for receipts aren't scrutinized like they would be for a food storage item. They use BPA is used as a color developer in thermal printing.
It gets way worse if you've used hand sanitizer, lotion, or sunscreen recently since those increase skin permeability. Studies show dramatically higher absorption rates when your skin barrier is compromised. Although I can't find a link for that right now.
Definitely something to think about if you're a cashier or work somewhere handling receipts all day. I've started just declining receipts unless I actually need them for returns/expense reports.
[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzw_grLzjw
I agree with everything you wrote. But for many people, giving up what entertains them is just not possible. That is why I think my method can really help those people. Thank you for this very interesting comment.
As for the paper, you need to choose one that is bisphenol-free, otherwise it is obviously problematic.
Appreciate the thought-provoking article and your comments, thank you!
To add on top of this, it is interesting when you link it to ADHD and related conditions. Where do you draw the line between "low" executive function (core adhd symptom) and "normal"?
One may argue that if society were simpler or different than today, many of such cases would not be a problem as it is nowadays, kinda like people wearing glasses: you dont ask if they cant see or if they need help, because they have the proper tools (glasses) and environment (our own perception) that fully accomodate them when needed.
This could also apply to other things, but I am mind-wandering. Maybe somebody could draw more links to stuff like this.
The boredom thing resonates a lot. My most creative or focused streaks usually start after a few days of digital detox
That's really cool. I will just add that in my experience, with a bit of conditioning it is possible to get this satisfaction from crossing things off digital lists. The benefits are manifold:
- It saves paper
- It's easier and faster to reprioritize tasks
- It's always with you in your pocket
Personally I use Apple Notes which has checklists, as opposed to a task management system or even Reminders. The flexibility of just writing things into a freeform note and hitting a button to turn them into todos is the right balance of low friction and just enough structure. Hitting that circle to check it off when done is actually quite satisfying.
Bonus: I added a keyboard shortcut for strikethru which adds some extra satisfaction of crossing off the task (or portions of a task that i've written out).
This reminds me somewhat of a system by David MacIver: https://drmaciver.substack.com/p/using-a-list-to-manage-exec...
He builds his list from scratch every morning. The list is flat, so as you go about your day and subtasks occur to you, they are added to the list without explicit links to the main task.
I thought it might be risky to start with a blank list, because something important might be forgotten. But it turns out that a blank list is a great filter for what is truly important and motivating. If it is important, you will remember it at some point during the day.
This system is also excellent for shorter periods of time. If I come home and want to get started on dinner, want to tidy up a bit and have a few other demands on my attention, I put my laptop in a central location, open up Notepad, and just start typing in everything I see around me that I need to do. Usually I start with maybe 5 items, but as I start doing things I quickly add tasks to the list, and it might grow to 15 or 20 items. But then at some point the list starts to shrink again as these small, granular tasks are completed. It is strangely satisfying to see the list initially grow and then shrink to nothing. It also leaves me with a feeling of having thoroughly attended to everything that was bothering me when I first walked in the door.
> If it is important, you will remember it at some point during the day.
As someone with ADHD I’ve never found this to be true. I often forget to eat. I’d forget to file my taxes without reminders.
We're on the same brainwave. Literally thought to myself, "but I forget to eat all the time" and scrolled down to see this.
ADHD obviously can make stuff like this hard, and most neurotypical people seem to operate on a "if it's important I'll remember it" mentality, which I'm incredibly jealous of. I still haven't found a good system for tracking important tasks without getting "overloaded" with too many tasks and/or subtasks.
Heck I forget things between remembering I need to do it and adding it to the list, in the time it takes to get my phone out and open the todo app.
Serious question: in those scenarios, do you never have awareness about your need to eat? Or does it occur at some point, but then you decide not to eat at the moment, and after making that decision then you never revisit it?
I ask because I often realize I'm hungry or it's time to eat, but I'm too engaged in the task I'm doing and I think "I'll eat a bit later" and then once I've done that the first time I often never consider again, at least until the next meal time. I wonder if that's what people mean when they say it, or if the idea of stopping for a meal simply didn't even occur to them?
I don't usually forget to eat, but this happens to me all the time for tasks that don't have a physical feedback mechanism.
I missed a doctor's appointment today because I didn't remember to schedule a corresponding "you need to leave the house _now_" alarm to go with the calendar event, which I forgot about because I looked at my calendar once in the morning and the appointment was in the afternoon.
I will remember _some_ tasks if they "are important", but those are typically things that cause me enough anxiety that I just don't ever actually stop thinking about them until they are done. I can't really do reliable just in time recall of tasks unless it is for something I have deeply internalized into a habit.
How do you get so engage in the tasks you are doing so you forget to eat? I suppose most people here have the opposite issue, we do not engage in the task at all and once we start, we stop doing it after a short while because we find a more interesting things to do such as eating, grab a coffee or reading HN, news etc. We would love to be able to stay on the task and not go and eat.
It's not like this for every task. But for the ones I find interesting, yes, it's nice to be able to focus like this.
Of course there are tradeoffs.
Not the person you asked, but in my experience one or multiple of the following happen:
- I just don't notice I'm hungry (this one happens most to me)
- I notice I'm hungry but get distracted and forget
- I notice I'm hungry but I don't have the energy to devote to making/finding food
- I notice I'm hungry and I straight up don't care even though I'm aware I should
Yep, everything here, plus “Why am I dizzy? Oh, I haven’t eaten anything in 15 hours.”
Quite literally, my awareness vanishes into the task or nothing at all. The conscious experience of it is basically blinking at 2pm and discovering it's actually 7pm and I'm dizzy for some reason.
I have reminders and still forget to pay my property taxes sometimes.
Oh shit, this just reminded me that I have a tax deadline this week. I ignored the reminder from a few days ago.
> It’s been my experience that any TODO list system I use will acquire an ugh field around it that gradually turns it into a thing I’m guiltily avoiding.
Considering that all of my tasks come from my to-do list and there's no way at all I could remember the dozens of tasks on my to-do list (I'm a manager, maybe that makes it worse), it's actually just impossible for me to avoid my list. Guiltily or otherwise.
The list doesn't make me anxious, having all of these tasks undone makes me anxious. Forgetting them makes me anxious. Having everything written down then doing everything and being on top of everything keeps me calm and sane.
> If it is important, you will remember it at some point during the day.
Varies person by person. My memory is nowhere near good enough for this to be true.
The type of job can definitely vary a lot in terms of the number of tasks and their complexity.
It would do people a whole lot of good, if they start looking at a great day as executing well tested 'checklist' rather than a 'todo list' built from scratch every day.
No wonder some of the most productive people like Knuth, or people like presidents many times have fixed schedules, clothes they wear, food they eat etc etc.
If something is working, do it more often, you want to do more of what works, at some point things that don't work wont be on your check list.
You can't generalize. Everyone has things that work for them.
Taking a few minutes to recreate that todo list for the day from a blank slate helps my brain get ready for the day and makes me more productive. (akin to stretching before exercise). I don't need a checklist for eating, cleaning, etc, but maybe some do.
I'm going to try that too. An ongoing todo list just starts to slip from my mind. I have a whiteboard in my kitchen, where I figured I'd write tasks I needed to do and erase them off when I finished them, so it'd be a continuous todo list. But after a while, it'd slip my mind and I'd go weeks without even seeing the whiteboard in my awareness, and then when I did remember it was there, it'd be half outdated and I'd have to start all over.
Getting into the daily habit of using any tool/method in the first place is the hard part for me, so making it as tangible as possible and not-too-convenient might help.
A recipe has a great chance of success, there are few such recipes.
If you think you will try out a new recipe from scratch everyday it shouldn't be surprising if most of your days don't add up to much, or even add up to a negative.
> A recipe has a great chance of success, there are few such recipes.
My partner vibe-cooks and it's almost always great.
I follow recipes I know will work because if I deviate the food will be BAD
This sort of thing seriously is dependent on the person
I did not know about this article, thank you! It definitely goes deep into task breakdown, just like what I am proposing. But I have a hard time starting from an empty list in the morning, because I can totally forget that I need to work if I do not jump straight into my tasks (ADHD brain).
>it turns out that a blank list is a great filter for what is truly important and motivating. If it is important, you will remember it at some point during the day.
I started using GTD, but due to sprawling list overwhelm, evolved it into nanoGTD, where I start each day with a blank page and recreate my projects and next actions from memory/imagination.
This works best on paper. To make sure nothing fell through the cracks, I just turn to the previous page.
The real value of paper year planner books is your todo list can't grow to infinate length - if you don't do something today you have to decide at the end of the day will you forget about it or manually copy it to tommorow.
it is easy to make todo items. The hard part is realzing you can't do everything and you must not do something
> The rule is simple: the more you procrastinate on a task, the more you should break it down into micro-tasks, even ones that take just 2 to 5 minutes in extreme cases.
This.
When I catch myself procrastinating, it often helps immensely to push myself to at least subdivide a task on my todo list further. Then try to push myself to do one of them, and if I still resist, try to subdivide tasks further.
I then move the task to a Done list by pressing a keyboard combo.
The only purpose of my Done list is exactly providing feedback the way the article recommends.
I never look back over past days "Done" entries. My Done list exists only there so that when I marka task done on my TODO list, the Done file that's open on the same virtual desktop gets the entry added to the top, under today's date, so I get the satisfaction of seeing the list grow. I used to just strike them out in my TODO list, by I found I like it better to see the TODO list actually empty out.
I could probably just wipe it every morning, but it feels satisfying knowing I have the timestamped records even though I never look at them.
Yes, the feeling of having made progress is so important. That little thing can sometimes be enough to lift our spirits on a day when we are not feeling our best.
my receipt printer is a whiteboard in the gym. I went from "I do some scattered, random assortment of lifts when I feel like it" to "I have 3 routines I cycle through every day" and what it took was writing down each routine and tracking the weight I did last time. Checking off my daily workout is my pulling a ticket down off the chore kanban. Every once in a while, as I get stronger, I get to "take a number off the board" meaning I've surpassed that amount of weight in my routine (eg: after a few weeks of doing 25 pound lateral shoulder raises I'm able to bump my routine up to 30. if no other exercises use 25 pound dumbbells I can erase the 25 off the board). That's my "dumping out the jar". It's worked for 2 years, I've gone from being at best a dilettante in this space to losing 50 pounds, gaining the ability to bench press my weight and, and this is the important part, I feel good about my body for the first time in my forty years. I think the difference is that it's several gameplay loops at once. The short loop is "do today's workout, get today's dopamine pop", the medium term loop is "let me see if I can work out more days this month than last month" and the long term loop is "let me see if I can get strong enough that 30 pounds is trivial for me". With those multiple, simultaneous loops there's a variety in the (ephemeral, immaterial, entirely made up and internal) reward that stops it from becoming meaningless. I think OP's system has a parallel structure: the two reward loops are completing a ticket and emptying the jar.
> and what it took was writing down each routine and tracking the weight I did last time.
I think there's a huge connection to physically writing it as opposed to typing and printing. I never did anything with the weight lifting logs, I thought I might, but the most I ever did with anything in the past was looking at the progression from the last few days or weeks.
I really do think that there's something reifying about the physical act of writing it down. I think that because in one of my many stutterstepping starts into the world of weightlifting I tried keeping a log on my phone and it did all the same things that keeping a log on the wall does (arguably more, the whiteboard doesn't track historical data and can't automatically generate charts for me) but it just felt like shouting numbers into the void every day. There was no sense of job-well-done satisfaction when I hit a personal best, there was no little ceremony of removing a number from the board to make room for a new, higher number. There was just a bunch of individual workouts and I either did them or I didn't and no one cared either way, including me.
Yes, that is exactly it. The tools may be different, but the essence of the method is exactly the same.
One trick I learned a while back to just sort of get my mind right first thing in the morning was to make my bed. I got it from a TV show, The Bridge, I think. It's such a small and seemingly insignificant act, but the routine is comforting and it feels good to have done something that will also bring me comfort when I go to lay down that night. It's nice coming to lay down in a nicely made bed.
I'd love to learn more of these sorts of little actions that bring calm and joy to my brain.
The "Make Your Bed" speech by US Navy Admiral William McRaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NudLfyl2cXc
I picked it up from Tim Ferriss, "The goal is visual tidiness, not Four Seasons."
One "trick" that helped me some times: If you don't make progress with a task, count breaking it down into subtasks as an accomplishment
In computer systems, this could be added by default as the first subtask when you create a task: "either do the entire thing, or split it into smaller parts".
I truly appreciate how well thought out this post is. However, it's one of those things where if you didn't have motivation in the first place, it's not going to work. I've tried atomic habits. I've tried different ideas from social media of grouping rooms and things into piles to sort.
Sure, I'll get it done... eventually. But no amount of gamification will motivate me to put this much effort into habitual cleaning. I hope the author's strategy helps someone, but it assumes you have the motivation but not the methodology.
If you can, actively examine your thoughts/emotions and dissect them from a distance so to speak, when you feel stuck and have trouble to reach for motivation.
There's a power in simply accepting that it's just a feeling, whether you're tired, motivated, hungry... The feeling that you want instead, is a sort of disassociation. The stronger the feeling, the harder it will be. And then you just do the thing you need to do despite lacking motivation or being tired or whatever.
There's something liberating about it that is a bit difficult to put into words. Like "fuck it, I'm going to do it anyway". Sounds a bit stupid, but it's not entirely wrong.
However it's not a magic trick, but rather a kind of thought muscle you can try to train so to speak. It works for me increasingly, despite being quite terrible at this kind of thing. Or rather two muscles: One is creating a distance/objectivity to your feeling or state of mind, the other is to start the action. Sometimes the second part is almost automatic once you do the first part well from my experience.
Yup, and conversely, we’ve all trained the opposite “muscle” that basically says “I don’t wanna so I won’t”. Being aware of your feelings and emotions is the first step to being in control. Most people fail to adequately understand themselves and thus fail to ever overcome their lizard brain behaviors.
Actually, my method works even with very very very little motivation. The idea is that having a list of easy, routine micro-tasks ready in the morning gives you momentum. Even on a day when I have no motivation at all, I still reach a basic, acceptable level of productivity.
I even gave an example in my article about this for initial cleaning, specifically with emails. We usually wait for a day when we feel motivated to sort everything out, but that day never comes, and we end up never doing the task. The idea is to have one micro-task every day, like processing a maximum of five emails. Or even five separate tasks of one email each. And on a day when you really have no motivation, you just push yourself to handle one overdue email.
What helps me is to set up "morning routine" with tasks such as:
- get up with alarm - make the bed - shave - take vitamins - read 5 pages
Checking off 10 small tasks right in the morning sets me for a productive mood.
My mom carries with her a physical notebook in which one full page is one day. The left side of the spread is for the task list, the right side contains notes/comments. When a task is done it gets crossed over. When the day is over, she manually copies important leftovers to the next day. The other (flip) side of the notebook is for longer running projects, similar approach. Naturally, she has to replace the notebook a few times a year. She says the secret sauce is the tedium of copying the leftovers, that's how she finds the balance between over- and under-planning.
I really like the way your mom does things.
She's a smart one, I could share more :-)
I was diagnosed with ADHD at 38, and never expected to hear that diagnosis. Main reason was my misunderstanding of what ADHD is. Like most people, I just naively associated ADHD with hyperactive kids, and thought I was just lazy and having procrastination issues.
Now that I understand it so much better, I start to recognise it everywhere. After reading first paragraph of the article, I immediately though: Laurie must have ADHD!
For ADHD the things that often help are: breaking tasks up into smaller tasks and having a way of tracking progress. You don't want to do that on a screen, your phone is a distraction device!
I write my to-do lists on a paper notebook so I can tick them off. But the label printer idea is also a smart one! Though maybe a bit over-engineered, but I guess that was just a way for Laurie to procrastinate on the solution ;-)
Genuine question: isn't this everyone? Don't we all find large tasks hard to start and so we procrastinate? Isn't it common general advice for all people to break things down into smaller steps so you can get going
Here's an analogy that might make it clearer:
Alice is in a wheelchair.
Bob has a broken leg.
Charlie is unfit, but otherwise a healthy adult.
Alice, Bob, and Charlie would all say "I find getting up the hills of San Francisco difficult". But "doesn't everyone find that hard" conflates the causes and severity of the difficulty for the three of them in a way that isn't useful for making their complaints feel heard, or addressing the complaints such that they don't have that issue.
For example:
Alice could get an electric wheelchair.
Bob could take public transit / Ubers up, or get rides from their friends.
Charlie could take up running with friends.
Right. But then when someone says "I see the symptom of broken legs everywhere now. When the blog author said they had trouble getting up the hills of San Francisco, I just knew they must have an undiagnosed broken leg", it's fair to be more than a little skeptical.
It seems silly because a broken leg is obvious and easy to diagnose. So the idea that someone has an undiagnosed broken leg is absurd.
A lot of illnesses are not as easy to spot. Even illnesses that have clear diagnostic factors might be undiagnosed if no one has done the right tests. For instance, gallbladder disease. Easy to test and diagnose, but only if someone has gone to the doctor and the doctor has done the right tests. If you've experienced gallbladder disease, you know the symptoms. So you might start noticing them in other people who just think its indigestion or a pulled muscle or whatever.
That analogy ignores what was actually confusing about this topic. A better analogy would be:
Alice has a medical problem related to hill walking so she walks up the hill wearing sneakers, Bob also had a medical problem related to hill walking so he uses a handkerchief to wipe off his sweat while walking up the hill, and Charlie, the out of shape adult, also uses sneakers and a handkerchief but not in a medical way even though his feet hurt without sneakers and he does sweat.
ADHD-I has a range of symptoms where the person needs 5 or more that are significantly disruptive to their life for at least 6 months.
So when someone reads the first paragraph and immediately thinks the author has to be ADHD because they talk about 1 of these symptoms that in isolation the majority of the world has, I ask "but aren't we all like this?"
Those threshold numbers seem so arbitrary...
Most symptoms of ADHD are things almost everybody experiences from time to time, some even regularly. What makes ADHD is combination of many symptoms cranked to 11.
ADHD is the difference between having difficulties starting some tasks and being absolutely unable to start a mundane task until you curl yourself into a corner and cry.
That being said, things that help people coping with ADHD can totally help people not having ADHD but suffering similar issues (case in point: planning and handling tasks)
(throwaway account for anonymity)
> ADHD is the difference between having difficulties starting some tasks and being absolutely unable to start a mundane task until you curl yourself into a corner and cry.
Can't agree with this enough.
I'm currently suffering from absolutely crippling procrastination.
I'm a successful respected principal engineer with 25+ years industry experience but in the last couple of years my procrastination has got so so much worse. I've just got through my third PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) in the last 18 months. Thankfully my employer believes in me and continues to give me a chance, but they're not a charity and they've made it clear that I need to continue to perform or I'm gone.
For example, the last PIP I knew exactly what I had to do, it was agreed in advance and completely fair. I should have had no problem completing everything without having to work silly hours. I just needed to grind my way through it and apply my experience and expertise as and when needed (when to escalate, etc). Instead I sat on things for weeks and weeks until the fear and panic of not being able to provide for my family (I'm the sole earner in the house) started to really hit and give me the necessary motivation. It was an immensely stressful position I put myself in. (To be clear, the company is awesome, they're very supportive and they really want me to succeed.)
Taking any significant time off isn't an option. It's not burnout (been there, done that). I can't afford not to be working. We're stretched very thin already due to other medical problems amongst my immediate family but we can get by if I'm working. Changing companies isn't going to solve anything either; my current employer is not the problem. I am. Anywhere else would probably be far worse.
It is utterly crippling at times; and the majority of the time. I can sit at my desk for days and do 30 minutes of "work" each day. Then the deadlines hove into view and I'm doing a days worth of work in 30 minutes.
I'm awaiting an official ADHD diagnosis and expect to be diagnosed with Inattentive type. Hopefully medication will make things easier for me.
I should have gone down the diagnosis route many years ago but, guess what, procrastination.
When I was this way there were two things going on 1. It was one of the most stressful times in my life 2. I didn't know I had sleep apnea so was always exhausted
2 was a much quicker fix than 1 and boy did it makes things much more manageable and at least get me going in a positive direction.
Also for the meds part they are literally life changing for me so hopefully they help you.
Good luck out there hope you find something that works :)
With mental illnesses there is no clear limit between normal and sick. However there is a point when it's really hurting the person afflicted.
For example procrastination: everyone procrastinate more or less, but in people with ADHD, procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate.
Another example : depression. It's not easy from an external point of view to see where is the limit between sadness and depression, however at one point the sadness has no objective reason, and is so overwhelming the brain that the person cannot function normally or is able to mentally fight it
> procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate.
That applies to just about everyone. It’s why there are countless books and articles on defeating procrastination.
I get that this is partly HN devils advocacy and partly a very human bias towards thinking all brains are your brain, but it's like saying that everyone has creaky joints so people with arthritis are just complaining too much.
Inattentive type ADHD makes you physically incapable of concentration. Procrastination is a symptom of the underlying problem, which is that the attention mechanism in your brain is chemically broken. People with this disorder are forced to 'manually' drive executive functions in a way that people with fully functioning norepinephrine synthesis systems can't really understand.
It is surmountable, but it's very hard and it's an 'invisible' condition. The sad thing is that most people with this (actual, real, chemically identifiable) condition spend most of their lives internalizing that they are lazy and worthless and desperately wishing they knew how to not be that. I have vivid memories of thinking those things when I was in elementary school. I am relatively high functioning now because I understand that my mind needs external control loops to keep me halfway productive but it comes with a whole lot of constant anxiety and shame that I can't do anything about.
It's a real thing.
No, most people have never found themselves staring at a pile of unpaid bills and collection notices, while knowing there's work they should be doing that would pay those bills...and feeling physically and mentally incapable of starting that work. Not "I don't wanna" or "I'd rather play games right now," but "I know I should do that, I know it would make my life better and I want that so bad...but I just can't."
It's horrible, and definitely not something that applies to just about everyone.
I do need to push back because I think what you're describing here is an emotional dysfunction, not an executive dysfunction, and I think the former really is a nearly universal experience to some degree or another. Maybe not all the time but certainly some of the time.
I had never experienced this exact scenario before my thirties but I ran into an exceptionally busy period in my life where I found myself overwhelmed with tasks and accidentally ignored my credit cards for a couple months. I eventually realized this, but I put it off for at least another month, even though every other day I was thinking about it and I wanted to solve the problem, knowing it was an easy problem to fix and that I had the time to solve it despite being busy. The reason I didn't was because of fear, the dread of the unknown (how bad were the overage charges going to be?) but also a fear of being faced with such an obvious failure, even though objectively I knew the loss would be trivial.
I think this drives most forms of procrastination, certainly everyone I've talked to about it (parents, friends, coworkers) describe it in similar words, comparing it to the anticipation of touching a hot stove, etc.
No, it does not applies for everyone
I don’t think you understand depression. There’s a big difference between depression and sadness … like the difference between purple and green. They are just not comparable. This is not shades of a different color. My personal experience is: “I’m sad” and that can mean… “I want to cry” But If im depressed can be like “I’m happy.., and yet.. I don’t see the point of living.”
I doubt the distinction between depressed and not depressed is all that clear.
I know scales like BDI 2 assign a number and use terms like:
– BDI-II scoring:
0-13 is considered none or minimal range depression;
14-19 mild depression;
20-28 moderate depression;
29-63 severe depression.
https://strokengine.ca/en/assessments/beck-depression-invent...
There is no objective cutoff point is what I'm saying.
> I don’t think you understand depression
I think I understand very well
Then maybe it was just a choice of words. My main point was that being depressed is not the same as being sad like being happy is not the same as being manic.
I think with many things in psychiatry, yes this is a common experience, but part of a diagnosis is actually about it becoming a real problem in your life. We all have aspects of a lot of different things that become disorders depending on the impact they have in your life. Not a psychologist, but this is how I understand the distinction, and why the diagnostic criteria are set up the way they are.
There is a long running conversation within the medical profession about the usefulness of marginal diagnosis. When everyone has ADHD how do doctors help the people who really NEED help with ADHD. Who 'really' needs help is of course subjective.
I think we can all agree that we are in a period of over medicalisation and we've combined that with a misconception that doctors/drugs/science can cure, and even should cure, everything.
Well people differ. Look around at your colleagues, some have dry eyes and lower back pain from working hours without interruption on a boring task.
Others, like myself, are easily distracted, quickly bored and only work hard with a specific goal in mind. Working on smaller tasks makes it easier to not be distracted. I feel this is more important for people with ADHD.
But you are right, in the end it is useful strategy for everyone :)
Advice for ADHD people helps everyone in the same way that any accessibility improvement commonly helps everyone.
Everyone experiences some symptoms of ADHD, ASD, etc. A genuine diagnostic is given when these symptoms become a big problem for daily life, work, social stuff, etc.
It is everyone.
Every digital to-do app I've tried turns into another notification to ignore, or I end up doomscrolling instead of checking tasks off. The receipt/label printer idea is a little extra, but I get the appeal of making the process more tactile and even a bit fun. If it works, it works!
Same story for me. What has really helped is trying to make initiating useful and desirable tasks easier and seeking distractions harder. Bit by bit, cultivating that mindset changes things for the better over time.
The trap is usually "I've figured it out and this new system will solve my life" only to be burned out days or weeks later because this only addresses the symptoms and not that cause.
Cultivating a more friendly environment has been a great help for me. That and taking notes.
I rmemember what truly worked for me, as a chronic case, was a 1 day workweek. Granted I did work normal days, but I only mean things that cost motivation like side projects. On other days I even stopped myself when I started to kid myself about 'doing it'. It made me feel gross but that gross feeling helped when the scheduled day comes.
I stopped doing it for some reason. But I remember it worked. For what it is.
This idea really resonates. Like others have mentioned, there's a unique power to a physical artifact that a digital to-do list just can't replicate. I went down this exact rabbit hole a while back, trying to bridge the gap between my digital planning and physical, actionable "tickets." The setup part can be a bit of a pain, especially getting a printer reliably online and talking to it from different apps and services. This is the exact problem I built Printercow¹ to solve (author here!). It's a small service that lets you turn any thermal printer into a networked API endpoint with a one-line install command on a Raspberry Pi. The idea is to handle all the backend plumbing so you can focus on the fun part—triggering prints from Zapier, a script, or your own app to create a system just like the author's. Happy to answer any questions about the setup!
(¹) https://printercow.com
This looks great! But it says it’s FOSS and that I can host it myself, but the link to GitHub in the docs doesn’t show any repos. Is it somewhere else?
+1 - anybody happen to have a fork?
See also https://github.com/NaitLee/Cat-Printer
There's also a kind of super-cheap Bluetooth "Chinese" thermal receipt printers, also known as "kitty printer" or "cat printer". There's plenty of reverse-engineered software for printing to them in a number of languages; one I use is: https://print.unseen-site.fun/ The disadvantage is they don't cut automatically, and their "cutter teeth" are super crappy. But cheap!
I have a version without cutter teeth at all, what I did was take a piece of the cutter thing from an aluminum foil roll and attach it to the printer. Works perfectly. Looks a little menacing though.
I did my version of this way:
1) 3x5 cards printed on a printer dedicated to this task 2) Command line routine where I can: a) Enter tasks b) Be able to update card by putting in the card number assigned to the task (which also includes a date). c) Be able to reprint a card if needed d) Be able to view the card on the screen (obviously).
Written in bash.
This is not to be clear to do things that are procrastination but rather to be able to keep track various things that I want to get done the next day or other info that I want physically able to view on my physical desktop during the day.
(I hate to handwrite and can type very well so...)
The 3x5 card printout will contact a checkbox where you can just ink check any item.
The routine makes sure that you only type in the correct number of characters per line so it doesn't wrap.
I then modified this to be able to use larger index cards.
Index cards lay flat on the desk (as opposed to a receipt printer).
Important to have a dedicated printer for this taks otherwise to much friction changing paper.
What kind of printer prints 3x5" (or larger) index cards well?
IME most printers struggle with printing thicker cardstock, or non-normal sizes, e.g. trouble with keeping that size paper straight or with bending/feeding.
Is it just a normal-sized printer, or are there special index-card printers?
Brother HL-6200DW (or similar variation). Before that I used another brother printer. When I researched (noting this was years ago) that was the only one that it would work with (may be others now). I had tried on various HP printers but they didn't work. Now you have to be careful how many cards you stack in the manual hopper also it works but not super robust.
I really like your system!
I like this simple model. There's 2 variables:
- pleasure
- achievements
Both reset daily. Both can be changed by each activity.
Well-being is calulated sth like this:
It's weird, but it's how it works. If you did 100 small things it feels like you achieved much more than if you did one big thing.And pleasure experienced is scaled by the pleasure experienced that day so far. Which means if you do 3 things that provided 1, 10, 100 pleasure - you'll experience ~2.8 pleasure, but if you do the same things in reversed order 100, 10, 1 - you'll experience ~1.09.
So ordering the pleasures and splitting the achievements matters A LOT for your well-being.
I completely agree with that perspective
I found this tool helpful with breaking things down to as small steps as you need: https://goblin.tools/
Yes, I know that tool, but the user experience really isn’t great. That’s why I made my own. But thanks for the suggestion :)
Oh, I should have read your article further enough!
Oh, did you procrastinate finishing the article? :)
Yeah, I bookmarked it to read it later! jk :P
Seriously though, I'm going to try your idea with the receipt printer (I didn't need an excuse to buy it, no-no, that's not it, haha) and I'll see if it can help me. Sadly, even games cannot interest me for long enough; the longest I could play a game, recently, is a week, then I abandon it.
I like how the author mentioned typing speed tests as a “warm up” to the day. I frequently find myself going to do a typing speed test when I’m at my desk but unable to work, and have often wondered why I do that and if anyone else does that.
I am glad to see that I am not the only one doing this :)
I do this too. I can tell from my MonkeyType graph which work periods I felt more demoralized or distracted during.
I sometimes procrastinate by firing up a jupyter notebook and making some visualizations of my MonkeyType data.
I had never thought of that, but you are right, it is a solid source of information.
Back at Polyvore we used real post-it notes on a board to track progress. We had a weekly cadence but the tasks were granular enough to be completed in a day or two. Each week we’d peel off and crumble the completed tasks into a bin. It was a really satisfying experience in a way that digital facsimiles can’t quite match.
Totally agree, the tangible aspect cannot be imitated by anything digital.
I've also discovered that breaking down tasks into micro-tasks helps me get going on things. I've found that I get easily overwhelmed if I have a massive list of things to get done, and adding another task to it makes it even worse. However, just nesting tasks into parent tasks and finding the right "child" to place a new task in makes it feel more manageable, and I know that those nested tasks are typically small things that I can accomplish.
I use this system for my projects but I don't rely on any software other than a text editor. I like the app demo shown at the end of the article, but I find custom software never feels fast enough for jotting down tasks in the right place within a hierarchy as compared with a text editor. I just use a markdown file with indented lines to indicate nesting level. Once I complete a task, I put an x within a little box, like "- [x] bug: page layout ..."
It's very satisfying when you have a big task that's a little abstract and overwhelming at the start, but over time gets more and more subtasks as you dig into it, and then those subtasks get closed out one by one, leading you to finally close out the top-level task that started it all. The fact that the text of the subtasks remain also gives a quick indication just how big that task really was. (I don't delete completed tasks, but I do move them somewhere else in the file to keep it organized somewhat.)
I completely relate to what you are saying. I do not use Markdown, but I use Notion because I find it just a little more convenient. But with my software, I am actually trying to reach the same speed as Markdown for advanced users. I have coded dozens of keyboard shortcuts to handle all the actions.
The keyboard shortcuts should help a lot! If you can nail navigation from the keyboard, it'll go a long way to make the UX feel breezy.
I made a corkboard/index cards app for Mac and iOS called Card Buddy and I spent a lot of time working on the keyboard navigation there and it made a huge difference on the feeling of fluidity. For instance, even while you're editing a card, you can navigate to a neighboring cell and start editing it just through the arrow keys. That makes it super fast to jot down lots of notes right away. I noticed a lot of other apps would require you to move the mouse and double-click to edit somewhere else and even that friction makes those apps feel sluggish.
My worry about any new system, todolist, app etc is that when the initial busy of energy wears off I'll be back to square one. The novelty and energy that I have at the start is impossible to maintain, but I need novelty to engage with tasks
I wrote this article precisely because, for once, I found a system that actually sticks. I have been using it every day for six months, whereas other systems would last a week at most.
Having not thought about it at this level, the feedback loop explains why my Bullet Journal works well for me. I can write down any task and break it down to any level of detail without worrying about software, which is nice, and I get a nice little reward when I cross off a bullet. I have used post-its in this way in the past and found that it's more effective than the bullet journal if I need a real kick in the pants. Also I move around a lot between home, office, and work trips. While post-its don't travel well, the phone apps just don't work for me.
When I need to coax my kids (7 and 10) into completing a tedious list of chores, like cleaning their room and playroom, practicing their instruments, and doing their homework, I also reach for the post-its. They each get their own color and we talk through the best way to break things down, arrange them in a backlog on the wall, set a timer, and agree to meet when the timer goes off to review our progress.
I also had good results with bullet journaling, but I had consistency issues. The advantage of the ticket printer is that it is much quicker to print. But I also have the advantage of working from home, so I do not need two separate systems.
Thank you for your very interesting message!
Thermal paper used for receipts is coated with endocrine disruptors. Touching them every day multiple times can decrease your testosterone levels. At least Rhonda Patrick says so: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/isteK4uQhQA
There was a study in Korea that showed it transfers into the body for folks like cashiers who handle them all day (gloves help prevent transfer). Besides lowering testosterone in men, these endocrine disruptors can have lots of other negative side effects.
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/society/20180524/the...
There are receipt paper options that don't have these compounds, but they are uncommon.
I am not a mental health professional. But author may be suffering from mild depression and burnout. Vacation from electronics, online life and doing some of their hobbies would help a lot
I appreciate you caring :)
> Imagine an FPS where you only meet an enemy every 30 minutes. That wouldn't be engaging. The loop must repeat quickly to keep you interested.
False! Plenty of horror games have basically nothing happen most of the time but are very engaging (perhaps even too much so). Alien games are my go to example.
Yeah but how many times you repeat horror games compared to multiplayer esports game where you can play it for years????
most horror game fans I know is treat it as a "one time experience"
that's why most horror games have a shorter game time/playthrough
If you're comparing multiplayer esports shooters, why not compare to multiplayer horror games like Lethal Company or REPO? I love those games and have played them for hours and hours. And these are games where you meet enemies infrequently.
The pre-canned single player horror games like Amnesia or whatever are what you're talking about.
nah bro, lethal company and Repo is game where you meet enemy pretty often lol
how can you say that, also like most horror games this games would feel "dated" after few runs because "horror" aspect is not something you can replicate over and over again
In REPO it can be 10 minutes until you see an enemy, then if you kill it, the respawn timer is like 10 minutes. Towards the end of levels things get much more frantic, but if you're fast you genuinely can do multiple levels without even seeing enemies.
Anyway I agree horror can't be replicated, it's not like I'm scared after I know all of the enemies, what they do, and what affects respawn times.
I feel like you could increase the visceral satisfaction of task completion by getting one of those old desk spikes to spear each task receipt onto when you’re done with it.
Yes, I thought about it, but I was afraid I might hurt myself stupidly one day :p
I can practically guarantee you this'll never happen. They look really scary but never in my life have I heard of an injury on one of those things, and people tend to make all sorts of fantastical injuries in the restaurant industry. It just doesn't happen.
They are terrifying.
My problem is not only procrastination but motivation. Why should I be doing all these tasks? I appreciate having a clean house but having one isn't fulfilling or enjoyable. Am I just a work machine? I want to soar with the eagles not toll with the ants.
the best answer i found was order is nice because it makes me feel more in control and less stressed
Interesting system. There is also a simpler idea, that works well for some people: at the end of each day, leave something simple and easy undone. Use it as a starting point for your work the next day. Doing that simple task gives you the initial momentum to start work the next day.
Very good tip
Great read. I'm sure I have some undiagnosed ADHD and I suffer from getting stuck into to work or executive dysfunction...the tactile effect of pulling the receipt paper down and chucking it in the bin must feel very satisfying.
Kinda like those chefs working the plating section. Order up!
That is exactly the case! It gives me the feeling that my "digital" work becomes "real".
I've implemented something similar (but digital-only) which has been working for me lately. I have a script running continuously that monitors my Obsidian files for new due tasks, and whenever it detects one due today, it sends it to my notifications server. Now I have a notification for each thing I need to do today, which I keep up on my device(s) until I've completed the task, and then I clear it.
I am a compulsive notification-clearer so this mostly works for me. But I also have a receipt printer and have thought about doing something like this before, so I appreciated the ideas in the article! Maybe I'll rip up some scrap paper and try it that way (or just send the tasks to my printer instead of my notifications server, haha).
I am glad I was able to inspire you. A paper task is even harder to forget than a notification :P
Unless I stuff the note in my pocket and promptly forget it, but my phone/computer is always nearby :) Maybe the notifications are best for things I have to do out in the real world and the paper is better for sitting and doing things in one place.
I learned how to gamify work tasks from my mom.
She worked as a librarian in the seventies. Tasks like restacking books was not fun, so she turned it into a game. Her coworkers, on the other hand, drew out the boring tasks as long as possible. When it came time to pick someone for advancement, they chose my mom, because she was more productive at the menial tasks.
I also use post-it notes, but if I used them for everything, I don't think it would work for me. The reward is in pulling down the note and setting the wall cleaner. But if I were to add notes every day, I have a feeling the effect would be disheartening. Similarly, I love getting the living are clean, but when kids/family make a mess again within hours, I'm less incentivized.
That is why I use a ticket printer, to make sure I can start fresh every day without having to spend dozens of minutes creating my post-its by hand.
> A simple solution is breaking tasks into smaller parts. Let's take an example everyone can relate to: cleaning the house.
Cleaning the house is fundamentally boring. It doesn't matter how many parts you split it into lexically — it's just inherently boring.
I try to frame it as meditative. I can think about other stuff while I wash dishes. It can be a nice break from work, while actually being less boring than a normal break because you still have something to do.
Cleaning the entire house is first and foremost a gigantic task that many people tend to procrastinate. Cleaning your desk, on the other hand, is quick to do and much less likely to be put off.
I made a strict rule years ago that I only listen to my favourite podcast while cleaning. This works for me surprisingly well.
Congrats. Finding your flow is quite the journey for some people. Glad it worked out for you.
My flow is the right kind of coffee. It energizes and allocates. The lavazza espresso 100% arabica is the current that works. Try it out!
I reply to your comment with coffee in hand :)
Oh, thank you for the reminder, a kind stranger! I should go and treat myself with some coffee.
I like the overall idea and glad it helped. OP, how do you feel about the waste produced by this? I would personally feel guilty to a good extent—curious to know how that goes for you.
Same here. Going through dozens of post-its feels super wasteful. Even more so the dozens of thermal printers that will be ordered as a result of this post, and might end up gathering dust on someone's attic in two weeks.
Ultimately there's going to be a lot of repetition. Many of these tasks are going to be the same. I'm wondering if there's a variant of this system that involves reusable kanban tickets.
I just re-implemented your interface for managing tasks:
https://rafalkwasny.com/tasks
Prints on A4 page as I like it better
Get married, make a couple of children and a lot of life issues go away — you'll always have something to actually get done ASAP instead of just staring at a todo list and wandering around.
then you have more life issues ;-)
Coming to this a day late, but what immediately jumped to mind was David Seah's "Task Order Up" https://davidseah.com/node/the-task-order-up/ system.
My biggest concern (besides "following through with this? hollow laugh") is when you're not always working in the same place - either hybrid or going to customer sites.
I like it! For me, I can confirm that the smaller the task, the less likely it is for me to procrastinate on it. I also didn't know that receipt printers don't need ink, that's cool. On a similar note: me and my partner recently also started using an app that divides up the household chores into small tasks and schedules them for us (e.g. "today you have to vacuum the living room"). For us, this prevents conflicts and also frees the mind of having to keep track of those things.
Thanks for your comment! I have the same question as hyperific — which app are you using?
https://sweepy.com/
There is also one that is called "tody" that we didn't try out. Both require a small subscription fee though, which I really dislike. I wish I had found a nice open source alternative. Besides the subscription fee (which was like 18€/year for us both), I have no complaints yet about the app.
Thanks for your answer!
What app are you using?
See my answer on the sibling comment.
For creative tasks this won’t work, the issue is with the many branching direction and dependencies each new idea creates that affects the system. I’m having great difficulty with this
I am a developer and I actually struggle with this myself. That is why I use the app I showed in the video in the article. When I get stuck on a task, I break it down into smaller tasks. But at first, I only write basic logical steps. I do not try to plan my whole day in advance because that usually leads to failure.
And if something is really hard to plan ahead, like doing research, I can create 5 minute tickets.
Yeah I do the time “ticket” concept for this, I create a timer. But I do have hard time jumping to create these tasks.
To me I sometimes see past these patches for my problem, which is a pain threshold that I need to resist running away from when facing a complicated problem, and why is there pain at all? It all becomes a math equation where you have a better thing to do vs the one you are doing and how to rework your mind to calculate it differently
Not bad. I have a stack of unused index cards. I just tried writing down some recurring household chores, one per card, with some instructions below the title. I'm now thinking of hanging two boxes -- todo, and done -- in the hallway, so that I can just pick up a task, complete it and then move the card from "todo" to "done". I suspect the wife will have no trouble moving the full stack from "done" to "todo" at the end of each week.
Ah, the idea of the two boxes is super interesting!
Your wife will have the easiest and most satisfying task :p
I've found that having tasks last 10 minutes is an activation energy economizer (with option to extend 2x10 or 3x10 if in flow). It also simplifies the overhead of deciding how long something should take. I think the key takeaway from it all is that one would benefit most from iterating on their system of choice, keeping what works and carrying it forward, instead of doing impassioned rip-ups or switching to entirely new systems frequently
I totally agree with you!
> Modern games provide much stronger feedback. Now, when you hit an enemy, you might see:
> the crosshair briefly changes to confirm the hit, damage numbers pop up above the enemy, sound effects, enemy death animations, a progress bar filling up, a new skill unlocked, random reward and more...
I wonder if we can gamify todo apps in the same way, most are too boring and too corporate. It should implement all gaming bells and whistles for ensuring you complete your tasks.
Habitica. "Destructomatic" paper tracker: https://davidseah.com/2005/11/task-progress-destruct-o-matic...
It is coming along more and more. But I think the core is being able to handle a lot more tasks, and therefore being able to easily break them down into smaller ones. That is really the heart of the game loop.
I am working on an app!
I'm going to try and see if this works better for me. The daily printout of "things that need to happen today" is a fun idea, especially if I could keep it by my bed and have it print off when my alarm goes off.
Are there any receipt-style printers that can directly print some kind of sticky note? I feel like that would be even more useful since you don't have to keep pins around, though I can see the running cost getting a lot higher
Many short order restaurant kitchens use an overhead bar you can clip orders into. Should work just as well for these tasks.
Amazon search for ‘restaurant ticket holder’ reveals many options for under $20
Plus you could get one of those long pokey sticks and stab the finished tasks on it. Seems satisfying.
Yes, very good idea!
>directly print some kind of sticky note
It must exist. I noticed at McDonalds (in Denmark), that each item on the tray has a printed label attached that peels off easily, almost like a sticky note.
As uxamanda said, you can use shipping label printers.
Personally, with receipt-style tickets, I print them and make a small stack. I usually go through them in the same order.
But I can also use a small clip.
I would be worried that shipping labels might be a bit too sticky haha. I'll shop around and see what my options are
Oh yeah, I don’t think you’ll be able to remove them. If you’re referring to the photo I included in the article, it’s actually just not a good idea. I only stuck the tickets on a vertical surface to get a good photo.
sticking the shipping label to a sticky note might be the quickest solution
Yes, you can get one that prints shipping labels
> The rule is simple: the more you procrastinate on a task, the more you should break it down into micro-tasks, even ones that take just 2 to 5 minutes in extreme cases.
This breakup alone could allow someone who can procrastinate on something big but doesn't like to be burdened by many tasks the shortcut, without further gamification, of performing some micro-tasks either to reduce the queue or to "procrastinate" on the rest.
The analogy to video games and the need for fast, tangible feedback really lands for me. But I do wonder how sustainable is the receipt printer setup? The novelty and fun factor are real, but do you think you’d still get the same motivation after six months, or will it just become another background habit? (Not that "good habits" are bad, of course)
I have been TickTick for daily-habit tracking for years now. It has a monthly GitHub-like graph widget for phones which is amazing for feedback. I also use TickTick for misc. task-tracking like "laundry", "buy apple", etc.
Then for non-recurring areas like job-tasks, I use a separate tool with a simple Kanban board. Prior to Kanban, I used to just track time, and write a list of things I did for the day, but I realized there was no feedback and it was just a passive "I did this stuff".
So coming from that, a Kanban board has been god-sent. Because otherwise Parkinson's Law was a common occurrence for me. Each task in the board is somewhat tied to a project/outcome through a tag. So there is a feedback/working-backwards/active concept to it. I have just started using it, but the more I use it, the more I automatically learn how to set better tasks, because otherwise they do not go from TODO -> DOING -> DONE.
Oh this sounds amazing! This reminds me of a todo list app some indie dev has been running for years which has a ton of configuration parameters based on various psychological models for productivity. There were options for gamification, Getting Things Done, task breakdown. It was kind of expensive. Does anybody remember the name of this software? I’ve been trying to remember for a while.
Amazing Marvin maybe? https://amazingmarvin.com/
I think this is it, thank you!!
I think most competent games innately flashes you your progress constantly(levels, maps, story progress, upgrades) and also how easy you can start making progress after you started playing. This system is exactly doing that with the see through jar of finished micro sub tasks. In theory you can create your own “easy progress” flasher system that is tailored to you and would achieve this.
Get on it lol
This is immediately one of my favourite articles of all-time. It's well-written, visually appealing, and the subject matter is absolutely down my alley. I might actually just buy one and try this out.
I absolutely love how you show and tell, by having an article with an EXP system. But when do I get skill unlocks? I'm really hoping to be able to enjoy your next article with upgrades.
Thank you for your comment, it really means a lot to me! I put so much time (and heart) into making it that a comment like yours is the best reward I could ask for.
Haha, I’m planning to make a real mini-game for an upcoming article!
> Write each task on a sticky note. When you finish the task, crumple the note into a ball and throw it into a clear jar.
I independently stumbled upon this same system. It sounds like the author takes it further than me (I don't create notes for routine/repeating tasks, and don't break them down so much—in a typical day I only complete around 2-3 notes).
I've used sticky notes for years, but ~6 months ago added the jar (prior to that I just recycled them). It helps to have a visual reminder that I'm making progress over the long term, even if it doesn't feel like it some days.
My current jar is just about full and I've been debating what to do with it. Save it as desk art? Find a bigger jar and transfer the notes? Burn them in a cathartic ritual? I'm open to suggestions.
My gf and I are the stereotypical software nerd meets astrology girlie (but doesn't take it too far). She likes to do rituals every so often and I've found that it does create a moment of reflection that you can use however you like. The last time we were camping she told me she wanted to do one so I bought some of that fire color changing powder (mostly just fine metal shavings of various types) and then glued a bit of that on some paper and made sort of a paper packet and then I had the whole group write on a packet something they wanted to let go of and then we all tossed them into the fire at the same time and the fire changed colors. It was pretty magical and I scored a lot of brownie points! So you could sprinkle some of that into your jar and just toss a handleful into the fire and watch the magic of your productivity ascend to the heavens. Or, you know, just watch physics at work.
Thermal printer paper is known to be a source of BPAs making this a potentially harmful way to produce hard copies of your todo list entries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_printer#Health_concern...
Bisphenol-free paper does exist, you just need to make sure you are using the right kind.
Having a to-do app that really pushes you to break down tasks into tiny pieces actually sounds really nice. I think that's the biggest takeaway for me here. The receipt print might seem a bit extra, but there's also something nice about having a physical motion to finish tasks while also not having to write everything out by hand. I dunno, writing doesn't actually take a long time. The post-its do feel a bit wasteful though, because they're so expensive.
For me, the keys are:
Break down tasks into micro-tasks. Doesn’t have to be written down.
Get my body involved. Take handwritten notes when reading.
Create micro-deadlines. Have short meetings with colleagues to share progress.
Inject mini-rewards. Do one 20-minute task. Then watch one music video on YouTube.
I could see room for a productivity app that smoothed out this workflow.
Yes, but it is very difficult because in the end we all have slightly different workflows. But I have a few interesting ideas that I hope people will like soon :)
Is there a name for organizing things based on bite-size? I have something similar system for myself but literally use a text file with dashes. I tried workflowy and other tools but I keep coming down to using text files because of how fast it helps me to offload memory on a scratchpad.
Task chunking, task breakdown. I could not find any app for that, and that is exactly why I created my own software, which I hope to release soon.
Thank you for sharing, this is a very useful article. I believe I have procrastination; many times I prefer to put things off and don't want to do them until it's absolutely necessary. After reading this article, I think I should try to change this.
I've wanted a receipt printer for years just for giggles, after doing some custom integrations with them in medical labs. It turns out F**book marketplace in my area has some for movie night prices, just in case someone else is thinking along the same lines..
Good tip
People are intimidated by large tasks because they're thinking about the entire task all at once. This blog post points out the key element which is that you have to think about small easy tasks instead. Once you move your focus to small easy sub-tasks, it becomes much easier to start doing them because it's not hard.
The truth of the matter (especially with ADHD or HFA people) is that once you even start doing a small sub-task, you then quickly become addicted to or motivated to getting more and more of it done, and before you know it, you've gotten many sub-tasks done or even accomplished a large task you'd been procrastinating about.
I used to sit in front of my task list and just stare at it. Then I tried the author’s approach and broke everything down into tiny game-like tasks. I printed each one on a little receipt printer. Every time I finished one, it felt like taking down a small boss, tear it off, and toss it. Suddenly the task list felt way less intimidating and much more efficient. Surprisingly, the ritual worked. I was able to stick to it and even started to get a small sense of accomplishment every day. Definitely more productive than my old habit of tackling huge chunks at once.
A colleague shared her productivity tool: Sticky Notes. She has them on her screen with the more immediate items listed on a sticky on the top right side of her screen. The one on its left has higher level / bigger items, and so on (a decimal system?). Her focus is on clearing out the top right one, and disassembling the higher level ones towards the right.
Postscript: Installing it on my laptop needed going through some IT bureaucracy. And my #1 procrastination creator is filling out forms. Guess they'll just keep paying me the same for less work.
The problem with methods like this is that there is no priority and rewards you for doing tasks that don’t actually matter. It’s better to do one really important thing per day than 10 meaningless tasks.
Perhaps for some, but the entire point of the article was about building momentum. She didn't talk much about the bigger tasks, but frequently alluded to getting more "real work" done. If you find yourself never getting thoae bigger tasks with this method, then yeah you've got to keep thinking, but that doesn't make it a "problem".
I am going to try this, usually Emacs and org mode helps me get things done.
I have been procrastinating for a very long time about trying Emacs :P
How is this printer idea any different than a simple to do list?
To break down tasks one can simply indent a list.
A to do list gives feedback every time you cross an item of the list.
Sticky notes and printers seem like exaggerated form of a todo list.
I already replied to part of this in another message, which I am reposting here:
It makes the task tangible. You will have a much harder time ignoring your tasks if they are physically on your desk. Tearing up the ticket and putting it in a transparent jar adds an extra layer of satisfaction.
You are right, crossing off an item on your to-do list is a form of feedback. But having it on paper and throwing the paper into a transparent jar makes the feedback even stronger. If you look at the first part of my article, modern video games strengthen feedback loops much more than they used to.
As for list indentation, it may work well for many people, but not for me. I deal with very large and complex lists, with many levels. If I use one single indented list, I end up with a task list that is too long to be pleasant or practical to use.
As far as I understood, the point is the physical feedback from crumbling the paper.
If games work, why not gamify your idea? The printer and paper approach doesn't work well for people on the move. We need a pure online version that's accessible from everywhere: home, office, customer sites, vacation spots, and during commutes. Even better: add a voice interface too.
"Hey assistant, what do I have to do?"
"1. Send email to Bob"
"2. Clean your desktop"
"3. Read paper XYZ"
"...and more"
"OK assistant, set 1 as done"
"Congratulations, great job! You achieved the bronze badge this week by completing 70% of your tasks!"
I've been thinking gamification of my daily chores too and this article pops up! Amid health concerns of receipts, I think I'm gonna try this with just sticky notes and a jar. But how about making this a platform on its own, that just runs on a secondary monitor (I think everyone has one of those nowadays anyway). The idea is to just make this a GAME. For example, various stats of a player can be shown, history of every achievement, goals, chapters etc. Great article by the way!
Thanks for the tip. I struggle with my procrastination all the time. I use software like OmniFocus to breakdown my tasks and merge them into the projects, yet it never occurred to me to use the receipt printer for that. And your idea of using the jar for completed tasks is really nice.
Have you ever thought of assigning priorities to your tasks (like Eisenhower matrix or Franklin-Covey)?
I'm surprised nobody mentioned that these paper tickets have BPAs: Beat Procrastination Abilities.
On a serious note, the article so cool and well written. I appreciate demonstrating the gamification effect right on the page. When I finally get a receipt printer for tasks, I hope to implement timed reminders that print throughout the day.
And to be clear, I don't mean yet-another-source-of-notification-overload, I mean things like "Go eat lunch." Maybe some can relate to how helpful and delightful that might be :D
Social media, YouTube and television before them shows us that people don't need feedback in order to stay glued. You can drop the back and just give them a feed.
Every image is feedback. Scrolling Instagram or Facebook gives you constant feedback.
Feedback is a response to an input. Okay, sure, clicking the remote to turn on a TV and selecting a channel is input. So, by a stretch, we can call the four hour binge a kind of feedback generated by two button clicks.
Sometimes people get glued by a screen that they did not turn on; is that still feedback? E.g. kids watching a screen in some waiting room at a children's dentist.
I think we can talk about feedback without input, yes. The reality of feedback is actually very broad. If we just look at the world of video games, and consider all the different types that exist, there is a wide variety of feedback, some more or less tied to input. In some cases, like narrative games, the feedback is much less connected to the input than in a fast-paced FPS, for example.
I think that the consumption of streams is not entirely passive; there is an internal feedback. The stream itself is not part of the feedback loop.
E.g. suppose the subject is watching a game show. They get internally involved, within their mind, by trying to guess an answer before the contestant does and then fist pump when they get it. When watching a crime story, they try to guess whodunit. That sort of thing.
There can definitely be a sense of working toward a reward.
> The only way I could get things done was by relying on stress, coming from clients or financial pressure. That worked for a while, but it cost me my health (I burned out)
I’ve seen this called something like “using your adrenaline as adderall”
https://www.reddit.com/r/adhdwomen/comments/1ifdwwn/youve_be...
Any recommendation for a good thermal printer that works with macOS? This thread gave me a few ideas that I might hyper fixate on and then forget about in the span of a day or two.
Epson TM-T20III is the entry-level model from Epson
I’ll see if I can find it here (Brazil). Thanks!
Nice piece. You and I (and I know many others) have come to the same conclusion: (an old video of mine on breaking down tasks into tiny bites https://youtu.be/b3blsuTqN9s?si=W373y92JzDfHIDvS). No doubt informed by our good friend David Allen.
Ps, I linked to your article in my newsletter this week. Hope it sends some visits!
I had a similar experience when I decided to use a pencil and paper, along with a few simple rules, to manage my to-do lists. This method worked so well for me that I started thinking about the reason for its success. These are my conclusions:
- It was MY method
- It was simple enough to fit entirely within one piece of thought
- It provided a clean feedback loop when I could strikeout the completed task
- I like handwriting
So it relied on things that my brain finds pleasurable
An A5 squared spiral notebook and a 4-colour pen was perfect for me. Spirals help as a lefty. They also allow to cleanly detach a page.
There's a lot of freedom with this. It can serve a much more than just writing boring task names.
If it is just chores, gamifying it with a receipt printer would be just fine. But these are just such minor stuff compared to the real challenges of life.
The idea is precisely to use our daily tasks to build momentum for the more difficult ones.
> I plan to release my software publicly in the coming weeks. You can subscribe to my newsletter to get notified when it's available.
i think a fun challenge for any new vibecode tool youve heard of but havent tried is to just make this. it cant be that hard... (famous last words)
100% lost me at “typing warmup and shortcut practice”. Thx for validating the old “if you know one person with ___, you know one person with ___.”
Great article and great system.
A little out of scope since the article wasn’t about the finer points of ADHD but I’ve always wondered if we’re being disingenuously hard on ourselves by labeling it a disorder.
So many people show the symptoms and they’ve only gotten worse as the world has become more complicated that it seems less like a problem with the individual and more like an natural effect of putting what are essentially still caveman brains in a world of flashing lights, vibrating phones and notification noises.
Your remark is very interesting. I was recently thinking that ADHD is kind of like an allergy to the modern world.
Agree with both. I’m undiagnosed and slowly wondering if I have it the more I see exact language matchups to what feels to be a very hard to describe experience.
Puts me in a tricky spot as I experience similar descriptions of the problems, and I deeply resonated with deliberately seeking out stress as a fix, which I realized worked over time. I have specifically done this.
That said, that’s an unhealthy approach via playing with fire (missed deadliness, etc) and the over time negative impacts of stress.
That said, I am firmly in the camp that some or a lot of modern ADHD is caveperson brain finally DDoS’ing itself via too much info throughput. We hit a max ingest limit sometime in 2013, and it never got better. Some folks loose their mind very publicly online, others live and die in tech jobs via if they can manage tabs and attention properly. Not a bad outcome vs worst case, if the latter is my case.
So where does that leave me - I go on modern era drugs with what seems to be life-long requirement bc of modern era tech decisions I never agreed to? This seems wrong in 10 different directions. To start if I can barely maintain control over what goes into my mind and attention for reasons I didn’t agree to but must adapt to, at least I can control if I put new problems, fixing other problems, into my body.
So… needless to say receipts sound like a cool method to test. At least it was nice to see others discuss the exact buzzwords I think to myself - I can pay attention there, but god f’ing dang it why can’t I do it over here?
I've always been a list maker. It feels good to put a check mark next to a finished item. I once read an article declaring that list making can turn into a form of bondage. I thought this might have value, so I quit making lists. This was a mistake, because without the list I had problems prioritizing tasks. (And I'm a little forgetful.) Things get done when I list.
this sticky notes method likely works well when it comes to breaking down tasks into small pieces. I struggle on that sometimes but I think I struggle more when the task is inherently boring like exercise with long (boring) rest periods or the outcome is uncertain, like working on software with no users. In this case I think I would procrastinate on making the sticky notes too
Let me give you a concrete example. I have one ticket per exercise I need to do. A 20 minute workout session equals about 4 to 6 tickets.
It is easier to get started when the task is very small.
But I also used to procrastinate a lot with post-its. That is why the ticket printer is the perfect solution for me.
got hit hard by that jar thing. just plain receipts piling up. no fancy tracking, no filters, it's not even a todo list, it's a physical backlog you can't mute. stack grows, pressure builds. brain stops negotiating. most tools hide your mess with tabs and swipes. this one prints your laziness and puts it in a jar. that's brutal. that's honest.
And it works :) Thank you for your comment
I just tried bite sized task post it notes. It’s incredible. The gamification is like the notice boards in the Witcher 3.
It’s such a great idea. I have a giant metal whiteboard I’ve been using for post-it’s for a few years, I am always having to move them around because they are at “project” granularity, and things get recaregorized or reprioritized, to the point that it’s mostly useless. Going to try this!
Appreciate the quest indicator on the article :-)
Ah! Thanks for pointing it out.
Haha thanks!
> If later in the day you notice you're starting to procrastinate, immediately return to the system.
This is by far the most insightful advice backed by actual research.
Recognizing a deviation in your desired behavior and having a prepared fallback plan for how to get back on track.
Could be as simple as - if I catch myself scrolling on the phone I will put the phone down and standup.
This reminded me a bit of a little Vision Pro demo someone made where you can pick up digital coins by vacuuming your house.
First some feedback (I see the author is interested), and then a personal take on how I deal with this stuff.
As someone who has spent decades procrastinating, reading about systems to get things done, trying many of them, working with coaches and mentors, and teaching project management, I like to think have a cultivated interest in the topic. I’m very happy that the author found something that works for them. I’m not a gamer, so I didn’t find the comparison particularly relatable. What I did find relatable was the point about getting the dopamine hit (I know that’s debated, but let’s use it as a metaphor) off crumpling up the paper and throwing it away. That’s something I always found gratifying about a physical board full of sticky notes, and it’s just not as rewarding to mark a ticket done in Jira.
In my personal experience of ADD, novelty is a major motivator. A system like this has the appeal of all sorts of new sources of stimulation - physical objects, a new electronic toy, software to write, etc. The problem is that once that wears off, if I’m only doing it for the novelty, I won’t stick with it. I need to engage some of the other sources of motivation (interest, challenge, urgency).
Also, I would love to see someone write an article like this where they keep it entirely in the first person. In other words, focus on “my experience” and “I do this” and “this works for me”. I experience a sort of automatic pushback when I read things like “this will help you” or “you need to”. It may be linked to demand avoidance, or just my belief that there is not a single productivity system or hack that works for everyone. “You need to” try things out, reflect on your own personal struggles, and tailor the solutions to fit. Also, I’m not sure if I would ever call it a cure.
Something I’ve found very helpful is an app called Llama Life. It is not free, so stop reading if that’s a deal breaker. I think of it as kind of a pomodoro timer that someone cleverly fixed for me. I find pomodoros appealing, but they never worked for me. With Llama Life, I stack up what I plan to do for the day along with a guess at how long each task will take. The first benefit this has is that I know what I’m meant to be working on. And when the timer goes off, if I’m not done, I can snooze or extend it, or cut my losses and move on. The other thing I like is that it shows me the total amount of time I’ve allocated, and when each item ends. This helps me to avoid overcommitting: when I look at the end time and see 9:30 at night, I’m forced to reevaluate and cut some things. Anyway, I’m a happy customer.
Super cool idea !! Todo list tend to be kinda overwelming, because cross out an item leave it on the list. I tried to do a todolist (on a text editor) and just delete the element when it's done, but it's far less satysfing than juste throwing it in a glass
I love this! definitely inspired, I'm quite good at using a journal but there's a lot I lose track of
Yes, same here. I also struggle to stay consistent with a journal.
love the receipt printer idea I'm looking into it now
Great article, Laurie. Can you provide more technical details on the software you used to send tasks to print?
Thank you :)
It is a piece of software I developed myself using Tauri. The only major difficulty is that you need to send a specific format to these printers. But there are plenty of libraries that make it fairly easy to do.
That BPA/analog ink is going to do your health no good. Estrogen-mimickers are not exactly your friend.
I do not use tickets with bisphenol (it is banned in Europe).
Will estrogen-mimickers help with my MtF transition?
Not a good idea. Use real estrogenic agents. Mimickers don't even function like estrogen. Mimickers block function.
I haven’t finished reading this yet, but the rewards bar at the bottom of the site is a really cool touch.
Thank you :)
Your blog reminded me of “Linear RPG”: you run along a line to collect XP. It’s a flash game.
https://sophiehoulden.com/games/thelinearrpg/
This is a great, simple breakdown of how to improve motivation. I would love to have this at home!
Try the method using just post-it notes and see if it works for you :)
Won't comment on the procrastination aspect (if it works for her, that's great), but handling thermal receipt paper a lot is unhealthy according to some. I would want to use a plain-paper impact printer despite the noise that they make.
Okay why not…
One part that is not addressed is procrastination because of tasks that are scary.
I think I have fairly low levels of anxiety in general, but there are things I know I need to do but I’d just rather ignore them because they somehow terrify me.
Things like “call someone to negotiate a price”, or “find a holiday place to rent when I know it’s already too late”, or “reverse-engineer what this giant pile of untested legacy code does, rebuild it in something else, and make sure everything works like before”.
I am 100% sure I’d rather let the receipt printer take a day off than tackling any of these.
Seriously. I'm so jealous of people who only need to do things that are so tractable that splitting them creates a series of microtasks that are all easy, rather than a series of distracting trivialities that mean nothing without actually accomplishing the one thing that I really don't want to do.
You lost me at preparing the notes the night before. Yeah, that will definitely happen.
That’s really clever. I have never thought of a thermal printer before to spam out tasks.
Thank you :)
does anyone know how i get a bluetooth reciept printer (STAR TSP100iiiBI) to register as a default print device in android (12)? presumably i have to install something that bridges the ip address request in default printer settings with transmitting to the bluetooth device...
This is my first comment. I felt compelled to write. As a person with ADHD your article is too long. But thanks for motivating me to get on hacker news
I do something like this, but use notes in Evernote. Making them physical objects wouldn't add anything for me personally. (My wife loves writing down and crossing out to-dos on paper though. To each their own.)
Pretty cool. It’s interesting to see how the receipt printer evolved from your post-it system.
One suggestion- mention the printer earlier in the post. It took so long to get around to it that I started wondering if the link was wrong.
Thanks for taking the time to read and give me feedback!
I wrote 12 different versions to try to be shorter, but I was losing way too much information that I thought was important to understand why this method works.
something that I did some time ago, if the printer is able to print images, you can generate an HTML page, screenshot it and than print it. The print will be much better and you can play with a lot more things
Yes, it is possible, but if you print directly from the browser, you cannot tell the printer when to cut.
In my case, I generate multiple images and tell the printer when to cut. I also have another version without images. The difference between the two is that the version without images is two to three times faster to print.
How is this printer system any different than keeping a simple do to list??
It makes the task tangible. You will have a much harder time ignoring your tasks if they are physically on your desk. Tearing up the ticket and putting it in a transparent jar adds an extra layer of satisfaction.
I write individual tasks (or steps of larger tasks) on index cards. When a task is done, I stick the index card on a receipt spike.I limit WIP myself to 3 index cards at a time.
Procrastination never really gets cured. It just gets put off til later.
Procrastination is a good thing. Never put it off until tomorrow.
Hook the receipt printer up to an LLM and the takeover is complete.
I will do it ;)
THAT SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING THAT COULD WORK. Does anyone have an idea or know of a 100% digital alternative? I work in different locations, so using a printer isn't an option
I am working on my app to break tasks down into smaller tasks (you can see it in the video at the end of the article). I think I will release it in the next few weeks :)
Does anybody else feel like he has invented pomodoros and todo.txt
I am the author, and thank you for your comment!
What I am talking about is really very different from the Pomodoro method. That method uses 25-minute sessions, while I am talking about micro-tasks of 2 to 5 minutes printed on receipt tickets.
As for todo.txt, I mentioned in the article that this kind of tool with a hierarchy does not work for me at all, given the massive number of tasks I have. And I proposed a more interesting and truly innovative solution in response to that :)
I accidentally found an effective speedup tracking tasks to be done. Normally we make Github issues and Pull-requests to fix them with long descriptions in both.
Instead made a single issue with a table and each row having an emoji, item title, and when complete link to the fix. As new items were identified I added a row with emoji for 'not started'. Had emoji's were 'under construction', 'already done above', 'not needed', etc. This snowballed with me completing one item per day over 30 days until it was all done. I'm called it EDD Emoji-Driven-Development.
Hi Laurie, reading your article, I'm wondering to myself, maybe I should copy this, and add a Duolingo aspect to it, the first feature I can think of is a button (near the printer, or a virtual one on the app) that is basically "Give me a random task". Duolingo also has lessons (where the learner has to complete several questions), and maybe a "lesson" can be a big task, that encompasses its subtasks.
Taskwarrior maybe?
In Sleek (todo.txt for linux) I can have multiple txt with multiple context inside.
On the other hand, I don't think pomodoros are strictly 25 minute sessions. I can setup any structure in my pomodoro app of choice Solanum and chain sessions.
Yeah but why do we all have a huge unplayed Steam backlog? ;)
Because we are all hooked on a few games that have a better gameplay loop and tons of feedback, with a touch of random and intermittent rewards :)
You just need to switch of job, if you don’t feel rewarded when doing it then it’s just not the right fit for you. And even then, something fun can become boring later on.
I know electricians for instance who love doing their stuff, so they have no issue in being motivated, while they were a mess in their previous work field.
And vice versa.
It’s not always possible of course, but the solution is not to ‘gameify’ your life, it will only work for a little while before getting bored of it.
And for the « home » task, I believe it’s more of a routine. If you know every Saturday morning will be to clean the whole house, you just do it without thinking much.
I think it's great that you don't have executive dysfunction. That's not the case for me, and obviously not for the author.
If you've never had your dream job yet still wasn't able to do shit, you don't have to crack down on other people's attempts to become functioning members of society.
I do have issue tho, that’s the reason I’m saying that. I can’t concentrate at all on something that isn’t interesting to me to the point where I needed 4 hours to learn basic trigonometric algorithms when I was a kid.
Call it adhd or something else, my point is that doing something interesting is 99% of the solution.
It’s like poker, when you got a bad hand you deal with it. Play on your qualities, not on your flaws.
This is like telling a depressed person to just be happy
I believe it would be closer to saying to find what he likes to do and change his life so that he replaces what he doesn’t like with what he likes.
That’s problem solving.
Has anyone tried using an LLM to tackle procrastination?
My problem is that when I use an LLM to break a task into smaller steps, it is often not exactly how I would have done it. But maybe that is because in my line of work, it is difficult to feed all the right parameters into the system for an effective breakdown.
I thought receipt paper is pretty bad due to BPA ?
Very interesting writeup OP!! This sounds like something definitely worth giving a try.
“actional tasks” but the printer is kind of fun. You need a “manager” / planner / architect in order to create those tasks though.
Clarity is key
Don't these thermal paper give you cancer?
Very interesting writeup OP!! This sounds like something definitely worth trying!!
I've never understood why people have "work procrastination" problems. I've never had to play games to get myself to do work. You're paid to do a job, so do the job. Is this a generational thing and is it really that big of a problem?
I've worked remotely since 2016-ish and still can't comprehend why this is an issue.
Not everyone's wired the same. A close family member was diagnosed with ADHD and he describes his battles with procrastination as if there was a glass wall stopping him from doing whatever he was meant to be doing. So easy for someone else to say "what's the big deal? Just do it!".
I understand ADHD and mental illness can make this extremely difficult, if not possible. You make a good point.
The type of procrastination I was referring to wasn't related to that. It was related to the idea of work being more optional than required and seems much more prevalent that\n the % of the population that struggles with the above.
This gives me strong Scrum vibes.
I am going to create a certification! :P
What does it say about me that I stopped reading the article to play with the progress bar down at the bottom right?... And now I'm writing this comment before finishing the article.
That says a lot about you, unfortunately :P But hey, who cares, you killed a dragon!
Easiest achievement hunting I've ever done!
The progress bar along the bottom of the page (in mobile at least) is fun
> It's harder to procrastinate on something physically in front of you.
Oh you sweet summer child.
OMG its so long. I'll read it later
Literal tickets.
I opened this is another tab and will now procrastinate to read it for a few weeks.
happen to have a receipt printer sitting right next to me. gonna try this
So she turned herself into an automaton.
I need it NOW for me and for me company
I'm working on it! :)
> Why can I focus for hours on a game but procrastinate when writing an email?
OK I got a bit triggered by this sentence. Not at TFA, but sharing my own experience: Games are fun. And I don't mean Type 1 vs Type 2 fun and the email is somehow type 2 fun. I mean that the stimulation / "hit" from a game is just higher than 90-99%% of work tasks (writing a new CLI or optimizer excluded!!). We pile on much stimulation to the work to get it to hit harder: Working by others (social/peer), snacks (biological rewards), free caffeine, money (sometimes lots), etc. And physical trinkets.
We have studied this to death in other parts of our own biology, like food. Unhealthy food/drink is fun. It's a pleasurable reward sometimes, but if it forms the basis for your diet you are going to have a lot of trouble enjoying healthy stuff. You can't outrun a bad diet. You can't add a kale salad after a bowl of ice cream and expect your insulin levels to go down. You have to treat the underlying problem: A hugely stimulating / rewarding thing is displacing the healthy stuff. Almost every piece of sane health advice after 1900 has focused on removing unhealthy factors first.
Work/hobby is no different. When I'm obsessed with factorio (it happened a lot once or twice), I find it harder to focus on work. When I "fast" from those "treats", work takes on new enjoy-ability. Dopamine diet is probably the wrong technical term, but it nails the practical effects well.
I'm sure phones are just as stimulating for some. We all have our vices.
> I'm sure phones are just as stimulating for some.
This is one of my big objections do 2FA. My work has been pushing it hard, and from a security perspective, I get it. However, it’s all via an Authenticator app on the phone. We can no longer set down our phones and simply work. To start working, and periodically throughout the day, we are now forced to pickup our phones to authenticate. This invites the chance to see other notifications, check and app quickly, or more generally, break flow as we have to switch to another device and back again.
All of this seems like a suboptimal solution.
You should try a CLI-based workflow for 2FA. As long as you can exfiltrate the secret (and you often can by pretending you can't scan QR codes), then you can use oathtool to generate passcodes.
1. use 'pass' to save the secret: 'pass edit work.secret' <enter it and quit>
2. use oathtool to generate 2fa given a secret:
' #!/bin/bash
oathtool -b --totp "`pass show $1.secret`" >&1 '
use it like '2fa work'
If you have 'xsel' you can even do
'oathtool -b --totp "`pass show $1.secret`" | xsel -ib'
to copy it to clipboard automatically.
Even if you only have the QR code, you can download the image or screenshot it and then extract the secret without ever having to use a smartphone by using zbarimg and then manually extracting the secret from the URI:
Output: If you have some 2FA that you need to enter 10 times per day, then you can also add a global shortcut to automatically paste it. Of course, this undermines the "second device" security. Some PC password managers also support 2FA, e.g. https://github.com/paolostivanin/OTPClient ( sudo apt install otpclient )I have this little one-liner mapped to a hotkey combo:
`bash -c 'xfce4-screenshooter -r -o zbarimg | gxmessage -title "Decoded Data" -fn "Consolas 12" -wrap -geometry 640x480 -file -'`
Works great if you have xfce4-screenshooter, gxmessage, and zbarimg installed. It allows you to draw a box around a screen region, screenshots it, decodes it via zbarimg, and pipes the output into a dialog box with copyable text.
Just to add, 'pass' has an otp extension to simplify this a bit [1]
With that, you can do
[1] https://github.com/tadfisher/pass-otpHeh, I use pass like this; but it's on my (Pine)Phone, so it doesn't solve the parent's original problem ;-)
Although the nice thing about CLI workflows is that I can easily run it by SSHing into my phone (just make sure you set up GPG so the passphrase prompt will appear in your terminal, and not as a popup on the phone!)
We also have Microsoft authentication that displays a number on the browser and asks you to enter in on the device! :-(
My company also uses MS auth + 2fa for everything. Even signing into corporate G-suite :-). But I do not like the Microsoft Authenticator - I previously had issues where it would not show the number - and I was able to switch to a different TOTP provider. It’s a bit buried in the menus but possible
Unless they have explicitly disabled it even m365 has the option to add a totp 2fa method. Might be worth double checking.
In my union contract we have language that requires the employer to provide us with a hardware 2FA token for just this reason. I and some of my coworkers don't use smartphones, and we didn't want to be obligated to use one for work.
"So long as [employer's] access management vendor... supports the use of physical two-factor authentication devices (for example, a YubiKey), [employer] shall make such devices available to Employees upon their submission of a request for the device."
I've worked in places that wanted to push cell phone apps on the team for auth and we also pushed for hardware tokens. It worked extremely well. The concerns we had were mainly centered on privacy since the app wanted location/camera access and apps can (or at least at the time could) get a ton of data from your device without requesting any permission at all like getting a list of every app you have installed, or data from sensors like the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, barometer, thermometer, etc.
I'm old enough to have lived through the era of standalone authenticators. The downsides of that approach are also numerous.
I understand where you're coming from though, and I think this is where OS features like Focus Modes come into play.
When I'm in a "Work" mode, I literally don't see notifications from most of my apps. They don't show up in the notification center, or on app icon badges, or anywhere.
This takes a few minutes to set up, but once it's in place, it's fantastic. I also do this for other aspects of my life: Photography, Research, etc. When I'm in those modes, I don't want to see anything except for the apps that are specific to what I'm doing. It's worth the effort of setting this up IMO, and extends far beyond just work.
Hmm. I wonder if there would be a market for a super simple TOTP authentication device with an e-paper display. Kind of like those RSA tokens with the LCDs, but more modern and able to hold any number of TOTP credentials.
Getting the credentials loaded could be a bit of a pain without a camera for QR code scanning. Easiest solution would be via Bluetooth to a companion app, which you would probably want anyway for periodic time sync (likely wouldn't be worth it to embed a GNSS receiver just to update the time).
Probably be a pretty small market, but as a niche Kickstarter device? I could see a small but loyal customer base.
Sounds like a job for a second phone, one which you'd just be extra careful to only use for one purpose. It can be cheap as balls, but it will have a QR-compatible camera and whatever else we may have come to expect from such a device. :)
Yup. Just use a secondary 5-year old phone for dirt cheap. I was actually considering doing it once, but the convenience takes a hit.
Make sure your GNSS receiver supports OSNMA, and be _extremely_ trusting of your battery-backed RTC and profoundly skeptical of time jumps over a certain magnitude.
GNSS spoofing is trivial now and it's an extremely useful way to manipulate a target device's idea of time, which breaks all sorts of things. (SSL certificate validity periods...)
This is nearly what you’re looking for (well, not that close, but it’s got the right spirit):
https://blog.singleton.io/posts/2022-10-17-otp-on-wrist/
I would love this, but only if it also successfully implemented a few disparate authentication protocols that essentially do the same things (prove identity) but are regrettably proprietary - like the de facto standard electronic ID in Sweden, BankID.
Token2 make this: https://www.token2.com/shop/product/molto-2-v2-multi-profile...
They also do single-token cards: https://www.token2.com/shop/category/programmable-tokens
Yubikey?
Yubikey does TOTP on-board, but you need to connect it to a phone or computer (no display or on-board power). It solves a different problem, where you want to have your TOTP credentials on a tamper resistant hardware security module. It doesn't solve the "don't want to carry around a phone for TOTP" problem.
This doesnt make sense. If you need a 2FA code then you are obviously using some device like a laptop already. Yubikey totally solves the "need a second personal device" problem.
> It doesn't solve the "don't want to carry around a phone for TOTP" problem.
It does—if you carry the Yubikey you don't need a phone.
If you read a six-digit pin from an e-ink display, you have to type it into your computer.
If you grab it from a plugged-in yubikey, you can copy and paste it. That seems way easier
A yubikey works great for this
I used to use a yubikey but have now moved onto a fingerprint sensor and passkeys. Doesnt work for all sites but does for most of them.
they exist, in my country they are available as alternative to smartphone apps for identity auth. (ie you can choose between android, iphone, and TOTP LCD device.)
Flipper Zero supports that
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Have you tried a smart watch? The Duo 2FA app lets you add an arbitrary TFA code based authenticator with same QR code Google Authenticator supports and generate those from their Apple WatchOS [0] or Android WearOS apps. I have used it successfully for years, it's a huge reason I got an Apple Watch in fact. Now you'll have to configure your watch with a "work" focus mode that turns off all notifications and not install any fancy apps on the watch (do those still exist?), but it can free you from your phone.
Along the same lines the Meta Wayfarer[2] smart glasses lets you take slice of life photos and videos without needing to whip out your phone. You lose a ton of quality but stay in the moment more. The AI features are getting better so eventually you'll be able to use it for basic information lookup.
0 - https://guide.duo.com/apple-watch
1 - https://guide.duo.com/duo-wear
2 - https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/wayfarer
Yubikey nanos are the way out of that specific problem
I imagine Yubikey doesn't support all the stupid custom-app-2fa that companies push out.
I really wish they'd just stick to classic TOTP.
Is there a way of getting them to store a dozen or so totp secrets? And if so, how do you select which one you want to use?
For that use case get an onlykey rather than a yubikey.
Check this out: https://github.com/Authenticator-Extension/Authenticator
Taking the 2 out of 2FA since 2017!</sarcasm>
Thanks for sharing a potentially useful tool but I will not use it without a lot more details about how this browser extension secures the 2FA secrets from sketchy websites/ads.
Most trusted desktop password manager apps can manage and autofill OTPs in browsers as well, e.g. KeepassXC and 1password. (If you're making the tradeoff anyway, I think you may as well use a password manager you already trust with other secrets.)
keepassxc does great with TOTP codes, but the default client isn't the easiest to add them with.
This is one of the thing that smart watches should be doing, or even better, something like https://blog.singleton.io/posts/2022-10-17-otp-on-wrist/.
First of all, I'm not a fan of constantly needing to re-authenticate.
But for your specific problem there is a simple solution that isn't particularly expensive. Buy a new phone. Install 2FA on it, and don't install anything else.
I just use an old phone that I've wiped clean and removed the SIM. Sits on the desk and I just glance at it when I need a new 2FA code.
I imagine you've considered it already, but maybe your work would be willing to put the 2FA secret into something like 1Password, which you could access on your computer instead of your phone.
Defeats the purpose of 2FA though. I'd argue a cheap 2FA-only phone would be good, if they're struggling to touch their real phone without being consumed by distractions.
It does not defeat the purpose of 2FA as possession of the decrypted 1Password vault is the second factor.
Isn't that just remembering two passwords instead of one? And isn't two passwords instead of one basically the same as remembering one very long password?
For that matter, how do they prevent you from using the same password for both?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44259556
I posted another comment explaining why 1Password Vault with both a password and a OTP code is still secure, but in short it does not defeat the purpose. Your vault's are protected and in the situation where someone gets access to your vault it's most likely to be full access to your computer at which point they have other viable methods to get access to a specific service you use.
Isn't the whole point of 2fa that if someone gets access to my computer they can't do shit because they'd need my phone too?
The “whole point” of 2fa is that even if someone knows your password they cannot login with just credentials.
Compromising or stealing a device is a significant escalation from guessing passwords.
It is also more obvious when your device has been stolen vs just the password.
Well i'm assuming 1Pass is also storing the password. Ie if it's in the same place for your pass and token, it's 1FA, no?
No the two factors are something you have and something you know. Not something you have and another thing you have. In this case decrypting the vault requires two factors.
In my view the factors are attach vectors. If i wrote both my token and my pass down on a single sticky note, it's 1FA. If i have them on two stickies stored in two locations, it's 2FA.
Though i have no idea, that's just how i internalized it over the years. In your 1Pass example, it's a single attack vector (the password of my 1pass) to compromising both the token and the password of the product/server/thing.
How many feet apart do the two sticky notes have to be before it’s 2FA? :)
In the spirit of the idea, it would be the attack vector imo. So behind locked doors, buildings, safes, etc.
Eg a hacker can access my computer, even have a clipboard/keylogger on my machine, and have a difficult finding my token if it's on my phone. They need to attack my phone and my computer.
Having them both in your unlocked 1Password vault means if someone walks by your computer they can access your account. A single location with both of your "2FA". If they had a keylogger installed on your machine, they only need your single 1Pass password to breach your "2FA".
Granted i imagine that a Phone TOTP would still be a concern with a keylogger on your PC, since you still enter it on your compromised machine. Still more difficult than the having the totp key though, of course.
You're inventing a new definition of the term 2FA. The problem it was created to solve was the ability of attackers to remotely access services using weak or compromised user passwords. This is relatively low cost to do on a mass scale whereas rooting each individual's computer to compromise their password manager is not.
Time to get a “work” phone.
I carried 2 phones for many years. It was more trouble than it’s worth. Especially these days. Working from home, my only work use of the phone is for the Authenticator app.
The optics of that can be questionable. Just ask Skyler White or her brother-in-law.
If it's Authenticator you can use bitwarden from your browser, that's what I do. If you're using a custom app or something different then yeah it's annoying
Get a keyboard with a usb port on the side. Insert yubikey nano. Now instead of annoying 2FA you just reach your finger over and touch.
Why does it have to be an app on your phone? IT should be able to support yubikeys (or similiar) and even printed OTP lists.
I see some evidence that yubikeys are used somewhere in the organization, but not sure where or how.
The only information we were sent to get this all setup was specifically for a phone. The portal that exists to add devices only appears to support phones.
I have a co-worker who simply tried to use Authy instead of MS Authenticator and it didn’t work. There is a lot of bureaucracy that typically makes it not worth the fight.
> However, it’s all via an Authenticator app on the phone.
Why not save the secret on your laptop and generate the OTP on your laptop?
I use MS Authenticator for work too. It doesn't do standard TOTP, at least not for Entra. The QR codes don't contain the secret. IDK that anyone has been able to exfiltrate a secret and generate codes with a third party app.
I personally use an Android emulator on my laptop, which achieves the same goal. It saves and restores state automatically for quick startup.
Apple Watch with Authy is a great solution for this. I don’t need to have my phone in the same room to use 2FA.
You can use the Freedom app.
url freedom.to
Or just disable notifications. The iphone has a do not disturb mode that can be scheduled.
Most password managers (Bitwarden, 1Password etc) have a function for generating TOTP codes.
For Windows, here's a free little authenticator app that lives in your system tray: https://github.com/richard-green/Authentiqr.NET
These look swish https://www.reiner-sct.com/en/produkt/reiner-sct-authenticat...
Ever since I disabled all the notifications on my phone my life has been happier. It won't work for everyone (50% of the time it doesn't even work for me), but I can't help but write this anecdote here.
Get a Yubikey or similar, have a USB port close, one finger tip, done.
1Password can be your 2fa and autofill those fields. It has a built in scanner which will look at your screen and read the QR code on the screen (no separate device needed).
The comments here have the genre of "2 factor, 1 device"...
Two Factor doesn't mean 2 devices. Two factor generally has been thought of as "something you know, and something you have."
Let's do a quick threat model on putting both passwords and MFA tokens in a 1password vault.
1Password employees a recovery key + password login by default, and logging into a vault requires you to either have a device with the encrypted vault on it and your password, or have knowledge of your password and knowledge of your recovery key (normally in a file which makes it something you have) essentially traditional 2fa needed to log into a new device.
If someone steals your phone with 1password installed - they need your 1password to be able to access your credentials on the physical device. At that point they already have both your factors - your phone (have) and your password (know) - still protected by 2fa.
If someone manages to fully root your computer, they could wait until you unlock your vault and then extract your credentials. However, if you use traditional 2fa on a separate device - then they can just wait until you log into the target app, and then ride your session and get the same level of access to the target. While there may be a small difference in level of effort or how long it takes, the same access level is possible, and the requirements are that they have very privileged access to your operating system. Someone rooting the device that you login to services is grants them "single factor" access to your services when you access them.
There is some subtle differences between these, but except for situations where you have very high privileged requirements, at which point you should be using yubikeys or standalone MFA devices, using 1Password with OTP and password is very comparable to using a separate device for MFA.
I'm a previous red teamer and currently a blue teamer.
It was never meant to be two device authentication.
Reminds me of when I was developing an application 'in' Facebook (when it was mostly friends but with adds for addictive games in the sidebar)
Invest in a password manager that stores it all, including the rolling codes
Use a yubikey
do you use a pw manager? bitwarden (OSS) has it built in if you pay for premium. i think it's an extra 1-3/mo but well worth it to support the team
It's not your job's responsibility to cater to your lack of self control
Even doing nothing beyond the authentication, it is still requiring task switching, changes devices, waiting for codes, entering them, switching back. It’s very disruptive to any type of flow state.
But it's in their best interests.
I often trick myself imagining life is a game that throws boring or difficult tasks (boredom often equals difficult ) at me that I need to survive. It often helps because I I can picture finishing these things as rewards that help me get to the next "level". It was particularly helpful getting beyond difficult times (many bad events coinciding). Not sure if this can be transferred to others, or if it works because of my brain chemistry.
This stops working after a while. The real deal is you begin the realise the 'points' you accumulate playing this game can't be redeemed to do something fun or satisfying. This game begins to appear totally pointless as you age(Points are less useful as you age, and dying with lots of points means time and effort was spent to acquire a thing that can't be spent now). Which causes even more procrastination.
I think humans crave freedom and free time, with good health more than anything else. This frees you up to care about doing things which we feel more rewarding and fun.
Several times you are better off skipping the drills and rituals and just focus on making lots of money as quickly as possible. And of course competing to accumulate more money just for the heck of it is equally demotivating as well. Focus what you want from the money and that is likely to move you along better use of your time and effort.
> This stops working after a while.
yeah and i figured thats fine !
I take time spent on HN as an example. I used to think if i limit my HN time to under 10-15 mins a day, would be ideal. But the slippery slope was stopping. It felt rude. And i had no one but myself to get angry on. Weird loop.
I then go the opposite, allow myself to binge. Kinda forced looking at HN every occasion i had a few mins. I get bookmakes to avoid typing the url. Browse on every device. Add comments, browse past lists, front page, best comments, etc. All the dopamine boosts. And I notice the dopamine effect reduces. The fun in comments, upvotes and finding something new just evaporates. A day or two of this makes me sick of the orange banner and the beige background. I delete bookmarks, remove everything. Make a new account to start fresh. Add a rule to block the domain, all out of a natural reaction, mind you.
i dont have real stats but it feels like over 2 years of this, i've spent less time on HN, than before. I'm not constantly fighting myself. It comes and goes in waves, like seasons of nature. Right now its spring and slowly getting into HN summer as explained by my flurry of comments past few weeks.
Pretty sure my commenting pattern is similar. I write a bunch of comments in a short period then none at all and just lurk for a while. All the HN comment data is published, right? (BigQuery?) I wonder if we can find cyclic comment patterns for individual users. It might be harder to find patterns if the user creates a new account every cycle like parent, but maybe just users that have been active for 2+ years.
That’s also occurs with me, but in games! Sometimes, I feel “obligated” to play, the urge of playing that unique game, then suddenly, it disappears.
I’m not a psychologist, but I believe that occurs often, some things just lose that sparkle with the time, and it’s okay, you just need to find a new way to make your task. This article is a good example of how you can do this, and, with some time, change your methods!
I believe that having urges come and go is the natural way human motivation works. Doing something every day, whether you feel like doing it or not, is the artificial thing that you need to be trained to do.
Some things require larger blocks of time. For example, you need several days in line to take a vacation; you can't simply take "5 minutes of vacation" every day. Some things are done much better if you dedicate an entire day, or at least a few consecutive hours to them: whether it is learning something new, writing a blog article, relaxing, hanging out with your friends, etc.
It would be more natural to work 16 hours a day when you feel like it, and then take a day off.
My approach is to gather HN articles via RSS (then convert to maildir) a couple of times a day. That has two effects:
- It reduces the subconscious slot-machine mechanic (compared to refreshing a Web page) since I know there won't be anything new in my feed for the next several hours.
- There are also tangible benefits to using a proper feed reader, like only seeing unread items. That also discourages "cheating", since reading things outside of my feeds will require me to mark them as "read" after the next update.
I receive comment-replies via email, filtered into an IMAP folder that refreshes a bit faster than the RSS feed, to allow conversations.
These don't have notifications, but if I'm in the mail reader I can see their unread count (usually zero; and hence can be dismissed with a glance)
Yeah. Sometimes the reason you can't focus on something is that some part of your brain is trying to tell you that you shouldn't.
Unfortunately, that part of the brain usually sucks at coming up with an alternative plan, and "do something else, anything" is not very actionable. And you still need to pay your bills somehow.
The natural reward for work is work done. I don't need a motivational system to do the dishes. The motivation is seeing the dirty dishes gradually disappear, and the kitchen become cleaner. I don't need to create pieces of papers to represent that, because it is already happening right there, in real life.
If I work on a project, it helps to specify all things that need to be done (as opposed to working on something open-ended), so that I can see how I am getting closer to the moment of "done". A nice thing about test-driven development is that you produce a set of checkboxes first, and then you gradually check them off. Even if the work is open-ended, if I keep thinking about new features that would be nice add, it helps to specify a "version 1.0", and after achieving it, a "version 2.0", etc. The idea is that after each version I can take a break and feel that my work is done.
The least motivating thing is probably the job, as an employee. You work for 8 hours a day (generously assuming no overtime). There is no way to complete those 8 hours in e.g. 4 hours of working harder and then take a walk. In theory, if you do Scrum, you should have a certain reasonable amount of work assigned per sprint, and if you do it faster, then I guess you can take a short break and do something enjoyable (such as refactoring). In practice, almost no one does Scrum by the book; you will probably be randomly interrupted by extra tasks, and given unrealistic deadlines to avoid the possibility of completing the work earlier.
Another demotivating thing about the job is that there is no personal consequence of completing a project; you immediately start working on a new one. The natural response to completing a work is to congratulate yourself and take a break. But at work, the vacations are mostly unrelated to projects. Also, you are paid per time spent working, not by the number of projects finished. So it is all disconnected.
So I guess it all needs to be a part of some greater project, which can possibly be completed one day. Such as, putting your money in index funds, and planning to retire as soon as you reach a specified amount. Then each day you can congratulate yourself for getting 0.01% closer to the goal. (Or you can save money for other specific things, if that is what you desire.)
Or if you work remotely, lie. Complete your projects and do whatever you want with your newly minted free time. You still need to be available and maybe keep a status indicator green but otherwise you should be free to reclaim 10 - 20 hours a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. Thoughts?
Really, most people's adult lives are just a constant stream of boring/difficult tasks they need to grind in order to get through: School, work, paying bills, managing money, doing taxes, cleaning the house, cooking food, doing dishes, fixing this, maintaining that... If you don't have a way to trick your brain into grinding these things over and over, you're not going to get very far.
This is the point I think many people fail to understand about consumption. Yes, it is usually perfectly sustainable to spend most of your free time scrolling tiktok or playing high-reward video games, yes you can live without regular exercise or a strict diet, but there are hard to quantify effects on an entire range of other things in your life. I think it is very important for the modern person to pay close attention to their mental state with and without the things they turn to the most, especially if experiencing problems with focus or motivation.
> You can't add a kale salad after a bowl of ice cream and expect your insulin levels to go down
Sorry for being off-topic, but you actually can (not a scientist, just speaking from experience). My guess is the digestion slows down and the sugar gets released into the system at a slower rate (probably because of the lower overall Glycemic index?). Anyways, it actually works! Just eat your salad before the ice cream to make sure it does :)
I think I do some of this, but my framing is not explicitly about adopting monastic practices - rather, it's about having a "novelty budget" each day. Every novel stimulus is an opportunity to careen off course.
However, if the task ahead of me is great and I'm motivated, then I automatically seek less novelty to focus on it. IOW, maintaining a boring baseline of routine so that novelty is selective is important as a way of being able to "jump into action". It's good to get off the phone. It doesn't replace the intrinsic motivation.
There's an aspect to productivity advice that is about shouting down your burnout by adding more productivity hacks or taking stimulants or flagellating oneself. Burnout's root cause has to be approached by asking the tougher questions about life and aligning with a philosophy that is truthful to that. The work itself will have moments of routine boredom, exhilaration, and heartbreak, but the motive has to endure all of it.
And what about those of us that find they have stretches where they don't focus well on anything? Games included. There are several games I'd like to spend a bit of time on. It ain't happening.
When you are feeling this way it's good to take stock of your 3 fundamentals... Food, Sleep, Exercise. If any are suffering, then it's almost guaranteed to be the source of your problem. It sounds elementary but I have to remind myself of this constantly. Particularly the sleep part
I posted in another thread how reliable some old/popular answers can be. Frustratingly so. :D
Exercise is annoying, as without a lot of modern life, it largely takes care of itself. Back when I could just walk to a grocery, as an easy example, it was unsurprisingly easy to stay in decent shape.
Murkier mental health issues? You desire what games used to give, unadulterated innocent fun, but nowadays they don't? You are a bit "stuck in life" (maybe even going through mild depression) and you are not the addictive/escapist type.
This feels overstated. Though, it isn't like current affairs aren't trying their best to make the overstated seem tame. :D
Sleep until you can’t take it anymore. In less than 12h something will appear more interesting than sleeping.
I find this intensely amusing. In grade school, I got "mono" and dang near literally slept for several days. Granted, being sick is a bit different than being disinterested.
My problem is typically more that there are plenty of more interesting things to do than anything I'd like to do right now.
Being picky was never easy.
> I'm sure phones are just as stimulating for some. We all have our vices.
Hard agree, and yes we have our vices, but wouldn't life be better if we had more agency over them?
My phone is overwhelmingly a detriment to my life, it's just disguised as a necessary utility by doing the same things I could do anyway if I didn't have it. It's not never uniquely valuable to me, but those rare signals don't need to be tightly coupled with so so so much noise.
The big one for me lately is the aptly named tethering. It's wild that it's not just built into my mac at this point, if it weren't for that, (maybe 2Fa as well) I'd leave the phone at home so often I'd probably forget about it, and I long for that future.
It's not necessarily true that games being fun is the reason why you can play them for hours.
Think about games where you're grinding doing tedious stuff to level up your character. Not nearly as fun, but still something you can end up doing for hours.
I don't even get that kind of hit from a game though unless playing with friends, and that's because I'm with my friends. If I was playing alone I'd play for 30 minutes max and then stop.
even the Gen Z and Gen Alpha have noticed this effect and came with their own term: Brain Rot.
>When I "fast" from those "treats", work takes on new enjoy-ability. Dopamine diet is probably the wrong technical term, but it nails the practical effects well.
Man no offense but this sounds devastatingly sad. "We must starve ourselves of fun so that the barest excitement at work feels good."
Do you do drugs?
If not then you're already 'starving' yourself of the purest form of pleasure (which is a good thing, don't get me wrong). I don't think taking one step further is that sad.
I think this is more akin to literally starving yourself so that a single bit of spinach tastes great. It turns out you can in fact eat a candy bar and have pizza and not become obese or otherwise damage your health. It's not one or the other and OP might need some kind of professional help to mediate their moods...
Like this is clearly not healthy.
What about restricting yourself is not healthy?
When I was a kid, I'd eat Trix cereal. I enjoyed it. Now - I find it sort of gross. It's too sweet. You can reach that same point with cake or pizza or a candy bar, etc. - in that, those foods become sort of gross. Foods like spinach become more satisfying. Not only that, but that satisfaction may yield a higher reward than you ever could with Trix cereal. But you'd never reach that higher level of satisfaction as long as you're eating Trix cereal every day.
I wouldn't overthink it, or take it to extremes just to find a strawman. A charitable reading of my comment shows we agree. I talked about indulgences displacing healthier options.
More specifically, when TFA talks about difficulty writing an email vs playing hours of video games, I thought it was worth mentioning that 2 hrs of factorio 3 or 4 nights a week might actually dampen the excitement of work a little by providing a perfectly tailored experience designed to engage the part of your brain that your employer would pay your for.
The analogy isn't about "hunger is the best seasoning" (although isn't that an apt colloquialism !), the analogy is insulin resistance is something like "dopamine resistance" both take consistent large over indulgences or poor decisions (however socially acceptable!) to cause a runaway effect which degrades "health".
Hope that's clearer. It's about establishing healthy habits not starving oneself.
> It turns out you can in fact eat a candy bar and have pizza and not become obese
That is extremely dependent on an individual's metabolism. When I was young I had hyperthyroidism and could not keep enough weight on. I could, and needed to, consume a huge amount of calories without gaining a pound. Now, my thyroid's burnt out, and my sleep is terrible, and it feels like I gain wait from breathing in air.
It's quite difficult for some people to allow themselves a candy bar without sliding down a slippery slope. I'm formerly obese, I lost 100 lbs, and I know when I relax my standards even for a few days, it can spiral.
Self-discipline looks different for everyone. I don't think it's necessarily unhealthy.
That’s insanely stereotypical. There is no ”drugs” that is ”the purest form of pleasure”.
Instead, there are many thousands of different substances which can elicit, heighten, prolong or enable pleasure; some illegal, some legal, some included in your favourite meals and snacks.
Even vanilla is a ”drug” which enhances pleasurable feelings. (Vanillin and ethylvanillin are monoamine oxidase inhibitors and consuming them will increase serotonergic and dopaminergic activity)
> There is no ”drugs” that is ”the purest form of pleasure”.
Having had fentanyl for a couple of surgical procedures, I am inclined to disagree. No one should feel that happy after having their colon inflated like a balloon or chunks of metal screwed into their bones.
You are missing the point. Sure there are individual substances that can provide such experiences. However, talking about drugs as some sort of infinite pleasure inducers is intellectual dishonesty: the category is not homogeneous.
> There is no ”drugs” that is ”the purest form of pleasure”
Yeah, I mean I think we barely know what that would even be. But some drugs come pretty damn close I'd wager, and I'm not talking about vanilla or ethylvanillin.
I think if you've dabbled in opiates, you've come pretty close to what the purest form of pleasure would feel like.
Most ”normal” people react to opiates/opioids with intense nausea and discomfort.
People unable to feel the full spectrum of pleasure sober have quite a different experience, since these substances completely eradicate any pain, grief, anxiety and stress that commonly prevents pleasurable feelings for occurring.
> We must starve ourselves of fun so that the barest excitement at work feels good.
Much like people that struggle with their weight need to turn every meal into accounting for lean protein and leafy vegetables.
Eventually, you crave the broccoli a bit more than you used to, and it makes the diet easier.
Yeah, it denies that games are any good, and demonizes fun as a vice. People who talk about dopamine and procrastination are just looking for ways to beat themselves up and start conflicted fights with themselves over what they want.
I suppose in some sense, but how is this sadder than the reality that we're not all doped up on space cocaine?
A desirable (practical) reality would seem to stem not just from first order effects now, but also in summation of all the credits and debits that it leaves us over time.
> "We must starve ourselves of fun so that the barest excitement at work feels good."
Don't worry, that rule only applies to poor people!
.
More seriously, how long does it take to stop the dopamine high? Could we schedule our lives so that we would e.g. spend one month doing the most exciting things ever... followed by three days of meditation... which would make us ready for a few months of hard work... and then do it again?
You know, so that we are still productive at work, but don't have to sacrifice most of the joy in life to achieve that.
I agree with both of you, but when I am fasting and also doing activities with a high level of dopamine release, I actually find it easier to focus on my tasks as well.
> Man no offense but this sounds devastatingly sad. "We must starve ourselves of fun so that the barest excitement at work feels good."
Interestingly these seemed to be one of the messages of Severance, and Dylan's character even appeared to have ADHD
Playing sudoku is not fun at all, it’s Lumon-level shit work. Yet people definitely procrastinate on it.
TFA? the fucking author?
Article, usually
I don't want to be a downer on this because it sounds like a cool system, but it might be worth checking whats in the receipt paper as a lot of it is pretty bad for you:
https://toxicfreefuture.org/press-room/new-study-finds-toxic...
Yes, the main problem is the paper with bisphenol, which has been banned in Europe.
Even though bisphenol-A is banned in EU, I believe bisphenol-B is still allowed. I suspect - though I don't know how to research whether it's true or false - that everyone just switched to bisphenol-B, which is said to be either similarly, or more toxic than BPA... :(
Even assuming that "BPA-free" paper I'd buy is really so, and not just BPA-covered one imported from China and said/labeled to be "BPA-free" by someone somewhere in the pipeline...
You need to go out of your way to buy phenol-free paper. It's a thing but unfortunately it's a niche rather than the default.
If the labeling can be trusted it isnt hard to find phenol-free receipt paper on amazon.
However, none of them say what their actual 'active ingredient' is and I am curious if these are necessarily known to be better. Most of them describe themselves as 'plastic coated'.
Yes. A short video I watched mentioned that even touching these thermal papers with normal gloves is unsafe.
The receipts that a large majority of humanity has been handling on a daily basis for decades? Unsafe? In what way?
I'm doubtful it's a majority.
A while ago, I tried writing tasks on sticky notes at home and crumpling them up to toss in the trash once they were done. It felt pretty satisfying at first, but writing each note took too much time, and I eventually gave up.
Now that I’ve seen the idea of using a thermal printer to print out little task tickets, it instantly feels like a much easier system. I’m planning to get one next week and see if it actually helps me get started more easily than writing things by hand.
The biggest killer for any task tracker I find is an accumulating backlog of items that seem too important to quit but too intractable to make progress on. Often it's those exploding-in-complexity type things that you thought would taken an hour and it's constantly requiring refactoring into more tasks.
Accumulate enough of those and you start finding yourself writing more notes than you are crumpling them and can get demoralized pretty quickly every time you look at the board.
> but writing each note took too much time
Your tasks must be too granular, if writing it down is a noticeable part of the effort you expend in a day.
Maybe use somewhat larger tasks so you don't notice the overhead of writing it down so much?
I have ADHD, and my daughter was recently diagnosed as well.
Been reflecting on this post as it's been soaking up the front page for the last 24 hours.
I want to commend you for shipping maybe the perfect HN post:
- Personal Journey
- Old school hardware
- DIY software
- Productivity hack
- Great title
- Quantified results (2-3x productivity) over non-trivial duration (few months)
- A low-effort offline solution that delivers real value for the 98% who will never build the thing
- Great polish on the reading experience with lots of little details
- Effective call to action (subscribe to get the software in a few weeks)
You inspired me to get my organization back on track. After researching receipt printers for 30 minutes, I realized what I actually need is to dust off the system that has worked for me in the past. But I'm picking up some post-its today and my daughter and I are going to try implementing your system for her over the weekend.
Thank you for putting the time into this!
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New fear unlocked: vegan ADHDs