Ask HN: What apps do you use to focus? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What apps do you use to focus?

6 pointssoftwaredoug13 comments

As I find myself distracted this morning on this very website...

Do you have a favorite app that cuts out distracting websites, helps you stay on task, helps you avoid lots of task switching, etc?

I use OSX, but really I'm curious what people find useful.

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I made a CLI called nowify that might help:

[0] https://taylor.town/nowify

[1] https://github.com/surprisetalk/nowify

It’s pretty janky, but it might give you some ideas :)

These two helped me the most:

1. SelfControl - with complete block of all social media, news sites, etc. (took a while to compile a very long and thorough list, but now it's pretty solid)

2. News Feed Eradicator extension for Firefox - to prevent being distracted when I intentionally go on social media for specific info.

I am focused right now.

Focused on HN.

Of course that means I am not focused on one of the projects I am working on.

It doesn't mean I am not focused.

Recognizing the difference between being focused and working on a project is useful...or rather, I find recognizing the difference to be useful.

Distractions are relative. A hobby project is a distraction from paying work. Email is a distraction from hanging out on HN. Updating Firefox is a distraction from Gmail. Gmail is a distraction from a hobby project...

Interruptions are what break my flow states. Flow is about rhythm. For me, flow might be: focus a bit on the project, a bit on HN, a bit on the project, and so on.

Anyway, the way I get more time focused is by working more hours. Thinking about efficiency is a distraction. Good luck.

- SelfControl to block whole websites for up to a day. It's very effective and I have no idea of how to disable it once started

- uBlock Origin rules to block feeds and other distractions.

- Some redirect extension that takes me to the notifications page, skipping the feed

- Unhook to hide anything I don't want on YouTube: sidebar, comments, recommendations in search etc. Now I just have the videos from channels I'm subscribed to.

I list a few more things I've done to reduce distractions and make technology calmer: https://nicolasbouliane.com/blog/silence

I am using Firefox extension "LeechBlock" . Free and very flexible. Also for better analysis, my laptop time spending using activity watch

- https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/

- https://activitywatch.net/

I just made my own CLI that gives me a higher score if I don't switch apps in OSX. Kind of a different take on the problem

https://github.com/softwaredoug/attend

My best focus app is Spotify and the same playlist I play everyday. Second best focus app is Apple Reminders, basically, when I have an urge to check something, I put it on a list and get back to the list once I have time in the evening.

“Freedom” is a good paid option on Android. I am not satisfied with their iOS support as it did not integrate well with Firefox mobile but the experience was good overall on desktop and Android

https://crushentropy.com/

https://getcoldturkey.com/

NextDNS parental control / denylist

I use this. At this moment I am in the process of writing a wrapper on their API to manage access control rules (time based, group based, etc.) for me and my family.

Webpack !

It requires focus to details to debug.

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