Re: An Org-based productivity tool

[Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@gmail.com>]

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Well, you could associate a reward to that kind of tasks.
For example, you can allow yourself to work half a day.

Alternatively, you can make a task you would like to do (say, watch a
new movie) to be blocked until the unwanted task is done.

"Peter Neilson" <neilson@windstream.net> writes:

> On Thu, 11 Oct 2018 10:03:15 -0400, Bingo <right.ho@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Le 10 octobre 2018 21:45:53 GMT+05:30, Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl>  
>> a écrit :
>>
>>>
>>> - a warning when my efficiency is lower than a set value, and info
>>> about
>>>  how much work I need to do to bump it up to that value.
>>>
>>
>> Nice, but it has an anti-feature.  For procrastinators, warnings  
>> frequently have negative effects. It can be understood in multiple ways :
>>
>> 1. "What the hell" effect : As Dr Art Marckman tells in the book "Smart  
>> Change" , there is a "what the hell" effect where the victim goofs off  
>> even more to the extent of giving up a goal if he realizes that he is  
>> falling behind schedule, or has goofed off more than was advisable. The  
>> solution is to forgive oneself, and not beat oneself up. This warning  
>> looks like beating oneself up.
>>
>> 2. Showing how much work needs to be done to catch up goes against some  
>> self improvement philosophies. E.g. dividing work into subtasks helps in  
>> not getting overwhelmed by the amount of work.  Or the recommendation to  
>> plan breaks in addition to planning to slog, otherwise the plan to slog  
>> becomes overwhelming and procrastinators give up.
>>
>> Of course, if it works for you, go for it.
>
> Sabotage of the TODO list ...
>
> Managing the flow of my own work sometimes runs into unintended sabotage,  
> perpetrated by others or by me. The offending tasks are often large,  
> incapable of division, and not immediately crucial. For example, somewhere  
> in the middle of my list of "Get it done some other time, but not now,"  
> tasks is this one: "Repair the International 454 tractor."  It rests  
> comfortably on that list unless I either (1) need to use that tractor, or  
> (2) hear my wife telling me, "Why don't you ever get the 454 running? You  
> never get anything done around here! I need to use its bucket, and the  
> Mahindra doesn't have one." From that point onward, and my "TODO" thoughts  
> about writing, about programming, or about training horses are derailed.  
> In case (1) I need to figure out some other approach, like maybe using the  
> Mahindra. In case (2) my wife is right--as always--and my tendency is to  
> stop doing anything at all.
>
> My org mode TODO list is absolutely no help when I encounter one of these  
> show-stoppers. If anything, the list is an additional albatross adding to  
> my already encroaching depression.
>
> Maybe I need a brain-wave detector, connecting through emacs-lisp AI code  
> to a huge Pomodoro-style graphic display, that will alert me when I am  
> goofing off, falling asleep, or practicing mental evasion.
>

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