# Beeminding Long Periods of Time; or, The Automatic Uncle **URL:** \ **Category:** Akrasia\ **Created:** [June 7, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/beeminding-long-periods-of-time-or-the-automatic-uncle/5427 "2019-06-07T20:59:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![narthur](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/narthur/32/5113_2.png) [@narthur](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/narthur)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/beeminding-long-periods-of-time-or-the-automatic-uncle/5427/1 "2019-06-07T20:59:48Z")
I use Beeminder to beemind my worktime, generally quite successfully. However, it’s super easy to procrastinate myself into a bad spot. It’s not very clear when I must start in order to make my deadline. Would it be better if Beeminder knew this was a time goal, and could derail me immediately if I get to a point where I don’t have enough time before the deadline to put in the required amount of time? Ideally, could it also bug me based on this secondary deadline instead of the primary one? Like, “Buddy, you have got to get on this in the next 25 minutes or it won’t be physically possible to put in the time you need by 6:30 this evening.” Does anyone else experience this pain point? How have you worked around it? ---
**Author:** ![phi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/phi/32/2586_2.png) [@phi](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/phi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/beeminding-long-periods-of-time-or-the-automatic-uncle/5427/2 "2019-06-07T23:42:12Z")
I hear ya! ---
**Author:** ![lanthala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lanthala](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/lanthala)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/beeminding-long-periods-of-time-or-the-automatic-uncle/5427/3 "2019-06-08T21:50:23Z")
Dynamic timing of zeno reminders would be fantastic. The way I work around it is to have my time-based goals have their zeno reminders early enough in the day that I have warning (so my “work 3.5 hours a day” goal sends me a reminder if it’s a beemergency day around 2pm, so I have time to crank out some work before the end of the workday). ---
**Author:** ![zedmango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c67d28/32.png) [@zedmango](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/zedmango)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 1:26pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/beeminding-long-periods-of-time-or-the-automatic-uncle/5427/4 "2019-06-26T13:26:19Z")
Can’t you just make the start time your deadline? ---
**Author:** ![narthur](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/narthur/32/5113_2.png) [@narthur](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/narthur)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/beeminding-long-periods-of-time-or-the-automatic-uncle/5427/5 "2019-06-26T13:52:37Z")
I have made separate start time goals, but it really doesn’t address the core issue, being that the time I need to start varies from day-to-day. If I have a goal of doing something for 4 hours / day, and do it 6 hours one day, I only need to do it 2 hours the next day. If my deadline is 6pm, that means the first day I needed to start no later than 2pm, but the second day I could wait until 4pm. ---
**Author:** ![mufflon](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/mufflon/32/2394_2.png) [@mufflon](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/mufflon)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/beeminding-long-periods-of-time-or-the-automatic-uncle/5427/6 "2019-06-30T01:47:08Z")
I’d love it if there was a “maximum rate per day” field in beeminder. Like, I can’t meditate more than 20 minutes a day. Then have a sustainable calculation of what I should get done each day and a proper warning, when I should start to get stuff done. Considering, there is a hh:mm:ss understanding in Beeminder already, it should be possible to get this calculation. Also quite related to the commitment debt idea. ---
**Author:** ![zedmango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c67d28/32.png) [@zedmango](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/zedmango)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/beeminding-long-periods-of-time-or-the-automatic-uncle/5427/7 "2019-06-30T02:06:30Z")
You can do something similar with the “cap1” aggday method. > [@Request: "cap1" aggday](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/request-cap1-aggday/4994): > > I’m requesting an aggday method that returns the max of 1 and the sum of all entries that day - in other words, it caps the sum at 1. This would allow you to create a daily max for how many times you do something. So if you wanted to allow up to 4 times a day, you just enter 0.25 each time. Skatesum does something like this but only if you’re right at the edge. I want something that caps the sum all the time.