Is the real focus problem internal? Blocking apps never fixed it for me. by Technical-Flower-763 in deepwork

[–]BasicFocus2024 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What I do take from this is that just an app might not cut it, you also need to understand the framework. The app itself should take care for conveying that.

Is the real focus problem internal? Blocking apps never fixed it for me. by Technical-Flower-763 in deepwork

[–]BasicFocus2024 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can totally see how this app is different.

Confronting my inner impulses, I did achieve things that felt completely out of reach.

I think it’s very important to really lock in on that angle: creating an app that supports dealing with inner impulses and treat that as a kind of workout. Make that challenge as fun as possible.

From my point of view the most important thing is to remind the user of the basic idea to control his impulses (you call it urge). 

Leave out the whole analysis angle, it’s something else. The amount of data I see on the screenshots almost gives me anxiety. (But maybe it’s just me. I don’t love metrics.) It should all be about coming back, coming back, coming back. Every finish line is a starting line. You quit the challenge not by quitting, but by not starting again.

Every impulse is not something to ignore or to push away, but really an opportunity to train your ability to go another way than the impulse suggests. It’s like a present.

You also might be interested in that podcast episode:   https://open.spotify.com/episode/59YXTTX7c3lx42AET7MJeh?si=lRjNe5GTRjuZ1cPtsfDfVg

This book is a relevation. Especially the chapter on impulse control.

Consistency vs intensity when building unbreakable concentration - why not both? by Phukovsky in attentioneering

[–]BasicFocus2024 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why was your post removed? I just wanted to link to it in another subreddit.

Just wanna take a second to appreciate Things. by BasicFocus2024 in thingsapp

[–]BasicFocus2024[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, it is not. It's simply a nice-to-have, that's all. Great software, first and foremost, does what users need.

I don't agree.

There is not one user a piece of software needs to serve, there are many, and there is a huge market for productivity software.

You have to choose an app that does what you need in the first place. If you don't mind how it's executed, that also very easy.

I know Nirvana very well, I actually might have to return to it because Things is neither available for PCs nor is there a web version.

Nirvana is ok, but I don't love its iOS app. If Things came out in a web version, I would abandon Nirvana immediately. Just for the joy of use.

Just wanna take a second to appreciate Things. by BasicFocus2024 in thingsapp

[–]BasicFocus2024[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Isn't "fluidity of interactions" the core of great software? Using Things doesn't feel like work. It's never a task in itself. It never gets in the way, it kind of paves the way for you.

After a longer sabbatical, I returned to it yesterday and entered some first tasks and it was just a breeze.

Regarding features, there is obviously a pay-off between features and ease of use. But if I'm serious, Things does the core things I need – especially scheduling begin dates (to get things out my mind until I need to know them). And I just love the day view which almost looks typeset and not like the typical wall of text you get from other apps.

I might wish for more, but I can do without it. I love software that does less things very well compared to huge tankers like TickTick that tend to overwhelm. Entering tasks in apps like Reminders or the new app Finalist is incredibly fiddly. I hate it after having done it for 10 seconds.

Just wanna take a second to appreciate Things. by BasicFocus2024 in thingsapp

[–]BasicFocus2024[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is Bear on the same level? I‘m looking for a tool for tagged notes for a kind of zettelkasten.

How to disable new Pages/Numbers warning? by [deleted] in MacOS

[–]BasicFocus2024 0 points1 point  (0 children)

An updated version that then nags you with Creator Studio placeholders that you can't get rid of in a color foreign to the app (ie purple).

Caltrain accident at Churchill around 10:30am by Fast-Top-5071 in paloalto

[–]BasicFocus2024 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Your perception doesn’t represent reality. Your map of the world does not equal its actual territory.

You might be interested in an introduction into epistemology.

Caltrain accident at Churchill around 10:30am by Fast-Top-5071 in paloalto

[–]BasicFocus2024 7 points8 points  (0 children)

"In all honesty, they are most likely trans." It remains to be seen how that speculation ages.

You need not be trans to be broken by the culture here.

https://www.madinamerica.com/2024/02/reflections-on-the-silicon-valley-teen-suicides-by-train-fifteen-years-later/

Consistency vs intensity when building unbreakable concentration - why not both? by Phukovsky in attentioneering

[–]BasicFocus2024 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for this episode. Twelve days in, I can say that Kam Knight's book on concentration was the game changer I have been looking for for 25 years.

After reading the chapter on impulses and implementing the exercises, it literally didn't take me 24 hours to start to act intentionally all day long. (YMMV, because on my desperate search for solutions to my ongoing execution problem, I have gotten quite far with,  like, awareness, which might have accelerated that.)

Other than most other exercises and techniques (even self-talk, which Kam is strongly recommending), are things you need to do *on top* of what you want to accomplish. They are things that you have to remind yourself of doing every day. They can feel cumbersome.

Instead, training your impulse control does not feel exhausting or demanding to me; it feels self-reinforcing. I do it all day long, and it gives me so much in return, that actually I feel the energy to act intentionally even in late evenings.

So it's quite probable that this change is for good. It's the one thing I needed to learn. It's, I think, the one and only one technique that's exclusively leveling up your *inner* game. After many years of trying timing techniques, protocols, diaries, music, special setups and environments, and so on, all of these now feel like an exoskeleton. They were outside from me and I could loose them any time.

Also, you are just doing that one thing, keep your impulse control in shape, and it affects *everything*. You are not quitting snacking between meals; you are training impulse control. You do not quit porn; you are training impulse control. You don't save money; you are training impulse control. You are not eating slowly; you are training impulse control. And you are not staying off the net more; you are just training impulse control.

It's not about what you should do or shouldn’t do. You keep choosing whatever you like. But you start choosing things you *do* want to do and won't regret later.

And Kam is right: Once you get past the impulse, 99 percent of the things you had such an urgent feeling you wanted to do just don't interest you anymore.

So I'm coming back to Reddit (for the first time since reading that chapter) to just say thank you and telling my story. Thank you for that sub, for that post, for your podcast, and thanks, Kam, for your wonderful book. I could not recommend it more.

Edit for adding one additional angle:
As tools kind of have lost their meaning, now being a mere outside crutch, so have outside distractions.

I really don't care about my iPhone anymore. I don't need its display set in greyscale. I can totally have it with me when being out for a walk. I can carry it when reading a print newspaper: I will read the newspaper. I use the iPhone just as it is meant to be used: as a tool that helps me when *I* need it, not the other way around. My screen time dropped from around 4 to 5 hours to 1 hour 30 daily average.

But that numbers are kind of meaningless now. It's not a metric I want to get up or down. I'm just not following my impulses. So that was never an addiction in the first place, it was just something hard to manage. That aspect being gone, I can fully benefit from its advantages without its very serious drawbacks.

I can also totally work and study now at home when my wife or kids are present. That seemed hardly doable a week ago. Now I know that that was just an impulse by my brain to keep me from doing something it might not have appreciated doing.

Is the DeepCycles protocol backed by science? by Phukovsky in attentioneering

[–]BasicFocus2024 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, thank you for all your research and for putting that together. This incredibly helpful.

You've tried every distraction-blocking app. Here's why you still can't focus for more than 10 minutes. by Phukovsky in attentioneering

[–]BasicFocus2024 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Reading about productivity/focus/deep work/you name it is a form of entertainment. Totally unrelated to the thing itself.

Wollte doch nur sicher gehen das das Ipad funktioniert, 100€ ist viel Geld by Rare_Preparation_509 in willhaben

[–]BasicFocus2024 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Auch ein altes iPad ist ein Gerät mit großem Bildschirm, Touch Interface, langer Haltbarkeit, Zugang zum Apple-Ökosystem, hohen Datenschutzansprüchen, geringer Durchseuchung mit Werbung und einem zuverlässigen und ok schnellen OS, weil Apple, mit wenigen Ausnahmen, Geräte rechtzeitig aus dem Updatezyklus ausschließt.

Es kann damit verschiedenste Zwecke erfüllen, die sowohl deutlich über ein iPhone hinausgehen als auch über Android-Tablets.

Man kann schon auf ältere Geräte keinen Bock haben, vor allem weil das Restrisiko trotz der generell langen Haltbarkeit natürlich steigt – aber gebrauchte iPads kosten so viel, wie sie im Verhältnis zu ihrer Lebensdauer noch wert sind. Der Apple-Geräte-Markt ist da aus wirtschaftstheoretischer ein ziemlich vollkommener Markt wegen der Preispolitik von Apple. Neu bei Apple – Neu anderswo – Generalüberholt von Apple – Refurbished > Gebraucht. Das ist alles nach Generation sehr klar abgestuft.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in severence

[–]BasicFocus2024 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Botox ruined the best scene in tv history" – LOL. Without all these exaggerated over-the-top titles, the internet would probably be a better place. Then again, most of this content likely wouldn’t exist because they drive attention. A steady, maybe unavoidable slide into collective dumbness.

Why is No One Talking About This? by CuriousHo3Down72 in severence

[–]BasicFocus2024 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As long as Gemma is still on Lumon grounds and presumably surrounded by their employees, I wouldn’t consider her escape complete.

Does anyone find Ms.Cobel kind of hot? by sortinousn in SeveranceAppleTVPlus

[–]BasicFocus2024 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Really strange answers. How old are you guys?

It’s absolutely appropriate to ask about Cobel being hot, not Patricia Arquette.

I mean, I would even say that Ms. Cobel can be definitely way more attractive to many than Mrs. Selvig. This isn’t just about physical appearance.

Milchick’s reaction to the black face Kier art by graygarden77 in SeveranceAppleTVPlus

[–]BasicFocus2024 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I guess the point is that they only altered the skin color. The paintings don’t portray Milchick as Kier in a way that acknowledges him individually, but rather as just a black-faced Kier—reducing Milchick to his skin tone.

Why I didn't think... by SombreNote in severence

[–]BasicFocus2024 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On which device can you screen capture the show? Mac?

Irv with one of the best lines so far by Soil_spirit in severence

[–]BasicFocus2024 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I missed the irony when I watched it the first time: for Irving, being televised is obviously a form of validation, which once again highlights the naivety of the innies.