# low-friction ad-hoc beeminding

**URL:** <https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374>\
**Category:** uncategorized\
**Created:** [July 28, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374 "2012-07-28T23:16:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/1 "2012-07-28T23:16:17Z")

</div>

I could benefit a lot from a low-overhead way to create temporary but  
highly binding ad hoc beeminder goals for things that need to happen  
"soon" or “asap” or even “eventually”.  
I want to retain as much flexibility as possible but commit to at  
least keeping it from getting swapped out, so to speak, of my brain’s  
short-term memory.  
So like a near-zero-cognitive-overhead way to be like “ok, self, i’m  
on the hook to average at least 5 minutes a day on X until it’s done”.

This could be anything from “get the API published” to “book a  
scandinavian ice-skating tour”. Anything that’s important but that has  
no built in deadline.

Does that sound like something others would have value for?

–  
[http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://"Daniel Reeves"  
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Reiley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@David\_Reiley](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/David_Reiley)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/2 "2012-07-29T16:32:20Z")

</div>

Isn’t this what David Allen’s Getting Things Done system is supposed to do, with its Weekly Review and annual reviews of big priorities?

Admittedly, I never get around to doing this weekly review, so maybe what I need is a Beeminder contract to do that. But regarding your idea, it’s almost inconceivable to me that there is a low-cognitive-load way to do what you say you want by putting money on the line (unless it’s to get yourself to review all your priorities on a regular basis as Allen recommends).

David

On Jul 28, 2012, at 4:16 PM, Daniel Reeves wrote:

> I could benefit a lot from a low-overhead way to create temporary but  
> highly binding ad hoc beeminder goals for things that need to happen  
> “soon” or “asap” or even “eventually”.  
> I want to retain as much flexibility as possible but commit to at  
> least keeping it from getting swapped out, so to speak, of my brain’s  
> short-term memory.  
> So like a near-zero-cognitive-overhead way to be like “ok, self, i’m  
> on the hook to average at least 5 minutes a day on X until it’s done”.
> 
> This could be anything from “get the API published” to “book a  
> scandinavian ice-skating tour”. Anything that’s important but that has  
> no built in deadline.
> 
> Does that sound like something others would have value for?
> 
> –  
> [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
> Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

–  
My home page: [http://www.davidreiley.com](http://www.davidreiley.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/3 "2012-07-30T01:14:13Z")

</div>

We had a great discussion related to this right here almost a year and  
a half ago, with subject “one-more-day syndrome” which culminated in  
an awesome proposal by Bethany, based on ideas by you and Dan  
Goldstein:

“We should revive our shared calendar and set up a blanket contract on  
it such that any items we put on the calendar are subject to the  
doubling fines rule. [$1 the first day overdue, then $2, then $4, etc]  
Then once we agree to that […] realifying deadlines becomes as simple as  
putting items on the calendar (which for me admittedly is still a not  
insignificant hurdle, but a lot smaller).”

I’d like our imminent API to make it easy to implement that!

On Sun, Jul 29, 2012 at 9:32 AM, David Reiley [david@davidreiley.com](mailto:david@davidreiley.com) wrote:

> Isn’t this what David Allen’s Getting Things Done system is supposed to do,  
> with its Weekly Review and annual reviews of big priorities?
> 
> Admittedly, I never get around to doing this weekly review, so maybe what I  
> need is a Beeminder contract to do that. But regarding your idea, it’s  
> almost inconceivable to me that there is a low-cognitive-load way to do what  
> you say you want by putting money on the line (unless it’s to get yourself  
> to review all your priorities on a regular basis as Allen recommends).
> 
> David
> 
> On Jul 28, 2012, at 4:16 PM, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> 
> I could benefit a lot from a low-overhead way to create temporary but  
> highly binding ad hoc beeminder goals for things that need to happen  
> “soon” or “asap” or even “eventually”.  
> I want to retain as much flexibility as possible but commit to at  
> least keeping it from getting swapped out, so to speak, of my brain’s  
> short-term memory.  
> So like a near-zero-cognitive-overhead way to be like “ok, self, i’m  
> on the hook to average at least 5 minutes a day on X until it’s done”.
> 
> This could be anything from “get the API published” to “book a  
> scandinavian ice-skating tour”. Anything that’s important but that has  
> no built in deadline.
> 
> Does that sound like something others would have value for?
> 
> –  
> [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
> Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)
> 
> –  
> My home page: [http://www.davidreiley.com](http://www.davidreiley.com)

–  
[http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Paul\_Fenwick](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/paul_fenwick/32/682_2.png) [@Paul\_Fenwick](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Paul_Fenwick)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/4 "2012-07-31T01:07:08Z")

</div>

Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here, and  
I suspect this is it. 🙂

So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored me  
one point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
more. (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder  
lets me set how many points I score each week before I start losing money.  
🙂

I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a few  
ideas on how to encourage me:

- Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they stick  
around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do the  
task I’ve been putting off.
- As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
around. This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a  
task than complete it.
- Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they stick  
around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,  
“Ideas”) are excluded.
- Quests. Each day, my system randomly picks a task (weighted by staleness)  
and puts a bounty on it if completed within a given timeframe. If I  
complete that, I may get another quest, etc.

Since I’m essentially using Getting Things Done, any task I have recorded  
_should_ be something I can execute (it’s a “next step”), so I’m unlikely  
to get a 24-hour bounty on “eliminate stupidity from the Internet”.

I’m looking at probably using a combination of staleness penalties (which  
will encourage me to move on old tasks in general) and quests (which are  
attractive alternatives to being productive).

Of course, tasks with actual deadlines will have severe penalties if those  
deadlines are missed (or postponed too close to their end-date, since I  
have a chronic habit of using socialmancy to avoid work).

I’ll write more later (I think Daniel and Bethany want me to do a guest  
blog post), but right now I actually have a hard work deadline that needs  
to be attended to. If you’re curious at poking around my code (which is  
still very much an alpha work-in-progress) you can find it at:

```
https://github.com/pfenwick/remember-the-beeminder

```

Cheerio,

Paul

On Saturday, July 28, 2012 4:16:17 PM UTC-7, Daniel Reeves wrote:

> I could benefit a lot from a low-overhead way to create temporary but  
> highly binding ad hoc beeminder goals for things that need to happen  
> “soon” or “asap” or even “eventually”.  
> I want to retain as much flexibility as possible but commit to at  
> least keeping it from getting swapped out, so to speak, of my brain’s  
> short-term memory.  
> So like a near-zero-cognitive-overhead way to be like “ok, self, i’m  
> on the hook to average at least 5 minutes a day on X until it’s done”.
> 
> This could be anything from “get the API published” to “book a  
> scandinavian ice-skating tour”. Anything that’s important but that has  
> no built in deadline.
> 
> Does that sound like something others would have value for?
> 
> –  
> [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
> Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mirolabs](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/mirolabs/32/2458_2.png) [@mirolabs](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/mirolabs)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 8:12am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/5 "2012-08-11T08:12:07Z")

</div>

I’d love it, sounds really useful to me.

> I could benefit a lot from a low-overhead way to create temporary but  
> highly binding ad hoc beeminder goals for things that need to happen  
> “soon” or “asap” or even “eventually”.  
> I want to retain as much flexibility as possible but commit to at  
> least keeping it from getting swapped out, so to speak, of my brain’s  
> short-term memory.  
> So like a near-zero-cognitive-overhead way to be like “ok, self, i’m  
> on the hook to average at least 5 minutes a day on X until it’s done”.

> This could be anything from “get the API published” to “book a  
> scandinavian ice-skating tour”. Anything that’s important but that has  
> no built in deadline.

> Does that sound like something others would have value for?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/6 "2012-08-13T05:24:56Z")

</div>

I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
of the spirit of this to be valuable.

The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
week.

How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):

1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
2. Add an initial datapoint like  
^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
along with a new task, like  
^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
can take over the world) then like  
^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.

If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.

My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
a task for tomorrow!

On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com) wrote:

> Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here, and  
> I suspect this is it. 🙂
> 
> So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored me one  
> point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much more.  
> (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder lets me  
> set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> 
> I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a few  
> ideas on how to encourage me:
> 
> - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they stick  
> around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do the  
> task I’ve been putting off.
> - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick around.  
> This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task than  
> complete it.
> - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they stick  
> around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,  
> “Ideas”) are excluded.
> - Quests. Each day, my system randomly picks a task (weighted by staleness)  
> and puts a bounty on it if completed within a given timeframe. If I  
> complete that, I may get another quest, etc.
> 
> Since I’m essentially using Getting Things Done, any task I have recorded  
> _should_ be something I can execute (it’s a “next step”), so I’m unlikely to  
> get a 24-hour bounty on “eliminate stupidity from the Internet”.
> 
> I’m looking at probably using a combination of staleness penalties (which  
> will encourage me to move on old tasks in general) and quests (which are  
> attractive alternatives to being productive).
> 
> Of course, tasks with actual deadlines will have severe penalties if those  
> deadlines are missed (or postponed too close to their end-date, since I have  
> a chronic habit of using socialmancy to avoid work).
> 
> I’ll write more later (I think Daniel and Bethany want me to do a guest blog  
> post), but right now I actually have a hard work deadline that needs to be  
> attended to. If you’re curious at poking around my code (which is still very  
> much an alpha work-in-progress) you can find it at:
> 
> ```
> https://github.com/pfenwick/remember-the-beeminder
> 
> ```
> 
> Cheerio,
> 
> Paul
> 
> On Saturday, July 28, 2012 4:16:17 PM UTC-7, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> 
> > I could benefit a lot from a low-overhead way to create temporary but  
> > highly binding ad hoc beeminder goals for things that need to happen  
> > “soon” or “asap” or even “eventually”.  
> > I want to retain as much flexibility as possible but commit to at  
> > least keeping it from getting swapped out, so to speak, of my brain’s  
> > short-term memory.  
> > So like a near-zero-cognitive-overhead way to be like “ok, self, i’m  
> > on the hook to average at least 5 minutes a day on X until it’s done”.
> > 
> > This could be anything from “get the API published” to “book a  
> > scandinavian ice-skating tour”. Anything that’s important but that has  
> > no built in deadline.
> > 
> > Does that sound like something others would have value for?
> > 
> > –  
> > [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
> > Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

–  
[http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/mel/32/103_2.png) [@mel](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/mel)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/7 "2012-08-13T16:15:58Z")

</div>

Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while, it  
didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when it  
was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a  
deadline. But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to  
do x y or z, you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things  
like only writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no  
system to force them done.

On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:

> I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> 
> The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> week.
> 
> How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> 
> 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> along with a new task, like  
> ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> can take over the world) then like  
> ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> 
> If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> 
> My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> a task for tomorrow!
> 
> On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick \<[paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)\<javascript:;\>\>  
> wrote:
> 
> > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here,  
> > and  
> > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > 
> > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored me  
> > one  
> > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > more.  
> > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder lets  
> > me  
> > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > 
> > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a few  
> > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > 
> > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > stick  
> > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do  
> > the  
> > task I’ve been putting off.
> > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > around.  
> > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task  
> > than  
> > complete it.
> > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > stick  
> > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,  
> > “Ideas”) are excluded.
> > - Quests. Each day, my system randomly picks a task (weighted by  
> > staleness)  
> > and puts a bounty on it if completed within a given timeframe. If I  
> > complete that, I may get another quest, etc.
> > 
> > Since I’m essentially using Getting Things Done, any task I have recorded  
> > _should_ be something I can execute (it’s a “next step”), so I’m  
> > unlikely to  
> > get a 24-hour bounty on “eliminate stupidity from the Internet”.
> > 
> > I’m looking at probably using a combination of staleness penalties (which  
> > will encourage me to move on old tasks in general) and quests (which are  
> > attractive alternatives to being productive).
> > 
> > Of course, tasks with actual deadlines will have severe penalties if  
> > those  
> > deadlines are missed (or postponed too close to their end-date, since I  
> > have  
> > a chronic habit of using socialmancy to avoid work).
> > 
> > I’ll write more later (I think Daniel and Bethany want me to do a guest  
> > blog  
> > post), but right now I actually have a hard work deadline that needs to  
> > be  
> > attended to. If you’re curious at poking around my code (which is still  
> > very  
> > much an alpha work-in-progress) you can find it at:
> > 
> > ```
> > https://github.com/pfenwick/remember-the-beeminder
> > 
> > ```
> > 
> > Cheerio,
> > 
> > Paul
> > 
> > On Saturday, July 28, 2012 4:16:17 PM UTC-7, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > 
> > > I could benefit a lot from a low-overhead way to create temporary but  
> > > highly binding ad hoc beeminder goals for things that need to happen  
> > > “soon” or “asap” or even “eventually”.  
> > > I want to retain as much flexibility as possible but commit to at  
> > > least keeping it from getting swapped out, so to speak, of my brain’s  
> > > short-term memory.  
> > > So like a near-zero-cognitive-overhead way to be like “ok, self, i’m  
> > > on the hook to average at least 5 minutes a day on X until it’s done”.
> > > 
> > > This could be anything from “get the API published” to “book a  
> > > scandinavian ice-skating tour”. Anything that’s important but that has  
> > > no built in deadline.
> > > 
> > > Does that sound like something others would have value for?
> > > 
> > > –  
> > > [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
> > > Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)
> 
> –  
> [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
> Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

–  
Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/8 "2012-08-13T18:57:01Z")

</div>

Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.

On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
[melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:

> Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while, it  
> didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when it  
> was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a deadline.  
> But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y or z,  
> you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system to  
> force them done.
> 
> On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> 
> > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > 
> > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > week.
> > 
> > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > 
> > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > along with a new task, like  
> > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > can take over the world) then like  
> > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > 
> > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > 
> > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > a task for tomorrow!
> > 
> > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here,  
> > > and  
> > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > 
> > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored me  
> > > one  
> > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > more.  
> > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder lets  
> > > me  
> > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > 
> > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > few  
> > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > 
> > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > stick  
> > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do  
> > > the  
> > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > around.  
> > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task  
> > > than  
> > > complete it.
> > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > stick  
> > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,  
> > > “Ideas”) are excluded.
> > > - Quests. Each day, my system randomly picks a task (weighted by  
> > > staleness)  
> > > and puts a bounty on it if completed within a given timeframe. If I  
> > > complete that, I may get another quest, etc.
> > > 
> > > Since I’m essentially using Getting Things Done, any task I have  
> > > recorded  
> > > _should_ be something I can execute (it’s a “next step”), so I’m  
> > > unlikely to  
> > > get a 24-hour bounty on “eliminate stupidity from the Internet”.
> > > 
> > > I’m looking at probably using a combination of staleness penalties  
> > > (which  
> > > will encourage me to move on old tasks in general) and quests (which are  
> > > attractive alternatives to being productive).
> > > 
> > > Of course, tasks with actual deadlines will have severe penalties if  
> > > those  
> > > deadlines are missed (or postponed too close to their end-date, since I  
> > > have  
> > > a chronic habit of using socialmancy to avoid work).
> > > 
> > > I’ll write more later (I think Daniel and Bethany want me to do a guest  
> > > blog  
> > > post), but right now I actually have a hard work deadline that needs to  
> > > be  
> > > attended to. If you’re curious at poking around my code (which is still  
> > > very  
> > > much an alpha work-in-progress) you can find it at:
> > > 
> > > ```
> > > https://github.com/pfenwick/remember-the-beeminder
> > > 
> > > ```
> > > 
> > > Cheerio,
> > > 
> > > Paul
> > > 
> > > On Saturday, July 28, 2012 4:16:17 PM UTC-7, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > > 
> > > > I could benefit a lot from a low-overhead way to create temporary but  
> > > > highly binding ad hoc beeminder goals for things that need to happen  
> > > > “soon” or “asap” or even “eventually”.  
> > > > I want to retain as much flexibility as possible but commit to at  
> > > > least keeping it from getting swapped out, so to speak, of my brain’s  
> > > > short-term memory.  
> > > > So like a near-zero-cognitive-overhead way to be like “ok, self, i’m  
> > > > on the hook to average at least 5 minutes a day on X until it’s done”.
> > > > 
> > > > This could be anything from “get the API published” to “book a  
> > > > scandinavian ice-skating tour”. Anything that’s important but that has  
> > > > no built in deadline.
> > > > 
> > > > Does that sound like something others would have value for?
> > > > 
> > > > –  
> > > > [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
> > > > Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)
> > 
> > –  
> > [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
> > Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)
> 
> –  
> Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

–  
[http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/mel/32/103_2.png) [@mel](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/mel)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/9 "2012-08-14T05:38:33Z")

</div>

It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals. Weight  
loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.

On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:

> Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
> And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.
> 
> On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
> [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while,  
> > it  
> > didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when  
> > it  
> > was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> > procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a  
> > deadline.  
> > But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y  
> > or z,  
> > you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> > writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system  
> > to  
> > force them done.
> > 
> > On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > 
> > > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > > 
> > > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > > week.
> > > 
> > > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > > 
> > > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > > along with a new task, like  
> > > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > > can take over the world) then like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > > 
> > > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > > 
> > > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > > a task for tomorrow!
> > > 
> > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick \<[paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)
> > 
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on  
> > > > here,  
> > > > and  
> > > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored  
> > > > me  
> > > > one  
> > > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > > more.  
> > > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder  
> > > > lets  
> > > > me  
> > > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > > few  
> > > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > > 
> > > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and  
> > > > do  
> > > > the  
> > > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > > around.  
> > > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a  
> > > > task  
> > > > than  
> > > > complete it.
> > > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,

–  
Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Philip\_Hellyer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/philip_hellyer/32/675_2.png) [@Philip\_Hellyer](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Philip_Hellyer)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 9:12am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/10 "2012-08-14T09:12:43Z")

</div>

The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay before  
dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m keen to dial  
up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a frustrating delay on the way  
down, too, but that’s the whole point!)

[The Road Dial and the Akrasia Horizon | Beeminder Blog](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/) suggests that some of us will resist  
dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act  
together by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’ energy  
burst only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see the future  
slope change. During the week, I might discover that it’s sustainable and  
want to maintain my (still current) slope.

It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases, because  
sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood to force the  
pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or whatever. ‘Right  
now’ isn’t always the best option.

I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that  
encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me build up  
too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least twice a week, the  
fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t change my desire to do  
another 2 next week. These goals are characterised by a weekly rate and an  
arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.

In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do method a  
try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.

First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using Mark  
Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds spiritually  
akin to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task.

Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any one gives  
me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one of each. By  
bundling these into a single goal, I escape the problems inherent in  
beeminding a once-per-day–7-days-per-week activity. (Obviously, setting a  
slope of 21 per week would negate that solution; my current slope is 10.5,  
and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)

Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per week on  
this focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy for progress,  
it’s relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.

Philip  
[twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)

On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:

> It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals. Weight  
> loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.
> 
> On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> 
> > Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
> > And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.
> > 
> > On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
> > [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a  
> > > while, it  
> > > didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list  
> > > when it  
> > > was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> > > procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a  
> > > deadline.  
> > > But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y  
> > > or z,  
> > > you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> > > writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no  
> > > system to  
> > > force them done.
> > > 
> > > On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > > 
> > > > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > > > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > > > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > > > 
> > > > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > > > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > > > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > > > week.
> > > > 
> > > > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > > > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > > > 
> > > > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > > > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > > > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > > > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > > > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > > > along with a new task, like  
> > > > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > > > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > > > can take over the world) then like  
> > > > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > > > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > > > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > > > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > > > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > > > 
> > > > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > > > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > > > 
> > > > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > > > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > > > a task for tomorrow!
> > > > 
> > > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick \<  
> > > > [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)\>  
> > > > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on  
> > > > > here,  
> > > > > and  
> > > > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > > > 
> > > > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just  
> > > > > scored me  
> > > > > one  
> > > > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth  
> > > > > much  
> > > > > more.  
> > > > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder  
> > > > > lets  
> > > > > me  
> > > > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > > > 
> > > > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > > > few  
> > > > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > > > 
> > > > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > > > stick  
> > > > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and  
> > > > > do  
> > > > > the  
> > > > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > > > around.  
> > > > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a  
> > > > > task  
> > > > > than  
> > > > > complete it.
> > > > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > > > stick  
> > > > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,
> 
> –  
> Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mirolabs](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/mirolabs/32/2458_2.png) [@mirolabs](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/mirolabs)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 11:16am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/11 "2012-08-14T11:16:36Z")

</div>

Thanks Philip,

great ideas. I hope they will get adopted into beeminder.

Alex

> The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay  
> before dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m  
> keen to dial up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a  
> frustrating delay on the way down, too, but that’s the whole point!)

> [http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/suggests](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/suggests) that some of us will resist  
> dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act  
> together by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’  
> energy burst only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see  
> the future slope change. During the week, I might discover that  
> it’s sustainable and want to maintain my (still current) slope.

> It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases,  
> because sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood  
> to force the pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or  
> whatever. ‘Right now’ isn’t always the best option.

> I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that  
> encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me  
> build up too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least  
> twice a week, the fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t  
> change my desire to do another 2 next week. These goals are  
> characterised by a weekly rate and an arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.

> In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do  
> method a try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.

> First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using  
> Mark Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds  
> spiritually akin to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task.

> Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any  
> one gives me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one  
> of each. By bundling these into a single goal, I escape the  
> problems inherent in beeminding a once-per-day–7-days-per-week  
> activity. (Obviously, setting a slope of 21 per week would negate  
> that solution; my current slope is 10.5, and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)

> Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per  
> week on this focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy  
> for progress, it’s relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.

> Philip  
> [twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)

> On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals.  
> Weight loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.

> On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:

> Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
> And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.
> 
> On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
> [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while, it  
> > didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when it  
> > was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> > procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a deadline.  
> > But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y or z,  
> > you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> > writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system to  
> > force them done.
> > 
> > On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > 
> > > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > > 
> > > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > > week.
> > > 
> > > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > > 
> > > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > > along with a new task, like  
> > > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > > can take over the world) then like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > > 
> > > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > > 
> > > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > > a task for tomorrow!
> > > 
> > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here,  
> > > > and  
> > > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored me  
> > > > one  
> > > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > > more.  
> > > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder lets  
> > > > me  
> > > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > > few  
> > > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > > 
> > > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do  
> > > > the  
> > > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > > around.  
> > > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task  
> > > > than  
> > > > complete it.
> > > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Apneet\_Jolly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/apneet_jolly/32/669_2.png) [@Apneet\_Jolly](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Apneet_Jolly)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/12 "2012-08-14T13:37:03Z")

</div>

I’d really like a way to program in rises/drops in the road in the future. IE – I’m going to burning man this week, stop tracking my goals.  
I’ve currently stopped using beeminder right now due to this or another easy way to pause goals 😕

-Jolly

From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf Of Philip Hellyer  
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 5:13 AM  
To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding

The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay before dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m keen to dial up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a frustrating delay on the way down, too, but that’s the whole point!)

[The Road Dial and the Akrasia Horizon | Beeminder Blog](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/) suggests that some of us will resist dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act together by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’ energy burst only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see the future slope change. During the week, I might discover that it’s sustainable and want to maintain my (still current) slope.

It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases, because sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood to force the pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or whatever. ‘Right now’ isn’t always the best option.

I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me build up too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least twice a week, the fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t change my desire to do another 2 next week. These goals are characterised by a weekly rate and an arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.

In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do method a try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.

First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using Mark Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds spiritually akin to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task.

Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any one gives me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one of each. By bundling these into a single goal, I escape the problems inherent in beeminding a once-per-day–7-days-per-week activity. (Obviously, setting a slope of 21 per week would negate that solution; my current slope is 10.5, and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)

Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per week on this focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy for progress, it’s relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.

Philip  
[twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)[http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)

On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow \<[melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)[mailto:melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)\> wrote:  
It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals. Weight loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.

On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:  
Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.

On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
\<[melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)[mailto:melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)\> wrote:

> Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while, it  
> didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when it  
> was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a deadline.  
> But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y or z,  
> you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system to  
> force them done.
> 
> On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> 
> > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > 
> > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > week.
> > 
> > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > 
> > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)[http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > along with a new task, like  
> > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > can take over the world) then like  
> > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > 
> > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > 
> > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > a task for tomorrow!
> > 
> > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick \<[paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)[mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)\>  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here,  
> > > and  
> > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > 
> > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored me  
> > > one  
> > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > more.  
> > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder lets  
> > > me  
> > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > 
> > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > few  
> > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > 
> > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > stick  
> > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do  
> > > the  
> > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > around.  
> > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task  
> > > than  
> > > complete it.
> > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > stick  
> > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,

–  
Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Philip\_Hellyer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/philip_hellyer/32/675_2.png) [@Philip\_Hellyer](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Philip_Hellyer)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/13 "2012-08-14T16:50:22Z")

</div>

I think the key phrase there is “in the future”. I’d also like to be able  
to tell Beeminder that I’m going on holiday and to pause my roads for a  
given date range. But it would defeat the purpose and benefit of Beeminder  
for me if I could pause the road immediately on a stressful day.

To manage this right now, I put a reminder in my calendar a week ahead of  
the event. I’ll put an equivalent reminder to dial it back up a week  
before the break’s end, but that’s less urgent. Not ideal, not  
particularly onerous.

Philip

On 14 August 2012 14:37, Apneet Jolly [jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com) wrote:

> I’d really like a way to program in rises/drops in the road in the  
> future. IE – I’m going to burning man this week, stop tracking my goals.\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> I’ve currently stopped using beeminder right now due to this or another  
> easy way to pause goals :/\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> -Jolly\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> _From:_ [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] _On  
> Behalf Of Philip Hellyer  
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 5:13 AM  
> To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding_\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay before  
> dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m keen to dial  
> up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a frustrating delay on the way  
> down, too, but that’s the whole point!)\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> [The Road Dial and the Akrasia Horizon | Beeminder Blog](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/) suggests that some of us will resist  
> dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act  
> together by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’ energy  
> burst only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see the future  
> slope change. During the week, I might discover that it’s sustainable and  
> want to maintain my (still current) slope.\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases, because  
> sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood to force the  
> pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or whatever. ‘Right  
> now’ isn’t always the best option.\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> * * *
> 
> I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that  
> encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me build up  
> too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least twice a week, the  
> fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t change my desire to do  
> another 2 next week. These goals are characterised by a weekly rate and an  
> arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> * * *
> 
> In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do method a  
> try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using Mark  
> Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds spiritually  
> akin to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task. \*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any one  
> gives me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one of each. By  
> bundling these into a single goal, I escape the problems inherent in  
> beeminding a once-per-day–7-days-per-week activity. (Obviously, setting a  
> slope of 21 per week would negate that solution; my current slope is 10.5,  
> and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per week on  
> this focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy for progress,  
> it’s relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *
> 
> * * *
> 
> Philip\*\*\*\*
> 
> [twitter.com/PhilipHellyer\*\*\*\*](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer **** )
> 
> * * *
> 
> On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)  
> wrote:\*\*\*\*
> 
> It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals. Weight  
> loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.\*\*\*\*
> 
> On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:\*\*\*\*
> 
> Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
> And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.
> 
> On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
> [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while,  
> > it  
> > didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when  
> > it  
> > was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> > procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a  
> > deadline.  
> > But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y  
> > or z,  
> > you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> > writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system  
> > to  
> > force them done.
> > 
> > On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > 
> > > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > > 
> > > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > > week.
> > > 
> > > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > > 
> > > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > > along with a new task, like  
> > > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > > can take over the world) then like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > > 
> > > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > > 
> > > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > > a task for tomorrow!
> > > 
> > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick \<[paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)
> > 
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on  
> > > > here,  
> > > > and  
> > > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored  
> > > > me  
> > > > one  
> > > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > > more.  
> > > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder  
> > > > lets  
> > > > me  
> > > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > > few  
> > > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > > 
> > > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and  
> > > > do  
> > > > the  
> > > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > > around.  
> > > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a  
> > > > task  
> > > > than  
> > > > complete it.
> > > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,
> > > > 
> > > > * * *
> 
> * * *
> 
> –  
> Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)\*\*\*\*
> 
> * * *

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/14 "2012-08-14T20:26:37Z")

</div>

> great ideas. I hope they will get adopted into beeminder.

they all are now on our list! (or already were – Philip hit on a  
couple of the biggies from [uservoice.beeminder.com](http://uservoice.beeminder.com) )

thanks everyone; loving this discussion!

–  
[http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Apneet\_Jolly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/apneet_jolly/32/669_2.png) [@Apneet\_Jolly](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Apneet_Jolly)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/15 "2012-08-14T23:37:00Z")

</div>

That relies on me rememebering to turn it back on….and also assumes im within internet range ect and not supremely busy.  
(I recently defaulted on a LOT of goals by having the time to do the goals…but not log it into beeminder….and then later derailing entirely)  
-Jolly

From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf Of Philip Hellyer  
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 12:50 PM  
To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding

I think the key phrase there is “in the future”. I’d also like to be able to tell Beeminder that I’m going on holiday and to pause my roads for a given date range. But it would defeat the purpose and benefit of Beeminder for me if I could pause the road immediately on a stressful day.

To manage this right now, I put a reminder in my calendar a week ahead of the event. I’ll put an equivalent reminder to dial it back up a week before the break’s end, but that’s less urgent. Not ideal, not particularly onerous.

Philip

On 14 August 2012 14:37, Apneet Jolly \<[jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com)[mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com)\> wrote:  
I’d really like a way to program in rises/drops in the road in the future. IE – I’m going to burning man this week, stop tracking my goals.  
I’ve currently stopped using beeminder right now due to this or another easy way to pause goals 😕

-Jolly

From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf Of Philip Hellyer  
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 5:13 AM  
To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding

The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay before dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m keen to dial up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a frustrating delay on the way down, too, but that’s the whole point!)

[The Road Dial and the Akrasia Horizon | Beeminder Blog](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/) suggests that some of us will resist dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act together by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’ energy burst only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see the future slope change. During the week, I might discover that it’s sustainable and want to maintain my (still current) slope.

It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases, because sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood to force the pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or whatever. ‘Right now’ isn’t always the best option.

I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me build up too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least twice a week, the fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t change my desire to do another 2 next week. These goals are characterised by a weekly rate and an arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.

In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do method a try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.

First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using Mark Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds spiritually akin to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task.

Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any one gives me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one of each. By bundling these into a single goal, I escape the problems inherent in beeminding a once-per-day–7-days-per-week activity. (Obviously, setting a slope of 21 per week would negate that solution; my current slope is 10.5, and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)

Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per week on this focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy for progress, it’s relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.

Philip  
[twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)[http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)

On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow \<[melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)[mailto:melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)\> wrote:  
It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals. Weight loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.

On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:  
Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.

On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
\<[melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)[mailto:melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)\> wrote:

> Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while, it  
> didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when it  
> was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a deadline.  
> But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y or z,  
> you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system to  
> force them done.
> 
> On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> 
> > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > 
> > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > week.
> > 
> > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > 
> > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)[http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > along with a new task, like  
> > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > can take over the world) then like  
> > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > 
> > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > 
> > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > a task for tomorrow!
> > 
> > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick \<[paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)[mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)\>  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here,  
> > > and  
> > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > 
> > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored me  
> > > one  
> > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > more.  
> > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder lets  
> > > me  
> > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > 
> > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > few  
> > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > 
> > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > stick  
> > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do  
> > > the  
> > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > around.  
> > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task  
> > > than  
> > > complete it.
> > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > stick  
> > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,

–  
Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/16 "2012-08-14T23:52:24Z")

</div>

For those reading along I thought I’d re-emphasize that we never count  
a derailment as legit if you did the work but just didn’t enter the  
data in time.  
If that happens just enter the retroactive data (even though the graph  
is frozen) and then reply to the legitimacy check email to say that it  
was just a matter of not getting the data in on time.

So, Jolly, I’m nervous that Beeminder did you wrong with your  
derailments. Unless your “then later derailing entirely” means that  
they turned out to be legit.  
It sounds like the solution for you will be to automate the data  
entry. Let’s keep talking about this!

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 4:37 PM, Apneet Jolly [jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com) wrote:

> That relies on me rememebering to turn it back on….and also assumes im  
> within internet range ect and not supremely busy.
> 
> (I recently defaulted on a LOT of goals by having the time to do the  
> goals…but not log it into beeminder….and then later derailing entirely)
> 
> -Jolly
> 
> From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf  
> Of Philip Hellyer  
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 12:50 PM
> 
> To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> 
> I think the key phrase there is “in the future”. I’d also like to be able  
> to tell Beeminder that I’m going on holiday and to pause my roads for a  
> given date range. But it would defeat the purpose and benefit of Beeminder  
> for me if I could pause the road immediately on a stressful day.
> 
> To manage this right now, I put a reminder in my calendar a week ahead of  
> the event. I’ll put an equivalent reminder to dial it back up a week before  
> the break’s end, but that’s less urgent. Not ideal, not particularly  
> onerous.
> 
> Philip
> 
> On 14 August 2012 14:37, Apneet Jolly [jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com) wrote:
> 
> I’d really like a way to program in rises/drops in the road in the future.  
> IE – I’m going to burning man this week, stop tracking my goals.
> 
> I’ve currently stopped using beeminder right now due to this or another easy  
> way to pause goals 😕
> 
> -Jolly
> 
> From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf  
> Of Philip Hellyer  
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 5:13 AM  
> To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> 
> The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay before  
> dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m keen to dial  
> up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a frustrating delay on the way  
> down, too, but that’s the whole point!)
> 
> [The Road Dial and the Akrasia Horizon | Beeminder Blog](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/) suggests that some of us will resist  
> dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act together  
> by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’ energy burst  
> only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see the future slope  
> change. During the week, I might discover that it’s sustainable and want to  
> maintain my (still current) slope.
> 
> It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases, because  
> sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood to force the  
> pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or whatever. ‘Right  
> now’ isn’t always the best option.
> 
> I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that  
> encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me build up  
> too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least twice a week, the  
> fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t change my desire to do  
> another 2 next week. These goals are characterised by a weekly rate and an  
> arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.
> 
> In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do method a  
> try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.
> 
> First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using Mark  
> Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds spiritually akin  
> to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task.
> 
> Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any one gives  
> me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one of each. By  
> bundling these into a single goal, I escape the problems inherent in  
> beeminding a once-per-day–7-days-per-week activity. (Obviously, setting a  
> slope of 21 per week would negate that solution; my current slope is 10.5,  
> and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)
> 
> Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per week on this  
> focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy for progress, it’s  
> relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.
> 
> Philip
> 
> [twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)
> 
> On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals. Weight  
> loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.
> 
> On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> 
> Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
> And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.
> 
> On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
> [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while,  
> > it  
> > didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when  
> > it  
> > was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> > procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a  
> > deadline.  
> > But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y or  
> > z,  
> > you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> > writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system  
> > to  
> > force them done.
> > 
> > On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > 
> > > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > > 
> > > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > > week.
> > > 
> > > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > > 
> > > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > > along with a new task, like  
> > > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > > can take over the world) then like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > > 
> > > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > > 
> > > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > > a task for tomorrow!
> > > 
> > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here,  
> > > > and  
> > > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored  
> > > > me  
> > > > one  
> > > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > > more.  
> > > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder  
> > > > lets  
> > > > me  
> > > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > > few  
> > > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > > 
> > > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do  
> > > > the  
> > > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > > around.  
> > > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task  
> > > > than  
> > > > complete it.
> > > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,
> 
> –  
> Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

–  
[http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Paul\_Fenwick](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/paul_fenwick/32/682_2.png) [@Paul\_Fenwick](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Paul_Fenwick)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/17 "2012-08-15T05:55:12Z")

</div>

I would deeply love the ability to set changes in the future as well;  
Burning Man is a great example of something where I’m likely to forget  
to flatten a road a week beforehand, or re-enable it afterwards.

As for submitting data-points, I’ve found both the android app and the  
API to be supremely useful. Being able to type at my command-line:

$ bmndr floss 1

Is _much_ easier than navigating to the website. Since Daniel and  
Bethany have told me that they don’t mind me showing off code that  
uses the new API, I can tell you that it’s as easy as (in Perl):

```
my ($user, $auth_token, $datapoint, $comment); # You'll need to

```

fill these in. 🙂

```
my $mech = WWW::Mechanize( autocheck => 1 )

$mech->post(
    "http://beeminder.com/api/v1/users/$user/goals/$goal/datapoints.json?auth_token=$auth_token",
    {
        timestamp => time(),
        value => $datapoint,
        comment => $comment
    }
);

```

The code I actually use for submission is at: [bmndr code · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/3356632)

Cheerio,

Paul

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 4:37 PM, Apneet Jolly [jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com) wrote:

> That relies on me rememebering to turn it back on….and also assumes im  
> within internet range ect and not supremely busy.
> 
> (I recently defaulted on a LOT of goals by having the time to do the  
> goals…but not log it into beeminder….and then later derailing entirely)
> 
> -Jolly
> 
> From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf  
> Of Philip Hellyer  
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 12:50 PM
> 
> To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> 
> I think the key phrase there is “in the future”. I’d also like to be able  
> to tell Beeminder that I’m going on holiday and to pause my roads for a  
> given date range. But it would defeat the purpose and benefit of Beeminder  
> for me if I could pause the road immediately on a stressful day.
> 
> To manage this right now, I put a reminder in my calendar a week ahead of  
> the event. I’ll put an equivalent reminder to dial it back up a week before  
> the break’s end, but that’s less urgent. Not ideal, not particularly  
> onerous.
> 
> Philip
> 
> On 14 August 2012 14:37, Apneet Jolly [jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com) wrote:
> 
> I’d really like a way to program in rises/drops in the road in the future.  
> IE – I’m going to burning man this week, stop tracking my goals.
> 
> I’ve currently stopped using beeminder right now due to this or another easy  
> way to pause goals 😕
> 
> -Jolly
> 
> From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf  
> Of Philip Hellyer  
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 5:13 AM  
> To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> 
> The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay before  
> dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m keen to dial  
> up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a frustrating delay on the way  
> down, too, but that’s the whole point!)
> 
> [The Road Dial and the Akrasia Horizon | Beeminder Blog](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/) suggests that some of us will resist  
> dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act together  
> by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’ energy burst  
> only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see the future slope  
> change. During the week, I might discover that it’s sustainable and want to  
> maintain my (still current) slope.
> 
> It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases, because  
> sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood to force the  
> pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or whatever. ‘Right  
> now’ isn’t always the best option.
> 
> I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that  
> encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me build up  
> too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least twice a week, the  
> fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t change my desire to do  
> another 2 next week. These goals are characterised by a weekly rate and an  
> arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.
> 
> In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do method a  
> try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.
> 
> First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using Mark  
> Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds spiritually akin  
> to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task.
> 
> Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any one gives  
> me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one of each. By  
> bundling these into a single goal, I escape the problems inherent in  
> beeminding a once-per-day–7-days-per-week activity. (Obviously, setting a  
> slope of 21 per week would negate that solution; my current slope is 10.5,  
> and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)
> 
> Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per week on this  
> focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy for progress, it’s  
> relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.
> 
> Philip
> 
> [twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)
> 
> On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals. Weight  
> loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.
> 
> On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> 
> Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
> And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.
> 
> On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
> [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while,  
> > it  
> > didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when  
> > it  
> > was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> > procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a  
> > deadline.  
> > But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y or  
> > z,  
> > you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> > writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system  
> > to  
> > force them done.
> > 
> > On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > 
> > > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > > 
> > > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > > week.
> > > 
> > > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > > 
> > > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > > along with a new task, like  
> > > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > > can take over the world) then like  
> > > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > > 
> > > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > > 
> > > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > > a task for tomorrow!
> > > 
> > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here,  
> > > > and  
> > > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored  
> > > > me  
> > > > one  
> > > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > > more.  
> > > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder  
> > > > lets  
> > > > me  
> > > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > > 
> > > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > > few  
> > > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > > 
> > > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do  
> > > > the  
> > > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > > around.  
> > > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task  
> > > > than  
> > > > complete it.
> > > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > > stick  
> > > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,
> 
> –  
> Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/18 "2012-08-15T06:16:27Z")

</div>

this is super sexy.

I agree about navigating to the website, but replying to bot emails  
feels like similarly low overhead to me, and the email serves as a  
reminder to actually do the flossing (or whatever).  
In gmail:  
[enter][r]^ 1[tab][space]

7 keystrokes! 🙂

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:55 PM, Paul Fenwick [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com) wrote:

> I would deeply love the ability to set changes in the future as well;  
> Burning Man is a great example of something where I’m likely to forget  
> to flatten a road a week beforehand, or re-enable it afterwards.
> 
> As for submitting data-points, I’ve found both the android app and the  
> API to be supremely useful. Being able to type at my command-line:
> 
> $ bmndr floss 1
> 
> Is _much_ easier than navigating to the website. Since Daniel and  
> Bethany have told me that they don’t mind me showing off code that  
> uses the new API, I can tell you that it’s as easy as (in Perl):
> 
> ```
> my ($user, $auth_token, $datapoint, $comment); # You'll need to
> 
> ```
> 
> fill these in. 🙂
> 
> ```
> my $mech = WWW::Mechanize( autocheck => 1 )
> 
> $mech->post(
> "http://beeminder.com/api/v1/users/$user/goals/$goal/datapoints.json?auth_token=$auth_token",
> {
> timestamp => time(),
> value => $datapoint,
> comment => $comment
> }
> );
> 
> ```
> 
> The code I actually use for submission is at: [bmndr code · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/3356632)
> 
> Cheerio,
> 
> Paul
> 
> On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 4:37 PM, Apneet Jolly [jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com) wrote:
> 
> > That relies on me rememebering to turn it back on….and also assumes im  
> > within internet range ect and not supremely busy.
> > 
> > (I recently defaulted on a LOT of goals by having the time to do the  
> > goals…but not log it into beeminder….and then later derailing entirely)
> > 
> > -Jolly
> > 
> > From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf  
> > Of Philip Hellyer  
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 12:50 PM
> > 
> > To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> > Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> > 
> > I think the key phrase there is “in the future”. I’d also like to be able  
> > to tell Beeminder that I’m going on holiday and to pause my roads for a  
> > given date range. But it would defeat the purpose and benefit of Beeminder  
> > for me if I could pause the road immediately on a stressful day.
> > 
> > To manage this right now, I put a reminder in my calendar a week ahead of  
> > the event. I’ll put an equivalent reminder to dial it back up a week before  
> > the break’s end, but that’s less urgent. Not ideal, not particularly  
> > onerous.
> > 
> > Philip
> > 
> > On 14 August 2012 14:37, Apneet Jolly [jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com) wrote:
> > 
> > I’d really like a way to program in rises/drops in the road in the future.  
> > IE – I’m going to burning man this week, stop tracking my goals.
> > 
> > I’ve currently stopped using beeminder right now due to this or another easy  
> > way to pause goals 😕
> > 
> > -Jolly
> > 
> > From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf  
> > Of Philip Hellyer  
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 5:13 AM  
> > To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> > Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> > 
> > The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay before  
> > dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m keen to dial  
> > up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a frustrating delay on the way  
> > down, too, but that’s the whole point!)
> > 
> > [The Road Dial and the Akrasia Horizon | Beeminder Blog](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/) suggests that some of us will resist  
> > dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act together  
> > by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’ energy burst  
> > only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see the future slope  
> > change. During the week, I might discover that it’s sustainable and want to  
> > maintain my (still current) slope.
> > 
> > It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases, because  
> > sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood to force the  
> > pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or whatever. ‘Right  
> > now’ isn’t always the best option.
> > 
> > I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that  
> > encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me build up  
> > too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least twice a week, the  
> > fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t change my desire to do  
> > another 2 next week. These goals are characterised by a weekly rate and an  
> > arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.
> > 
> > In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do method a  
> > try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.
> > 
> > First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using Mark  
> > Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds spiritually akin  
> > to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task.
> > 
> > Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any one gives  
> > me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one of each. By  
> > bundling these into a single goal, I escape the problems inherent in  
> > beeminding a once-per-day–7-days-per-week activity. (Obviously, setting a  
> > slope of 21 per week would negate that solution; my current slope is 10.5,  
> > and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)
> > 
> > Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per week on this  
> > focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy for progress, it’s  
> > relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.
> > 
> > Philip
> > 
> > [twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)
> > 
> > On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> > 
> > It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals. Weight  
> > loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.
> > 
> > On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > 
> > Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
> > And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.
> > 
> > On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
> > [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while,  
> > > it  
> > > didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when  
> > > it  
> > > was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> > > procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a  
> > > deadline.  
> > > But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y or  
> > > z,  
> > > you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> > > writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system  
> > > to  
> > > force them done.
> > > 
> > > On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > > 
> > > > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > > > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > > > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > > > 
> > > > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > > > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > > > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > > > week.
> > > > 
> > > > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > > > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > > > 
> > > > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > > > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > > > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > > > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > > > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > > > along with a new task, like  
> > > > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > > > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > > > can take over the world) then like  
> > > > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > > > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > > > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > > > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > > > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > > > 
> > > > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > > > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > > > 
> > > > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > > > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > > > a task for tomorrow!
> > > > 
> > > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)  
> > > > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here,  
> > > > > and  
> > > > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > > > 
> > > > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored  
> > > > > me  
> > > > > one  
> > > > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > > > more.  
> > > > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder  
> > > > > lets  
> > > > > me  
> > > > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > > > 
> > > > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > > > few  
> > > > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > > > 
> > > > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > > > stick  
> > > > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do  
> > > > > the  
> > > > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > > > around.  
> > > > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task  
> > > > > than  
> > > > > complete it.
> > > > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > > > stick  
> > > > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,
> > 
> > –  
> > Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

–  
[http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Isaac\_Schankler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Isaac\_Schankler](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Isaac_Schankler)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:54am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/19 "2012-08-15T10:54:32Z")

</div>

It would be super cool to be able to set regular periodic changes as well.  
One of the super helpful things for me about time management techniques  
like pomodoro is that there are built-in breaks, and these are  
psychologically extremely valuable, knowing that as long as you start now  
you get to take a break x minutes down the line. It would be rad to build  
that into a nice metarhythm with beeminder, minutes inside days inside  
weeks! Like this whole “5 days on 2 days off” thing I’ve heard so many  
rumors about.

It’s true that I can always build up a backlog to simulate this, but if I  
really need beeminder, then I’m probably not going to end up with a  
backlog, so that’s no good, psychologically or otherwise.

i

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 11:16 PM, Daniel Reeves [dreeves@beeminder.com](mailto:dreeves@beeminder.com)wrote:

> this is super sexy.
> 
> I agree about navigating to the website, but replying to bot emails  
> feels like similarly low overhead to me, and the email serves as a  
> reminder to actually do the flossing (or whatever).  
> In gmail:  
> [enter][r]^ 1[tab][space]
> 
> 7 keystrokes! 🙂
> 
> On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:55 PM, Paul Fenwick [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)  
> wrote:
> 
> > I would deeply love the ability to set changes in the future as well;  
> > Burning Man is a great example of something where I’m likely to forget  
> > to flatten a road a week beforehand, or re-enable it afterwards.
> > 
> > As for submitting data-points, I’ve found both the android app and the  
> > API to be supremely useful. Being able to type at my command-line:
> > 
> > $ bmndr floss 1
> > 
> > Is _much_ easier than navigating to the website. Since Daniel and  
> > Bethany have told me that they don’t mind me showing off code that  
> > uses the new API, I can tell you that it’s as easy as (in Perl):
> > 
> > ```
> > my ($user, $auth_token, $datapoint, $comment); # You'll need to
> > 
> > ```
> > 
> > fill these in. 🙂
> > 
> > ```
> > my $mech = WWW::Mechanize( autocheck => 1 )
> > 
> > $mech->post(
> > "
> > 
> > ```
> 
> [http://beeminder.com/api/v1/users/$user/goals/$goal/datapoints.json?auth\_token=$auth\_token](http://beeminder.com/api/v1/users/$user/goals/$goal/datapoints.json?auth_token=$auth_token)  
> ",
> 
> > ```
> > {
> > timestamp => time(),
> > value => $datapoint,
> > comment => $comment
> > }
> > );
> > 
> > ```
> > 
> > The code I actually use for submission is at:  
> > [bmndr code · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/3356632)
> > 
> > Cheerio,
> > 
> > Paul
> > 
> > On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 4:37 PM, Apneet Jolly [jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com)  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > That relies on me rememebering to turn it back on….and also assumes im  
> > > within internet range ect and not supremely busy.
> > > 
> > > (I recently defaulted on a LOT of goals by having the time to do the  
> > > goals…but not log it into beeminder….and then later derailing entirely)
> > > 
> > > -Jolly
> > > 
> > > From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On  
> > > Behalf  
> > > Of Philip Hellyer  
> > > Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 12:50 PM
> > > 
> > > To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> > > Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> > > 
> > > I think the key phrase there is “in the future”. I’d also like to be  
> > > able  
> > > to tell Beeminder that I’m going on holiday and to pause my roads for a  
> > > given date range. But it would defeat the purpose and benefit of  
> > > Beeminder  
> > > for me if I could pause the road immediately on a stressful day.
> > > 
> > > To manage this right now, I put a reminder in my calendar a week ahead  
> > > of  
> > > the event. I’ll put an equivalent reminder to dial it back up a week  
> > > before  
> > > the break’s end, but that’s less urgent. Not ideal, not particularly  
> > > onerous.
> > > 
> > > Philip
> > > 
> > > On 14 August 2012 14:37, Apneet Jolly [jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com) wrote:
> > > 
> > > I’d really like a way to program in rises/drops in the road in the  
> > > future.  
> > > IE – I’m going to burning man this week, stop tracking my goals.
> > > 
> > > I’ve currently stopped using beeminder right now due to this or another  
> > > easy  
> > > way to pause goals 😕
> > > 
> > > -Jolly
> > > 
> > > From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On  
> > > Behalf  
> > > Of Philip Hellyer  
> > > Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 5:13 AM  
> > > To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> > > Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> > > 
> > > The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay before  
> > > dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m keen to  
> > > dial  
> > > up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a frustrating delay on the  
> > > way  
> > > down, too, but that’s the whole point!)
> > > 
> > > [The Road Dial and the Akrasia Horizon | Beeminder Blog](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/) suggests that some of us will resist  
> > > dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act  
> > > together  
> > > by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’ energy burst  
> > > only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see the future slope  
> > > change. During the week, I might discover that it’s sustainable and  
> > > want to  
> > > maintain my (still current) slope.
> > > 
> > > It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases, because  
> > > sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood to force the  
> > > pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or whatever. ‘Right  
> > > now’ isn’t always the best option.
> > > 
> > > I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that  
> > > encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me  
> > > build up  
> > > too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least twice a week,  
> > > the  
> > > fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t change my desire to do  
> > > another 2 next week. These goals are characterised by a weekly rate  
> > > and an  
> > > arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.
> > > 
> > > In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do method a  
> > > try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.
> > > 
> > > First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using Mark  
> > > Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds spiritually  
> > > akin  
> > > to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task.
> > > 
> > > Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any one  
> > > gives  
> > > me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one of each. By  
> > > bundling these into a single goal, I escape the problems inherent in  
> > > beeminding a once-per-day–7-days-per-week activity. (Obviously,  
> > > setting a  
> > > slope of 21 per week would negate that solution; my current slope is  
> > > 10.5,  
> > > and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)
> > > 
> > > Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per week on  
> > > this  
> > > focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy for progress, it’s  
> > > relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.
> > > 
> > > Philip
> > > 
> > > [twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)
> > > 
> > > On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals.  
> > > Weight  
> > > loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.
> > > 
> > > On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > > 
> > > Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
> > > And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.
> > > 
> > > On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
> > > [melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com) wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a  
> > > > while,  
> > > > it  
> > > > didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list  
> > > > when  
> > > > it  
> > > > was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> > > > procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a  
> > > > deadline.  
> > > > But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y  
> > > > or  
> > > > z,  
> > > > you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> > > > writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no  
> > > > system  
> > > > to  
> > > > force them done.
> > > > 
> > > > On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > > > > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > > > > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > > > > 
> > > > > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > > > > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > > > > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > > > > week.
> > > > > 
> > > > > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > > > > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > > > > 
> > > > > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > > > > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > > > > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > > > > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > > > > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > > > > along with a new task, like  
> > > > > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > > > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > > > > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > > > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > > > > can take over the world) then like  
> > > > > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > > > > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > > > > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > > > > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > > > > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > > > > 
> > > > > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > > > > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > > > > 
> > > > > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > > > > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > > > > a task for tomorrow!
> > > > > 
> > > > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick \<  
> > > > > [paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)\>  
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on  
> > > > > > here,  
> > > > > > and  
> > > > > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > > > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just  
> > > > > > scored  
> > > > > > me  
> > > > > > one  
> > > > > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth  
> > > > > > much  
> > > > > > more.  
> > > > > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder  
> > > > > > lets  
> > > > > > me  
> > > > > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money.  
> > > > > > 🙂
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have  
> > > > > > a  
> > > > > > few  
> > > > > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > > > > stick  
> > > > > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating  
> > > > > > and do  
> > > > > > the  
> > > > > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > > > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > > > > around.  
> > > > > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a  
> > > > > > task  
> > > > > > than  
> > > > > > complete it.
> > > > > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if  
> > > > > > they  
> > > > > > stick  
> > > > > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,
> > > 
> > > –  
> > > Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)
> 
> –  
> [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
> Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

–  
Isaac Schankler, composer | [www.isaacschankler.com](http://www.isaacschankler.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Apneet\_Jolly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/apneet_jolly/32/669_2.png) [@Apneet\_Jolly](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Apneet_Jolly)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:37am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/low-friction-ad-hoc-beeminding/1374/20 "2012-08-17T04:37:36Z")

</div>

Yeah, that’s my problem with the whole “build up a backlog so you don’t have to enter in data as you complete tasks” answer - if I had that willpower, I wouldn’t be using beeminder 😛

From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf Of Isaac Schankler  
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2012 6:55 AM  
To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding

It would be super cool to be able to set regular periodic changes as well. One of the super helpful things for me about time management techniques like pomodoro is that there are built-in breaks, and these are psychologically extremely valuable, knowing that as long as you start now you get to take a break x minutes down the line. It would be rad to build that into a nice metarhythm with beeminder, minutes inside days inside weeks! Like this whole “5 days on 2 days off” thing I’ve heard so many rumors about.

It’s true that I can always build up a backlog to simulate this, but if I really need beeminder, then I’m probably not going to end up with a backlog, so that’s no good, psychologically or otherwise.

i  
On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 11:16 PM, Daniel Reeves \<[dreeves@beeminder.com](mailto:dreeves@beeminder.com)[mailto:dreeves@beeminder.com](mailto:dreeves@beeminder.com)\> wrote:  
this is super sexy.

I agree about navigating to the website, but replying to bot emails  
feels like similarly low overhead to me, and the email serves as a  
reminder to actually do the flossing (or whatever).  
In gmail:  
[enter][r]^ 1[tab][space]

7 keystrokes! 🙂

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:55 PM, Paul Fenwick \<[paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)[mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)\> wrote:

> I would deeply love the ability to set changes in the future as well;  
> Burning Man is a great example of something where I’m likely to forget  
> to flatten a road a week beforehand, or re-enable it afterwards.
> 
> As for submitting data-points, I’ve found both the android app and the  
> API to be supremely useful. Being able to type at my command-line:
> 
> $ bmndr floss 1
> 
> Is _much_ easier than navigating to the website. Since Daniel and  
> Bethany have told me that they don’t mind me showing off code that  
> uses the new API, I can tell you that it’s as easy as (in Perl):
> 
> ```
> my ($user, $auth_token, $datapoint, $comment); # You'll need to
> 
> ```
> 
> fill these in. 🙂
> 
> ```
> my $mech = WWW::Mechanize( autocheck => 1 )
> 
> $mech->post(
> "http://beeminder.com/api/v1/users/$user/goals/$goal/datapoints.json?auth_token=$auth_token",
> {
> timestamp => time(),
> value => $datapoint,
> comment => $comment
> }
> );
> 
> ```
> 
> The code I actually use for submission is at: [bmndr code · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/3356632)
> 
> Cheerio,
> 
> Paul
> 
> On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 4:37 PM, Apneet Jolly \<[jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com)[mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com)\> wrote:
> 
> > That relies on me rememebering to turn it back on…and also assumes im  
> > within internet range ect and not supremely busy.
> > 
> > (I recently defaulted on a LOT of goals by having the time to do the  
> > goals…but not log it into beeminder…and then later derailing entirely)
> > 
> > -Jolly
> > 
> > From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf  
> > Of Philip Hellyer  
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 12:50 PM
> > 
> > To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> > Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> > 
> > I think the key phrase there is “in the future”. I’d also like to be able  
> > to tell Beeminder that I’m going on holiday and to pause my roads for a  
> > given date range. But it would defeat the purpose and benefit of Beeminder  
> > for me if I could pause the road immediately on a stressful day.
> > 
> > To manage this right now, I put a reminder in my calendar a week ahead of  
> > the event. I’ll put an equivalent reminder to dial it back up a week before  
> > the break’s end, but that’s less urgent. Not ideal, not particularly  
> > onerous.
> > 
> > Philip
> > 
> > On 14 August 2012 14:37, Apneet Jolly \<[jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com)[mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com](mailto:jolly@ajollylife.com)\> wrote:
> > 
> > I’d really like a way to program in rises/drops in the road in the future.  
> > IE - I’m going to burning man this week, stop tracking my goals.
> > 
> > I’ve currently stopped using beeminder right now due to this or another easy  
> > way to pause goals 😕
> > 
> > -Jolly
> > 
> > From: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf  
> > Of Philip Hellyer  
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 5:13 AM  
> > To: [akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)[mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics@googlegroups.com)  
> > Subject: Re: low-friction ad-hoc beeminding
> > 
> > The akrasia horizon is asymmetric. It’s a useful enforced delay before  
> > dialling down a road, but can be a frustrating delay when I’m keen to dial  
> > up the difficulty straight away. (It can be a frustrating delay on the way  
> > down, too, but that’s the whole point!)
> > 
> > [The Road Dial and the Akrasia Horizon | Beeminder Blog](http://blog.beeminder.com/dial/) suggests that some of us will resist  
> > dialling it down because we’ll be convinced that we’ll have our act together  
> > by the time a week passes. For me, the ‘only another week’ energy burst  
> > only kicks in once I’ve adjusted the road and can see the future slope  
> > change. During the week, I might discover that it’s sustainable and want to  
> > maintain my (still current) slope.
> > 
> > It’s useful to have the option of a delay for slope increases, because  
> > sometimes I want it steeper today, or maybe I’m in the mood to force the  
> > pace from tomorrow, or the beginning of next month, or whatever. ‘Right  
> > now’ isn’t always the best option.
> > 
> > I also have some goals that warrant a “hip-hugging” road; one that  
> > encourages a minimum level of effort each week, and doesn’t let me build up  
> > too much of a safety buffer. If I want to do X at least twice a week, the  
> > fact that I managed it 5 times this week doesn’t change my desire to do  
> > another 2 next week. These goals are characterised by a weekly rate and an  
> > arbitrary end date, but not a goal total.
> > 
> > In terms of baskets of tasks, I might give the Reeves Must-Do method a  
> > try-out. I have 3 other mechanisms active right now.
> > 
> > First is tracking the number of cycles I do on my task list, using Mark  
> > Forster’s “final version” to process the list. This sounds spiritually akin  
> > to Paul’s use of RTM, without points-per-task.
> > 
> > Second is a bundle of 3 aspirationaly-daily activities; doing any one gives  
> > me a point, and I can get ahead or catch up by doing one of each. By  
> > bundling these into a single goal, I escape the problems inherent in  
> > beeminding a once-per-day-7-days-per-week activity. (Obviously, setting a  
> > slope of 21 per week would negate that solution; my current slope is 10.5,  
> > and I anticipate growing it to at most 17.5.)
> > 
> > Third is general time-tracking; must spend at least X hours per week on this  
> > focus area. As much as I hate using time as a proxy for progress, it’s  
> > relatively easy to measure, and is semi-automated using TagTime.
> > 
> > Philip
> > 
> > [twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)[http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer](http://twitter.com/PhilipHellyer)
> > 
> > On 14 August 2012 06:38, Melanie Reeves Wicklow \<[melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)[mailto:melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)\> wrote:
> > 
> > It probably is overkill for all but weight loss or similar goals. Weight  
> > loss might even be fine with 3-4 days.
> > 
> > On Monday, August 13, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > 
> > Yeah, this may be the key to the power of the One Must-Do Task!  
> > And if it works it may mean that a one-week akrasia horizon is overkill.
> > 
> > On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Melanie Reeves Wicklow  
> > \<[melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)[mailto:melzafish@gmail.com](mailto:melzafish@gmail.com)\> wrote:
> > 
> > > Hmm, I think I like that better than my “getrdone” list. After a while,  
> > > it  
> > > didn’t really guide me. I’d just see what I had done from the list when  
> > > it  
> > > was an emergency day or close to it and record it, but the endlessly  
> > > procrastinated tasks still weren’t happening, only ones that had a  
> > > deadline.  
> > > But with this, the previous day when you swear it’ll be easy to do x y or  
> > > z,  
> > > you lock yourself in to that task. I’ve tried similar things like only  
> > > writing down the 3 most important tasks for the next day. But no system  
> > > to  
> > > force them done.
> > > 
> > > On Sunday, August 12, 2012, Daniel Reeves wrote:
> > > 
> > > > I’m excited to try Paul Fenwick’s scheme below, but in the meantime  
> > > > Bethany and I are trying something dirt simple that may capture enough  
> > > > of the spirit of this to be valuable.
> > > > 
> > > > The idea is to pick one task that you Must Do the next day. You have  
> > > > to write down the task the night before and it counts if you actually  
> > > > do it the next day. You then commit to some number of such tasks per  
> > > > week.
> > > > 
> > > > How to do that with Beeminder (the idea is to use the previous day’s  
> > > > datapoint comment to commit to the next day’s task):
> > > > 
> > > > 1. Create a Do More goal like [mustdo – d – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)[http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo](http://beeminder.com/d/mustdo)
> > > > 2. Add an initial datapoint like  
> > > > ^ 0 “tmw: file tps report”  
> > > > which commits you to filing your tps report tomorrow.
> > > > 3. The next day, if you filed your tps report, enter a new datapoint,  
> > > > along with a new task, like  
> > > > ^ 1 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > > or if you didn’t file your tps report then  
> > > > ^ 0 “tmw: take over the world”  
> > > > or if you didn’t file your tps report but still need to (before you  
> > > > can take over the world) then like  
> > > > ^ 0 “tmw: ditto”
> > > > 4. Dial up your road to commit to however many tasks per week you want  
> > > > to commit to. (I’m starting with 3.5/week – one every other day.)
> > > > 5. Rule: always enter your datapoint with a caret. You have to finish  
> > > > the day’s task – and specify tomorrow’s – by midnight.
> > > > 
> > > > If you want to get ambitious you can enter compound tasks (“file tps  
> > > > report and clip toenails”) and still make the datapoints binary.
> > > > 
> > > > My datapoint yesterday read “tmw: describe this system on akratics  
> > > > anonymous” so after I hit send I’ll give myself a 1 for today and pick  
> > > > a task for tomorrow!
> > > > 
> > > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Paul Fenwick \<[paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)[mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com](mailto:paul.j.fenwick@gmail.com)\>  
> > > > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > Daniel’s just told me I need to join AA for a discussion going on here,  
> > > > > and  
> > > > > I suspect this is it. 🙂
> > > > > 
> > > > > So, in a nutshell, I’ve linked my TODO trakcer (RememberTheMilk) to  
> > > > > Beeminder. I get points for completing tasks (joining AA just scored  
> > > > > me  
> > > > > one  
> > > > > point), with things like work tasks, and ‘hard’ tasks being worth much  
> > > > > more.  
> > > > > (Points are configurable by list and/or tag). Of course, Beeminder  
> > > > > lets  
> > > > > me  
> > > > > set how many points I score each week before I start losing money. 🙂
> > > > > 
> > > > > I also have the problem of some tasks never getting done, so I have a  
> > > > > few  
> > > > > ideas on how to encourage me:
> > > > > 
> > > > > - Dynamic point values. Tasks are worth more points the longer they  
> > > > > stick  
> > > > > around, so eventually I’ll be encouraged to stop procrastinating and do  
> > > > > the  
> > > > > task I’ve been putting off.
> > > > > - As above, but tasks are worth _less_ points the longer they stick  
> > > > > around.  
> > > > > This is dangerous, because eventually it becomes easier to scrap a task  
> > > > > than  
> > > > > complete it.
> > > > > - Staleness penalties. Tasks start generating negative points if they  
> > > > > stick  
> > > > > around too long, even if they don’t have a due date. Some lists (eg,
> > 
> > –  
> > Sent from my iPhone [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

–  
[http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”  
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com)

–  
Isaac Schankler, composer | [www.isaacschankler.com](http://www.isaacschankler.com)[http://www.isaacschankler.com/](http://www.isaacschankler.com/)

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