Extremely simple productivity tool I wrote | Hacker News Reader

Extremely simple productivity tool I wrote

twogoals.com

26 pointszacman8515 comments

Open articleView on HN

pfft, mine's better

http://blog.extension.ws/onegoal.html

I trump you all with my webapp: Nihilism!

I'm curious:

What tasks did you manage to procrastinate on while putting this app together?

Reminds me of TASCK. http://tasck.com/

+ve. I really enjoyed how the text area border and shading appear and disappear when you tab between them. And I am not easily amused.

-ve. On a HD monitor, it almost doesn't fit on the screen. Trying in in a smaller window, only the first goal appears - even after closing the instructions.

-ve. When closing the instructions, the text of the goals is not moved (though the headings are). I'm using FF 2.0.0.7, linux.

However, your main focus is the productivity of the app, and any remarks I make on that would uninformed, as I think it would take a trial of at least several days to tell (1) how helpful the "two goals at a time" approach actually is for a specific person; and (2) how helpful this tool is for supporting that approach. But I like the idea, and I like the execution.

Hmmm....I like the idea of having two goals to switch back and forth from, but I'm not seeing how your app is any different than putting a post-it note on my computer screen. In fact, a post-it note on the computer screen might be a little bit better about keeping me focused, simply because it would always be there, staring me in the face accusingly as I procrastinate by reading HN.

Of course, the fact that I have to babysit myself may be more of a reflection on me than on your app...

Why no more than 2 goals? Is this number arbitrary or is there any reason for it?

Not arbitrary per se. I like having two goals because then I can directly compare the goals when making a decision on what to try to accomplish. It becomes an either-or decision. If I am in the mood to complete something quickly, I can look at both goals and pick the one with the shorter time investment. I actively try to position goals against each other so that they help me stay balanced (e.g. one goal is fitness related, one goal is work related). Having 3 goals tends to introduce too many points of comparison for me.

Why not just one goal (viz. much more immediate focus)?

One goal means you have no choice in what you are focusing on. At least with two goals, I can pick the better of the two to fit a specific mood or situation I am in (e.g. maker's versus manager's time per Paul's recent essay).

I cannot answer the question, but I immediately thought of 4-hour-work-week, because in that book the author describes a system involving 2 goals which I found quite handy.

You choose 2 goals, than you set a dreamline for each one. The first gets a dreamline 6 months from now, the other 12 months down the road. Now the nice thing is, 6 months later you can set another 12 months goal and will have again, one 6 month goal and one 12 month goal. That's nice because that way you have one project more in the beginning phase and another one in the finishing phase.

I'm going to have to try it out and see if it inspires me, but you win the first test, which is that this is a very, very sexy app.

The design is broken on IE8

The support for standards is broken on IE8.

Not bad! :-) A nice mnemonic tool, anyway. See it once and never forget.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com