I haven't dared install it just yet, but it might be helpful to those of you who - like me - have most of your really distracting stuff running inside screen.
I've tried a few such solutions. Worked for some time but there was one problem: too many clicks.
If I want to use it often (and I do) even 1 click too many kills a feature for me.
So if it's going to be easy AND effective - I'll happily use it.
If you read the post it mentions that apps like self control are imperfect because you have to keep telling it which sites to block. RescueTime has a huge part of the internet already categorized and scored as distracting or not and lets you tune those settings in broad strokes - so if you go to a site you've never even heard of, if it's a distracting site you'll be blocked without having to have entered it.
This can be really useful. I've gotten some good mileage out of Stealth Kiwi [1], a Greasemonkey script with a similar goal. But I find it's even better if I can improve my habits to the point where I don't need such a tool.
Personally I've learned to focus without aids. Though I do have one aid - the phrase "A hanging concentrates the mind." Comes up whenever there's a deadline.
There's lots to be said for aimless thought. It's where innovation comes from.
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[ 2.3 ms ] story [ 32.3 ms ] threadhttp://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2009/05/04/reducing-inter...
I haven't dared install it just yet, but it might be helpful to those of you who - like me - have most of your really distracting stuff running inside screen.
http://visitsteve.com/work/selfcontrol/
1. http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/8616
There's lots to be said for aimless thought. It's where innovation comes from.