Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#11

Post by lawn » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:47 PM UTC

benthumb wrote: post #9

jemka wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I think you're baiting, I'll bite. I really enjoy eating, but if I'm caught up in something I don't always remember to do it. Sometimes I'll go hours past my regularly scheduled meal times. Then I'm sitting at my desk wondering (only for a short time) why my stomach hurts. Oh ya, food. While this is a extreme example, the logic still applies to coding/writing or anything else. Sometimes the tasks you should…

It's interesting you bring up food. Everything goes much more smoothly when I'm fasting: I'm way more focused, and the problems that do crop up, I feel I'm able to negotiate more effectively. I tend to look at it as a kind of perverse karmic trade-off, but that's just me...

Let me just counter that with my experience. I can focus better and I get things done much better when eat regulary and when I eat well (no fast food, not too much fat etc). If I eat to late or if I only eat a sandwich for breakfast the whole day can become ruined and if I completely skip a meal I'll be worse off for a day or two.

But that's just me.

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#12

Post by mdm_ » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:47 PM UTC

benthumb wrote: post #9

jemka wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I think you're baiting, I'll bite. I really enjoy eating, but if I'm caught up in something I don't always remember to do it. Sometimes I'll go hours past my regularly scheduled meal times. Then I'm sitting at my desk wondering (only for a short time) why my stomach hurts. Oh ya, food. While this is a extreme example, the logic still applies to coding/writing or anything else. Sometimes the tasks you should…

It's interesting you bring up food. Everything goes much more smoothly when I'm fasting: I'm way more focused, and the problems that do crop up, I feel I'm able to negotiate more effectively. I tend to look at it as a kind of perverse karmic trade-off, but that's just me...

I experience this too. The period when I arrive at work before I've eaten anything is usually my most focused. I feel calm and I would describe my mind as "quiet". Once I eat, it's like everything gets noisy and I have a really difficult time concentrating for longer than about a minute on anything.

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#13

Post by minikites » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:47 PM UTC

damienfir wrote: post #2

If you really like coding or writing, you shouldn't need to force yourself to do it.

I agree with you. I've been listening to Merlin Mann's podcast Back To Work and he talks a lot about things like this and things like "distraction-free writing environments". His philosophy (that I tend to agree with) is that if these tools work for you - great. But you might be solving the wrong problem. Procrastination might be your brain telling you something about the task you're putting off doing.

http://www.43folders.com/2010/02/05/first-care

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#14

Post by 27182818284 » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:51 PM UTC

why-el wrote: post #6

Does this block all internet? How can you code well without resort to some googling? Edit: By this I mean it would be preferable if I can leave some sites up, like SO for instance.

I had to deal with shitty, shitty Internet once. I downloaded the docs ahead of time when I did have a good connection. Then when you're online later, what you still haven't figured out you attack.

It is not really that hard, I think it is just a culture shock for some to not have the Internet nearby. It was for me.

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#15

Post by readme » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:52 PM UTC

damienfir wrote: post #2

If you really like coding or writing, you shouldn't need to force yourself to do it.

I agree. These tools will only work for someone who would have been able to do it anyway.

You might find something like this helps you, but you're not going to find that if you can't do it that this will change that.

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#16

Post by yoasif_ » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:52 PM UTC

charliepark wrote: post #8

mistermann wrote: post #5

I want this but at the OS level (windows in my case) with white lists.

If you had contact info in your profile I'd send you this privately, but that's exactly what we've built with https://monotask.com . The pro version is free for another few days. Free version will be free forever. Not trying to threadjack, so if anybody has questions, etc., would love for you to e-mail me directly at charlie@monotask.com.

Is the pro version free for life, or for the next few days? Looking at your site, it looks like you are charging $19.95 a month.

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#17

Post by jsm » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:54 PM UTC

why-el wrote: post #6

Does this block all internet? How can you code well without resort to some googling? Edit: By this I mean it would be preferable if I can leave some sites up, like SO for instance.

Currently you will have to open a different browser if you want to google something. I'm considering adding a blacklisting/whitelisting option but I was going for minimalism with v1.

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#18

Post by ww520 » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:55 PM UTC

Prepare a hosts file as

    127.0.0.1   news.ycombinator.com
    127.0.0.1   reddit.com
    127.0.0.1   twitter.com
    etc

A shell script to rename the regular hosts file and this one at will. Add it in cron if you want it scheduled.

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#19

Post by idontlikebacon » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:56 PM UTC

ww520 wrote: post #18

Prepare a hosts file as 127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com 127.0.0.1 reddit.com 127.0.0.1 twitter.com etc A shell script to rename the regular hosts file and this one at will. Add it in cron if you want it scheduled.

I wrote a little shell script that makes it easy to manage host files for this very purpose. You can check it out here: https://github.com/theabraham/wrk

Re: Show HN: Block yourself from the Internet until you write or code each day

#20

Post by charliepark » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 5:58 PM UTC

yoasif_ wrote: post #16

charliepark wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you had contact info in your profile I'd send you this privately, but that's exactly what we've built with https://monotask.com . The pro version is free for another few days. Free version will be free forever. Not trying to threadjack, so if anybody has questions, etc., would love for you to e-mail me directly at charlie@monotask.com.

Is the pro version free for life, or for the next few days? Looking at your site, it looks like you are charging $19.95 a month.

We'll be charging for the pro version, but if you (or any other HN users) grab the pro version now and e-mail me [charlie@monotask.com], I'll comp your account through August.