194 karma · joined June 28, 2018
E-mail: maciej@workmode.net
I’ve been a lifelong procrastinator, so I know what it’s like to go through life in idle mode, achieving only 20% of my potential. If you’re a chronic procrastinator and unsure how to overcome it, feel free to reach out. I’d be happy to help, even if body doubling isn’t the right fit for you.
There’s no single time unit that works for all situations.
You could assume that a day isn't exactly 24 hours, but it's close-ish to 24 hours. Nope, not even close.
And that assumes that we can treat an hour as a precise measure of time (we can't). On some systems, even a second is not a precise measure of time (second smearing).
To make things worse, those are "simple" edge cases.
Time is hard. I'm not sure if I can make any statement about time that is true.
I wouldn't bet on an average dev being able to set up and configure nginx + Cloudflare correctly.
>Course you’ll need your http headers set correctly, but you needed that anyway for cloudflare
Not if you don't use CF to cache "dynamic" content.
When you say “prey,” what kinds of products or services do you have in mind? I’ve seen some pretty dubious offerings, but I believe most creators genuinely want to help fellow ADHDers. Whether those solutions continue to work after the initial novelty wears off is another question.
The app has other features to help with focus and to jumpstart productivity.
Think about something else than gamification. In my experience and the experience of our users (https://workmode.net/) gamification very quickly stops to work.
I wish you all the best as I know how devastating procrastination may be. Stay productive:-)
I haven’t checked the app, but the description says it uses social accountability, focus music and gamification. I’m sure it’s the right combination for some people, even if only for a while (in my experience gamification works only short term).
I disagree. By definition, procrastination means delaying or avoiding actions you should be taking, which is inherently unhealthy. If you're not doing what you ought to, it's counterproductive.
Often, people confuse procrastination with: - resting, - relaxing while playing games, - doing nothing, - giving themselves time to cool of when they have a new idea.
These activities can be beneficial. For instance, after a stressful week, taking time to relax isn’t procrastination—it’s prioritizing mental health. Likewise, if your body needs sleep, getting rest is necessary, not a delay of important tasks. This is what you should be doing.
Even delaying action is sometimes exactly what we should be doing. If I have a billion-dollar idea that demands a significant investment of time, effort, or money, it's crucial to give myself space to think about the idea, and to cool off. That’s not procrastination—it’s a deliberate, thoughtful strategy.
Not providing an option to delete the account was another unwelcome surprise.
I added a goal but it doesn't show up in the "Manage goals" tab.
Navigation is broken on mobile (Chrome, Android), it overflows its container.
The leader board failed to load at least once.
The idea to use full name is a good one as it provides extra accountability, but you should ask for permission to do it. You should also explain, that using full name increases the chances of success.
Please remove my account. I wanted to provide feedback, but I'm not otherwise interested in goal tracking.
Many procrastinators have ADHD, and they often dehydrate.
Choosing a proper music is a good way to stay productive. The music depends on your condition and type of work. If you're sleepy you'll benefit from listening to something that gets you moving - for example you shake your leg, head, or do any other minor movement while listening to the music.
Some items on that list are very short and don't need much mental effort, e.g "How long will I work on the task?" Most people use 30-90 intervals of work and choosing it is a knee-jerk reaction (nothing wrong with that). Also, it's good to have a deadline for each task in case it blows up.
These books are written to sell, not to be read by the target audience. They're far too long, and their structure is bad. For dozens of pages, there is no actionable advice. The reader loses interest by that time, and the book lands on Tsundoku tower. I suspect short self-help books don't sell well, so each book must have 200+ pages, even if it sets up the reader for failure.
Don’t ask others what helped them—it doesn’t matter. People procrastinate for very different reasons. It’s like asking what others did to stop their headaches. Just because they also suffer from headaches doesn't mean you should implement their solution.
One of the first steps is identifying what you feel when you procrastinate. What triggers it? Is it decision paralysis, fear of failure, a sense that you deserve more from life, or the urge to treat yourself? Perhaps your challenge is getting started, or maybe you’re simply overworked.
The solution depends on why you procrastinate. Techniques that focus on organizing work can help with decision paralysis or lack of vision but might be useless if your issue is task initiation or maintaining focus for long periods (in which case, tools like the Pomodoro Technique or timeboxing could be effective). On the other hand, neither of these approaches will work for hedonistic procrastinators, but strategies like making bets with friends or body doubling might yield excellent results.
Source: Helping people overcome procrastination is my job.
Can you elaborate? What kind of bugs? Can you give some examples? I'm scratching my head because I'm not sure if I ever experienced such a bug.
Fun fact: I’d estimate that 50% of users don’t even look at their Productivity Partner while they work. WorkMode runs in another tab, and users rarely switch back to it. They don’t need to see us - they just need to know we’re watching. I’m in that group.
Do you put effort into being polite when ChatGPT makes a mistake and you correct it? Do you try to soften the blow to avoid hurting its "feelings"? Do you feel bad if you respond impolitely? I don't.
> Again, please feel free to ignore this as it is quite possible that it is just me with the attention span of a goldfish with CTE while clicking around new websites.
Most of our clients have issues with attention span, so your feedback is gold :-) Again, thank you!
Also, we do more than just body doubling. Some clients need to follow a morning ritual before starting their work (think meditation, a quick house cleanup, etc.). Sometimes, we perform sanity checks on their to-do lists (people often create tasks that are too vague or vastly underestimate the time needed to complete them). We ask them to apply the 2-minute rule, and so on. It all depends on the client's needs.
However, I doubt it would work for hedonistic procrastinators. When body doubling, hedonistic procrastinators rely on social pressure to be productive. Using AI likely won't work unless the person perceives the AI as a human.