Anti-websurfing quantification using Google Chrome's history & beeminder

1

Until now, I’ve used Beeminder exclusively at home, but I decided to fight
back against my tendency to slip into web surfing when I hit a hard coding
problem, by creating a goal based on my Google Chrome history.

The original idea was that I would count the number of 30 minute periods
where there was no Chrome history, and count that as one unit in beeminder.
But I changed my mind and decided to use a formula based on each interval
of no surfing (decided by the gaps between Chrome history entries), and put
that into Beeminder, but have it scaled so that 30 minutes of no-surfing
corresponds to 1 pt.

I ended up using the formula: points = minutes / 30 * log30(minutes), which
gives 1 if you put in 30 for minutes. Using x log(x) type of formula
penalizes short periods of productivity more than it rewards long periods,
which I needed, but it still makes long periods of productive work more
valuable on a marginal basis. So I think this works for me. I do exclude
crucial sites like MSDN’s c# reference from the timestamps.

What do you guys think about this idea, and is this something I could
automate using Google Chrome and Beeminder’s api?

Here’s just an example of my timestamps this morning. I will need to dial
my road quite a bit to find the best rate, that’s challenging and realistic.

6:54am
8:25am - 91 min - 4.02 pts
8:36am - 11 min - 0.26 pts
8:53am - 17 min - 0.47 pts
9:55am - 62 min - 2.51 pts
10:08am - 13 min - 0.33 pts
10:54am - 46 min - 1.73 pts
10:56am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:58am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:59am - 1 min - 0 pts
11:27am - 28 min - 0.91 pts
11:36am - 9 min - 0.19 pts

Total: 10.45 pts

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2

Yeah, I like this idea! I fundamentally like the concept of getting more
points for longer periods of focus.

My instinct is to use a quadratic-type curve rather than a logarithmic one.
Also I actually browse the web a lot when in deep focus (e.g., looking up
reference material). Also, wouldn’t this count walking away from the
computer as a period of deep focus? Because you probably don’t want that :slight_smile:

Given that RescueTime has already implemented the parts where it classifies
activities into high/low productivity maybe it would be easier to download
the rescuetime data and post-process it to implement the curve?

On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 12:07 PM, Anthony Peterson anthonypete@gmail.com
wrote:

Until now, I’ve used Beeminder exclusively at home, but I decided to fight
back against my tendency to slip into web surfing when I hit a hard coding
problem, by creating a goal based on my Google Chrome history.

The original idea was that I would count the number of 30 minute periods
where there was no Chrome history, and count that as one unit in beeminder.
But I changed my mind and decided to use a formula based on each interval
of no surfing (decided by the gaps between Chrome history entries), and put
that into Beeminder, but have it scaled so that 30 minutes of no-surfing
corresponds to 1 pt.

I ended up using the formula: points = minutes / 30 * log30(minutes),
which gives 1 if you put in 30 for minutes. Using x log(x) type of formula
penalizes short periods of productivity more than it rewards long periods,
which I needed, but it still makes long periods of productive work more
valuable on a marginal basis. So I think this works for me. I do exclude
crucial sites like MSDN’s c# reference from the timestamps.

What do you guys think about this idea, and is this something I could
automate using Google Chrome and Beeminder’s api?

Here’s just an example of my timestamps this morning. I will need to dial
my road quite a bit to find the best rate, that’s challenging and realistic.

6:54am
8:25am - 91 min - 4.02 pts
8:36am - 11 min - 0.26 pts
8:53am - 17 min - 0.47 pts
9:55am - 62 min - 2.51 pts
10:08am - 13 min - 0.33 pts
10:54am - 46 min - 1.73 pts
10:56am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:58am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:59am - 1 min - 0 pts
11:27am - 28 min - 0.91 pts
11:36am - 9 min - 0.19 pts

Total: 10.45 pts

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3

Why not just use the RescueTime integration?

Essy

On 30 June 2014 12:07, Anthony Peterson anthonypete@gmail.com wrote:

Until now, I’ve used Beeminder exclusively at home, but I decided to fight
back against my tendency to slip into web surfing when I hit a hard coding
problem, by creating a goal based on my Google Chrome history.

The original idea was that I would count the number of 30 minute periods
where there was no Chrome history, and count that as one unit in beeminder.
But I changed my mind and decided to use a formula based on each interval
of no surfing (decided by the gaps between Chrome history entries), and put
that into Beeminder, but have it scaled so that 30 minutes of no-surfing
corresponds to 1 pt.

I ended up using the formula: points = minutes / 30 * log30(minutes),
which gives 1 if you put in 30 for minutes. Using x log(x) type of formula
penalizes short periods of productivity more than it rewards long periods,
which I needed, but it still makes long periods of productive work more
valuable on a marginal basis. So I think this works for me. I do exclude
crucial sites like MSDN’s c# reference from the timestamps.

What do you guys think about this idea, and is this something I could
automate using Google Chrome and Beeminder’s api?

Here’s just an example of my timestamps this morning. I will need to dial
my road quite a bit to find the best rate, that’s challenging and realistic.

6:54am
8:25am - 91 min - 4.02 pts
8:36am - 11 min - 0.26 pts
8:53am - 17 min - 0.47 pts
9:55am - 62 min - 2.51 pts
10:08am - 13 min - 0.33 pts
10:54am - 46 min - 1.73 pts
10:56am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:58am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:59am - 1 min - 0 pts
11:27am - 28 min - 0.91 pts
11:36am - 9 min - 0.19 pts

Total: 10.45 pts

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4

I’m just getting into quantifying my work, so I missed out on Rescue Time.
I don’t want to go overboard, but if its easy to use then that would be
worth it. I will check it out.

On Monday, June 30, 2014 12:41:38 PM UTC-4, Essentiae wrote:

Why not just use the RescueTime integration?

Essy

On 30 June 2014 12:07, Anthony Peterson <antho...@gmail.com <javascript:>>
wrote:

Until now, I’ve used Beeminder exclusively at home, but I decided to
fight back against my tendency to slip into web surfing when I hit a hard
coding problem, by creating a goal based on my Google Chrome history.

The original idea was that I would count the number of 30 minute periods
where there was no Chrome history, and count that as one unit in beeminder.
But I changed my mind and decided to use a formula based on each interval
of no surfing (decided by the gaps between Chrome history entries), and put
that into Beeminder, but have it scaled so that 30 minutes of no-surfing
corresponds to 1 pt.

I ended up using the formula: points = minutes / 30 * log30(minutes),
which gives 1 if you put in 30 for minutes. Using x log(x) type of formula
penalizes short periods of productivity more than it rewards long periods,
which I needed, but it still makes long periods of productive work more
valuable on a marginal basis. So I think this works for me. I do exclude
crucial sites like MSDN’s c# reference from the timestamps.

What do you guys think about this idea, and is this something I could
automate using Google Chrome and Beeminder’s api?

Here’s just an example of my timestamps this morning. I will need to dial
my road quite a bit to find the best rate, that’s challenging and realistic.

6:54am
8:25am - 91 min - 4.02 pts
8:36am - 11 min - 0.26 pts
8:53am - 17 min - 0.47 pts
9:55am - 62 min - 2.51 pts
10:08am - 13 min - 0.33 pts
10:54am - 46 min - 1.73 pts
10:56am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:58am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:59am - 1 min - 0 pts
11:27am - 28 min - 0.91 pts
11:36am - 9 min - 0.19 pts

Total: 10.45 pts

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5

I wrote a script that counts the number of open tabs in Firefox, and I
intend to use it to beemind the number of tabs I have open. I find that I
tend to get totally lost in unfocused distraction when I open dozens of
tabs (and keep them open for days and days), but if reduce the number of
open tabs I feel more in control and am more focused. I wanted to make one
for Chrome (even though I rarely use it), but getting the open tab
information out of the Chrome profile turned out to be less straightforward.

On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 7:07 PM, Anthony Peterson anthonypete@gmail.com
wrote:

Until now, I’ve used Beeminder exclusively at home, but I decided to fight
back against my tendency to slip into web surfing when I hit a hard coding
problem, by creating a goal based on my Google Chrome history.

The original idea was that I would count the number of 30 minute periods
where there was no Chrome history, and count that as one unit in beeminder.
But I changed my mind and decided to use a formula based on each interval
of no surfing (decided by the gaps between Chrome history entries), and put
that into Beeminder, but have it scaled so that 30 minutes of no-surfing
corresponds to 1 pt.

I ended up using the formula: points = minutes / 30 * log30(minutes),
which gives 1 if you put in 30 for minutes. Using x log(x) type of formula
penalizes short periods of productivity more than it rewards long periods,
which I needed, but it still makes long periods of productive work more
valuable on a marginal basis. So I think this works for me. I do exclude
crucial sites like MSDN’s c# reference from the timestamps.

What do you guys think about this idea, and is this something I could
automate using Google Chrome and Beeminder’s api?

Here’s just an example of my timestamps this morning. I will need to dial
my road quite a bit to find the best rate, that’s challenging and realistic.

6:54am
8:25am - 91 min - 4.02 pts
8:36am - 11 min - 0.26 pts
8:53am - 17 min - 0.47 pts
9:55am - 62 min - 2.51 pts
10:08am - 13 min - 0.33 pts
10:54am - 46 min - 1.73 pts
10:56am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:58am - 2 min - 0.01 pts
10:59am - 1 min - 0 pts
11:27am - 28 min - 0.91 pts
11:36am - 9 min - 0.19 pts

Total: 10.45 pts

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