Re: An Org-based productivity tool

["Peter Neilson" <neilson@windstream.net>]

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.