procrastination
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The Pomodoro Technique Fights Deadline Anxiety With A Timer
11:30PM Kevin Purdy | We’ve known for some time that working with timers can get help procrastinators jump past those imposing first steps. The Pomodoro Technique takes that further, offering a cyclical system aimed to beat deadline-related anxiety. More »
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Push Through A Creative Block With A Diversion
7:30AM Azadeh Ensha | Blank sheets of paper. A blinking cursor. Both are signs of untapped creativity. Next time a block hits, Web Worker Daily suggests getting the creative juices flowing again by applying some diversion techniques. More »
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How Weekend Projects Can Free Your Inner Rock Star
2:00AM Kevin Purdy | In one day, Beck Hansen and friends recorded an album-length cover of a beloved pop music album. They did it by setting aside time, lowering their guard and letting creative work happen. Anyone with a side-project could learn a lot from them. More »
Work
Avoid Time Discounting By Assessing Absolute Value Of Tasks
3:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | It’s so easy to put off tasks that aren’t immediately pressing and fritter away the present on tasks that aren’t as important. Avoid time discounting by assigning values to your tasks independent of the calendar. More »
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11:54AM Angus Kidman | Australian novelist Fran Cusworth has a simple technique whenever she’s planning a novel: she gets a calendar and writes down a target number of words that have to be completed on each day. More »
Put Word Count Targets On A Calendar
11:54AM Angus Kidman | Australian novelist Fran Cusworth has a simple technique whenever she’s planning a novel: she gets a calendar and writes down a target number of words that have to be completed on each day. More »
Work
Procrastination Killer Times Your Short-Burst Work Dashes
1:00AM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: Software developer Elie really digs Merlin Mann’s (10+2)*5 dash, which breaks hours into 10-minute bursts of plugging away at one thing with two-minute breaks. Elie’s Procrastination Killer app helps you time and controls those dashes. The stand-alone, no-install-needed app can stay on top of everything on your desktop, but it’s kinda big and non-resize-able (at least for the time being). Turn off the “Always on Top,” and it sits in your system tray, counting down from 10 minutes and popping up to ask if you’re taking a break. It then times out that break, which you can stop if you need to get right back to it, and then halt that next work burst if you need an unexpected break. Simple timers at the bottom measure your total work and break times, as well as your ratio of work-to-break. If you’re fond of the procrastination-busting dash, one of the more proven and tried methods for getting around the it’s-all-too-much mindset and getting back to work, Elie’s little app is a great coach. Free to download (look for the link near the top of the linked post; be warned that it’s a MediaFire link, so expect pop-ups and flashy ads), requires Microsoft’s .NET Framwork 2.0 or higher. Prcorastination Killer v1.0 [Procrastination Killer] More »
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Ze Frank On Executing Ideas Vs. ‘Brain Crack’
1:05AM Kevin Purdy | Ze Frank knows steady output, and the iconic video blogger knows why we put off acting on our ideas—we’re saving them as reassuring, addictive “Brain Crack.” (Warning: Bit of swearing in the vid). It’s actually an older clip, grabbed from a mis-fired 43 Folders feed burst, but Ze hits the nail on the head. He’d rather get his ideas out there quickly, even if they “suck the first time you do them,” because “not matter how much you plan, you have to do something for the first time.” In typical Ze Frank style, the clip cuts away to something almost entirely different at about the 1:30 mark, and there’s a chanting chorus of F-bombs—so if you’re watching at work, it’s definitely headphone material. But it’s also pretty encouraging stuff. “washington, ideas, brain crack” [The Show with Ze Frank via 43 Folders] More »
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Daily Routines Details The Productivity Habits Of Famous Folks
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Daily Routines is a blog that does nice work of compiling accounts of how famous minds—great, inspired, slothful, procrastination-prone, and otherwise—set about their tasks. All the quotes and anecdotes come from linked interviews, biographies, or other accounts, and while the workers covered tend toward the creative side, there’s a few mathematicians, architects, and other left-brainers. Definitely worth a read if you feel like your own work routine could use a reboot, or you just need reassurance that even Kafka—okay, especially Kafka—found it hard to just sit down and write. Daily Routines More »
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Watch YouTube Videos While Working On Other Tasks
5:00AM Kevin Purdy | YouTube is full of videos that don’t require singled-minded attention, but trying to keep a YouTube page visible in the background for passive watching isn’t easy. Digital Inspiration’s Amit Agarwal suggests two methods, though, that work great for browsing other sites or doing actual, you know, work, while keeping a video cornered and always on top. The first requires re-working a video link to its full-screen version and bookmarking it to load in Firefox’s sidebar—something we’ve covered before with other apps. The other method creates a mini-browser window that always stays on top using an AutoHotKey-coded app. Hit the link below for details on each idea, which should make burning through your favourite webisodes easier while still plucking away on your busy work. How to Watch YouTube Videos While Working on other Tasks [Digital Inspiration] More »
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