I don't see how this differs from a normal calender in terms of killing procrastination? The problem I have is not that I haven't planned correctly, it's that I do not follow my plan.
I use Any.do (which I like the UX off a great deal) with Reminders for this, at first it felt like it was nagging the hell out of me since I was snoozing so much stuff but then a strange thing happened, I stopped snoozing stuff and started doing it so I could kill the task if it was a quick task.
On the UX side something like that has to be so effortless for me to use (ymmv on what effortless is) that it becomes a habit otherwise I just forget to enter stuff as it occurs to me.
What I'd really like is an unobtrusive bluetooth like headset with natural language processing (think miniaturized persistent Alexa) that didn't need to sync through my phone but could sync with it periodically.
"Hal, task: remind me to buy cat litter, tomorrow morning, 10am, remind me again at 1pm"
"Hal, remind me, Monday morning, 10am, task: check I answered email from FooClient"
Then at 10am Monday morning audibly "You have a task: check you answered email from FooClient" "I've done that"
"Hal: Snooze all notifications for 2 hours" (for when you don't want to be disturbed) and have it cue up anything in that period.
"Hal: while I was snoozing, you missed the following tasks" etc.
Most of the pain of using a phone for task management is that typing stuff in is still annoying, on the technology side we are pretty much in that direction already I've even considered buying an Echo and seeing how far I can get with it's API.
Todo list apps work great for remembering what to do, but don't solve GP's problem one bit.
Maybe we should stop trying to live in the future so desperately and just enjoy the present moment.
[...] and then I was in time again, hearing the watch. It was Grandfather’s and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it’s rather excruciatingly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father’s. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.
— W. Faulkner
> I find scheduling too much kills the pleasure of doing things on a whim as well as feeding a growing angst when you keep on postponing stuff.
I felt that way too, but then I discovered the problem is in the way I understood calendars. I thought they're meant to be used as commitment devices. I don't think that anymore. Instead, I treat my calendar as an optimistic planning tool. I schedule the way I think it would be best to spend my time, then dynamically adjust it as the day goes. Calendar entries are suggestions, defaults, "do this unless you have a better thing to do". This approach - which is pretty much 100% function of my attitude - gives me benefits of scheduling, while leaving me free to ignore the calendar at any time I like, to do something completely on a whim.
Yes it is, but some planning tools can help you to break out of it as long as you don't end up using your planning as procrastination.
I've known a few people that were chronic procrastinators I even had some issues with that myself, I eventually outgrew it by using a bit of additional organization but without "religious" adherence to any method.
For some a more strict method which they follow daily works, for others I've seen it can make things worse they use 2-3 planners/organizers and just spend the time they would normally be wasting on procrastination by procrastinating via planning.
This is one of those "circular cause and consequence" things.. our psychological state is a function with side effects changing the events in our lives, which are themselves functions with side effects changing our psychological state.
In other words, psychological problems can also be viewed as symptoms or consequences of something happening in the lives we live in the physical world which are shaped by the way we plan them.
If it is indeed circular, the question becomes not which one came first but which one is easiest to change and what you can make of both. This is akin to postponing the chicken/egg question, making poached eggs and chicken thighs for lunch, and thinking about the question while you eat.
if you don't follow the plan, you haven't planned correctly. a good plan has built-in mechanisms to make you follow it. OP's project tries to give you one potential mechanism for that.
Nope. Procrastination is a psychological problem, not a planning problem. You can create the most perfect plan, but if you don't have the mental discipline to ignore distractions, combined with mechanisms to manage those you can't ignore, your plan will be worthless.
Would be better in the form of browser extension or desktop app for better tracking time.