The Procrastinator's Timeclock is a simple application designed to help easily-distracted people remain focused on getting a certain amount of work done per day while remaining flexible enough to adapt to changes in motivation, mood, and external stresses.
It does this by working to counter several key contributors to procrastination:
- You never intend to waste your entire day/week/etc. on distractions. Having an easy-to-use timeclock helps you to see how quickly your little distractions are adding up.
- Willpower has nothing to do with will. According to researchers, self-control depends on the ability to distract oneself from undesirable influences... something the timeclock helps with whenever you check how much time is left.
- Sometimes, people procrastinate as a way of avoiding "going on the clock". The timeclock helps you to get used to the idea that, even if you're just trying to finish a book before bedtime, you're always on the clock.
However, as with any solution, discouragement is always a risk. Please keep the following in mind while using the timeclock:
- Initially, you will probably fall short of your goals. I recommend budgeting six hours and expecting to initially average about four hours of productivity per day. (This assumes a schedule which allots eight hours including breaks)
- "Work before pleasure" is ideal, but it's much more likely that you'll start out spending all your leisure and daily routine time before you start working. Don't let this discourage you. Once you get used to having a guaranteed minimum amount of leisure time, it'll become easier to motivate yourself to work first and relax afterward.
- Given a tendency to only want to work when all leisure time is exhausted, it's probably a good idea to budget an extra hour or two for sleep so you won't end up sleep-deprived if you use up all of your daily routine time before you begin preparing for bed.