laurieherault

Hi!

I made Make It Count, a daily email to fight procrastination.

It sends you a daily reminder with how much time is left in your year, quarter, month, and week.

I built it because procrastination often comes from feeling like there’s always more time later. This is a small way to make time more visible, reflect on what matters, and start the day with more intention.

I’d love to hear what you think :)

Hello, I’m the author of the post. I spent quite a bit of time looking for an interesting way to execute my tasks, and I ended up building this small free tool. I hope it will be useful to others!

Feel free to share any improvement ideas or let me know if you spot any bugs.

I think we can talk about feedback without input, yes. The reality of feedback is actually very broad. If we just look at the world of video games, and consider all the different types that exist, there is a wide variety of feedback, some more or less tied to input. In some cases, like narrative games, the feedback is much less connected to the input than in a fast-paced FPS, for example.

I had never thought of that, but you are right, it is a solid source of information.

Thank you!

Yes, that is exactly it. It is annoying to do, but it works well, at least for me.

And it works :) Thank you for your comment

I wrote this article precisely because, for once, I found a system that actually sticks. I have been using it every day for six months, whereas other systems would last a week at most.

That says a lot about you, unfortunately :P But hey, who cares, you killed a dragon!

Yes, it is possible, but if you print directly from the browser, you cannot tell the printer when to cut.

In my case, I generate multiple images and tell the printer when to cut. I also have another version without images. The difference between the two is that the version without images is two to three times faster to print.

I really like the way your mom does things.

I completely relate to what you are saying. I do not use Markdown, but I use Notion because I find it just a little more convenient. But with my software, I am actually trying to reach the same speed as Markdown for advanced users. I have coded dozens of keyboard shortcuts to handle all the actions.

Yes, the feeling of having made progress is so important. That little thing can sometimes be enough to lift our spirits on a day when we are not feeling our best.

Yes, that is exactly it. The tools may be different, but the essence of the method is exactly the same.

I have been procrastinating for a very long time about trying Emacs :P

Because we are all hooked on a few games that have a better gameplay loop and tons of feedback, with a touch of random and intermittent rewards :)

Epson TM-T20III is the entry-level model from Epson

Yes, I was familiar with the concept of INCUP, but I had never seen it summarized so simply.

As for variable interval rewards, I knew about the concept, but I did not include it in the article because it is already too long, and also because I have not yet found a smart way to use it in my productivity system.

I agree with everything you wrote. But for many people, giving up what entertains them is just not possible. That is why I think my method can really help those people. Thank you for this very interesting comment.

As for the paper, you need to choose one that is bisphenol-free, otherwise it is obviously problematic.

Since the article was written, bisphenol has been banned in Europe.

I think a lot of people are unaware of it :(

Thank you for your comment. Seeing the tickets in the jar really helps you feel like you actually got something done.

I cannot wait for you to try my app :)

So approximately 6 months, considering that I usually give up on any somewhat complex system after about a week.

But I agree with everything you said, especially the part about how we need to be minimalist when it comes to task management.

Yes, but it is very difficult because in the end we all have slightly different workflows. But I have a few interesting ideas that I hope people will like soon :)

My problem is that when I use an LLM to break a task into smaller steps, it is often not exactly how I would have done it. But maybe that is because in my line of work, it is difficult to feed all the right parameters into the system for an effective breakdown.

I will do it ;)

I totally agree with you!

The idea is precisely to use our daily tasks to build momentum for the more difficult ones.

I am working on my app to break tasks down into smaller tasks (you can see it in the video at the end of the article). I think I will release it in the next few weeks :)

Let me give you a concrete example. I have one ticket per exercise I need to do. A 20 minute workout session equals about 4 to 6 tickets.

It is easier to get started when the task is very small.

But I also used to procrastinate a lot with post-its. That is why the ticket printer is the perfect solution for me.