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How to force yourself to leave the computer using the leave command

stefanjudis.com

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Re: How to force yourself to leave the computer using the leave command

#2
I'd like something I could use to lock me out of everything but a whitelisted set of programs & websites for a set period of time.

I can't tell you what a relief it would be to have little choice but to focus on work tasks instead of get distracted.

Sure, I would need to have the key to the lock in case I really needed it, but it would need to be something mildly time consuming, like answering a set of relatively simple math problems that would still take a few minutes to do them all even with a calculator, to stop casual alt-tab to random distractions.

Re: How to force yourself to leave the computer using the leave command

#3

I'd like something I could use to lock me out of everything but a whitelisted set of programs & websites for a set period of time. I can't tell you what a relief it would be to have little choice but to focus on work tasks instead of get distracted. Sure, I would need to have the key to the lock in case I really needed it, but it would need to be something mildly time consuming, like answering a set of relatively sim…

I edit /etc/hosts to block access to all my common time wasters, wapo, hn, etc.

Sometimes I weaken and uncomment then all and binge for a bit. But for some reason it works better for me than just trying not to go to those websites.

Re: How to force yourself to leave the computer using the leave command

#4

I'd like something I could use to lock me out of everything but a whitelisted set of programs & websites for a set period of time. I can't tell you what a relief it would be to have little choice but to focus on work tasks instead of get distracted. Sure, I would need to have the key to the lock in case I really needed it, but it would need to be something mildly time consuming, like answering a set of relatively sim…

There are several browser extensions that will do just that, in various different ways. I think RescueTime does it, but if you search for “distraction” on the chrome extension site I imagine you can find several different ones that do just what you are trying to do: just enough barrier to make you stop branching off to timewasters.

Re: How to force yourself to leave the computer using the leave command

#5
post #3

I'd like something I could use to lock me out of everything but a whitelisted set of programs & websites for a set period of time. I can't tell you what a relief it would be to have little choice but to focus on work tasks instead of get distracted. Sure, I would need to have the key to the lock in case I really needed it, but it would need to be something mildly time consuming, like answering a set of relatively sim…

I edit /etc/hosts to block access to all my common time wasters, wapo, hn, etc. Sometimes I weaken and uncomment then all and binge for a bit. But for some reason it works better for me than just trying not to go to those websites.

I used to do this and then firefox bundled its own DNS aka DOH. Still haven't decided on the best course of action.

Re: How to force yourself to leave the computer using the leave command

#6
post #3

I'd like something I could use to lock me out of everything but a whitelisted set of programs & websites for a set period of time. I can't tell you what a relief it would be to have little choice but to focus on work tasks instead of get distracted. Sure, I would need to have the key to the lock in case I really needed it, but it would need to be something mildly time consuming, like answering a set of relatively sim…

I edit /etc/hosts to block access to all my common time wasters, wapo, hn, etc. Sometimes I weaken and uncomment then all and binge for a bit. But for some reason it works better for me than just trying not to go to those websites.

I also do this, I actually maintain two versions of the file. Swapping them out is a simple one-liner, but I find it works quite well because getting the page not found errors act as a reminder of intention before slipping back into mindless browsing.

Re: How to force yourself to leave the computer using the leave command

#7

I'd like something I could use to lock me out of everything but a whitelisted set of programs & websites for a set period of time. I can't tell you what a relief it would be to have little choice but to focus on work tasks instead of get distracted. Sure, I would need to have the key to the lock in case I really needed it, but it would need to be something mildly time consuming, like answering a set of relatively sim…

I use ColdTurkey, you can block any website or program you want on a schedule, or on a timer. You can add breaks, allowances and Pomodoro style setups. You can remove them whenever you want, but you can add a password I believe, or choose the option to be unable to remove the block while it is active(if you do this, make sure you leave a way to delete it).

I too wanted something like that, must solve an equation or something, but this is close enough.

Re: How to force yourself to leave the computer using the leave command

#9

I'd like something I could use to lock me out of everything but a whitelisted set of programs & websites for a set period of time. I can't tell you what a relief it would be to have little choice but to focus on work tasks instead of get distracted. Sure, I would need to have the key to the lock in case I really needed it, but it would need to be something mildly time consuming, like answering a set of relatively sim…

I use ColdTurkey, you can block any website or program you want on a schedule, or on a timer. You can add breaks, allowances and Pomodoro style setups. You can remove them whenever you want, but you can add a password I believe, or choose the option to be unable to remove the block while it is active(if you do this, make sure you leave a way to delete it). I too wanted something like that, must solve an equation or s…

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Edit: Just checked it out, yes, yes yes exactly what I need. Even let's you set an "unlock" to be a certain length of random text, which suits my needs to find something sufficiently annoying to have to do in order to break the lock.

I REALLY cannot thank you enough. +1000 upvotes.

Re: How to force yourself to leave the computer using the leave command

#10
post #4

I'd like something I could use to lock me out of everything but a whitelisted set of programs & websites for a set period of time. I can't tell you what a relief it would be to have little choice but to focus on work tasks instead of get distracted. Sure, I would need to have the key to the lock in case I really needed it, but it would need to be something mildly time consuming, like answering a set of relatively sim…

There are several browser extensions that will do just that, in various different ways. I think RescueTime does it, but if you search for “distraction” on the chrome extension site I imagine you can find several different ones that do just what you are trying to do: just enough barrier to make you stop branching off to timewasters.

That would help for sites, I'd like something for programs too. But I'll look into the extensions, thanks.
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