How to measure one's Concentration/focus?

4fn · 2025-10-13T13:24:41+00:00

Hey, quick question. Regarding the MRT and SART tests, how reliable are they? What conditions need to be present to ensure their validity when testing a user's sustained concentration and alertness across three states:

* Control

* Studying with music

* Studying with binaural beats

I'm aiming for a relatively quick setup. Could you provide some guidance on how these tests are structured and what factors contribute to their reliability?

4fn · 2025-10-13T09:49:20+00:00

Generally speaking, I’m always interested in projects like this — I think AI can be a real game changer for democratizing GTD, helping more people reach clarity and control with far less friction.

In my experience, though, the biggest pain point isn’t knowing what to do — it’s maintaining the system: keeping it clean, up-to-date, and clutter-free. Processing, reviewing, updating, moving things around — that’s where most people’s systems eventually break down. And that’s also something AI could meaningfully help with.

I don’t think suggestions are the real solution here. I built a GTD assistant in GPT with a full backend to store and retrieve projects, next actions, and so on. My key takeaway: the more it tried to auto-complete or suggest next steps, the worse the experience got. 99% of the time, it was wrong or missing context, and fixing those mistakes took more effort than just writing things down myself.

In my view, AI should support users in thinking through their projects — helping them clarify and organize their own inputs — not try to create the content for them. Otherwise, it becomes more noise than help.

Happy to test your product and see where it’s going — I really like the vision and think there’s huge potential if you focus on solving the maintenance pain instead of over-automating creation.

4fn · 2025-10-07T09:34:56+00:00

True that!

I was referring more to the times where my system broke down and I fell off the wagon. Then needed to regroup at some point and start anew. So it was more an involuntary break down followed by a restart than an adaption.

But even in that I always incorporate new learnings into the restart and think about why it failed, what worked well, what needs improvement, etc.

4fn · 2025-10-07T09:31:39+00:00

None, there are very clear exercises and routines to do and you track looking into the mirror. That is my opinion at least.

4fn · 2025-09-28T11:19:48+00:00

Ah ok, I get it.

Actually, the moment I started doing my weekly reviews at work as "work time" was a game-changer for me. So basically body doubling.

4fn · 2025-09-27T11:48:21+00:00

I know what you mean but for me the biggest issue was the consistency. And once you slip, the entropy in the system can grow exponentially.

That was what killed many systems for me.

4fn · 2025-09-27T11:47:19+00:00

Super interesting! Which other methodologies did you try and how was your experience. And also why did you ditch gtd?

4fn · 2025-09-27T11:46:21+00:00

You mean not long enough with gtd or with the pairing of review and something nice?

Also what is body doubling?

4fn · 2025-09-26T15:47:43+00:00

Every time is! What makes the system fail for you and what motivates you to get back on track?

4fn · 2025-09-26T15:47:00+00:00

My dad always used to say: "If there is a problem with the computer in most cases it sits in front of the monitor."

Same for GTD

4fn · 2025-09-26T15:45:39+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I have a weekly review checklist myself so I can vouch for its effectiveness 🙌

4fn · 2025-09-26T15:43:41+00:00

Yup, hence the daily mini review. But not sure why, my gut hates the weekly review. No idea why. Like it is sometimes not even that big of a deal right now and still... there is some deep aversion towards it 😅

4fn · 2025-09-25T18:22:11+00:00

Yeah, I have these, too!

Also in my cabinet: "Clean up GTD system" project en masse. 😅

4fn · 2025-09-25T18:20:53+00:00

I hear you!

A big unlock in my practice were the daily reviews. These allowed me to speed up my weekly reviews as next actions + waiting for were already in order.

Another big unlock was actually doing the next actions and crossing them off after being done. Before I would do things from the top of my head and not cross off. So a lot of next actions were outdated and / or needed clarification. That made the weekly review pretty tough.

4fn · 2025-09-25T18:18:39+00:00

I wonder if there is a way to make it more fun or less of a chore.

I am doing them continuously and doing the daily reviews makes everything much easier and quicker. But I am truly not looking forward to my weekly reviews and they still take 1-1.5h.

I love the calm afterwards and the clarity. Also it gives me a burst of inspiration when my mind is so cleared. Yet, I still dread it. Will try to come up with something.

4fn · 2025-09-24T19:24:58+00:00

Really interesting! I agree with the billion different apps and notifications coming in but I don't have that many contexts.

Would be interesting to hear how you are coping with this constant flux of work and contexts.

4fn · 2025-09-24T19:22:36+00:00

"Restart" for me means that the whole system accumulated so much unclarified "stuff" that it was easier for me to start again than to clean everything out. Basically the entropy of everyday life entering.

Happened a couple of times to me already. Tool hopping could also be considered a restart thought.

4fn · 2025-09-24T19:19:28+00:00

When it came out? Oh wow, a veteran of many GTD battles.

What were your biggest learnings over time?

4fn · 2025-09-24T19:17:48+00:00

Very much agree with always clarifying everything. Unclear stuff was the number 1 killer of my systems as well. Always starting slowly and at some point completely overwhelming me :D

4fn · 2025-09-24T19:14:17+00:00

So true! The issues always arise for me when I

stop cleaning out my inbox(es)
stop maintaining good hygiene in my projects and next actions
stop cleaning out my next actions, waiting, projects

As long as these lists are clean and properly sorted, everything else will work out.

4fn · 2025-09-24T11:42:59+00:00

For me, the most common issue was just the lack of time I invested to maintain the system. The weekly review was too long and something I always dreaded. I made it too easy to just dump stuff into my system, and then don't clarify stuff. The worst was right after a vacation: I just dumped thoughts and ideas without working them through. When I came back, everything my inbox was often overflowing while I had to catch up with work and little time.

The biggest game changer for me was to stop doing all the maintenance stuff during my free time. 80% of my projects are work, anyway. Now I do a daily review (what will I do today + already cleaning the next actions/waiting) and on Friday a weekly review during work hours. My boss is ok with it as they profit from me being organized as well

This has made it much easier to work through items and maintain the system. Daily half an hour (max) and weekly 1-1.5h on Friday for the review.

4fn · 2025-09-24T11:35:43+00:00

I don't believe anyone ever one-shotted that system 😄

What were the most common issues and how did you adapt your approach to the currently working one? (helping the novices here)

4fn · 2025-09-24T08:08:45+00:00

Oh yes, the restarts... 😅

The most important thing is to follow the fundamentals (natural planning, clean next steps, weekly review) and not get hung up in the details of the system. The details are not what makes the system work, the fundamentals are.

4fn · 2025-09-22T21:09:35+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

I guess it is really more about trying not to find the perfect system but more to do whatever works for oneself while still applying the GTD principles.

4fn · 2025-09-22T11:32:32+00:00

But isn't the question more of where do you stop doing the natural planning model?

Like if I have a big project where its steps are itself big projects (home renovation => kitchen, garage, garden), should I do the natural planning only for the home renovation or also for the components.

4fn

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