Mac: Staying focused and productive isn’t normally fun, but you can turn it into a competitive game with Obtract. This app can help teams and individuals monitor their time spent on distractions and get back on track, in an enjoyable way.Sometimes all you need is a little nudge to keep you from being distracted for too long. Unlike distraction-stopping utilities, which completely block distracting websites, Obtract allows you to distract yourself with silly Facebook games and other productivity-killing websites — but forces you to commit to and be aware of your choices.
Every hour, users are permitted five minutes on a site they designate as distracting. Once you’ve run out of distraction time, you’ll be presented with a series of increasingly difficult mazes before you can get to those sites. If you’ve ever procrastinated by organising or cleaning, the app may actually trigger your inner productivity:
St. Onge […]asked people what they did to procrastinate, and discovered a surprisingly common answer: cleaning, sorting, and organizing. […]Completing a simple visual task like a maze may feel tedious, but it can help people actually become more focused for the next job at hand.
Another feature of Obtract that may motivate you to stop distracting yourself is the optional social sharing feature. There’s nothing like the shame of admitting to your co-workers and boss you spent half the day on Funny or Die to get you back on track.
Obtract [via Fast Company]
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