The full list of productivity apps I use to stay moderately productive despite my akrasia

Life
1

The reason I use so many is that I feel like I need the extra help to just
get even a bit beyond what the average person does naturally :).

Behavioral Economics:
Beeminder http://www.beeminder.com/: Charges me money if I don’t do
something X times per week or month. This is how I stay on top of blog
posts, guest posts, gym, etc.
HabitRPG http://habitrpg.com/: Treats my life like a video game. I use
it to keep on top of daily and weekly routines.
Stickk http://stickk.com/: Commits money to longer term goals. I only use
this very rarely as I’d rather focus on process than results.

Scheduling:
Todoist http://todoist.com/: The best todo app I’ve found… I’ve tried a
lot.
Google Calenda http://google.com/calendarr: The calendar app I use
MeetMe http://meetme.so/: How take the headache out of scheduling with
clients and contacts with busy schedules across different timezones.

Focus:
Focus@will http://focusatwill.com/ This is what I listen to while I’m
working (sometimes with binaural beats in the background). I’m not quite
convinced with the science, but it does seem to help me focus.
Tomatoes http://tomato.es/: I use the pomodoro technique to stay focused,
because if I don’t take breaks I find I burn out quickly… This helps me
stay on top of my timers, as well as see where my time is going.
StayFocusd
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji?hl=en:
will block distracting sites when I spend too much time on them during work
hours. There’s also Leechblock for chrome, as well Rescuetime for every
browser.

Networking:
Contactually http://contactually.com/: Hooks in with my phone, email, and
social networks, and reminds me to contact people if it’s been to long.
Newsle http://newsle.com/: Let’s me keep on top of news items about my
network

Team:
iDoneThis http://idonethis.com/: Used to keep track of my clients and
teams between meetings., Gives them a simple way to record what they got
done that day.
Todoist: http://todoist.com/ Scales seamlessly to teams

I also make heavy use of zapier to make sure everything gets recorded in
Beeminder and HabitRPG.

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1 Like
2

Awesome list! Thanks for posting it.

I’ve been trying out Focus@will the last couple of days, and have been
enjoying it.

On Tuesday, 30 September 2014 21:47:26 UTC+1, Matt Goldenberg wrote:

The reason I use so many is that I feel like I need the extra help to just
get even a bit beyond what the average person does naturally :).

Behavioral Economics:
Beeminder http://www.beeminder.com/: Charges me money if I don’t do
something X times per week or month. This is how I stay on top of blog
posts, guest posts, gym, etc.
HabitRPG http://habitrpg.com/: Treats my life like a video game. I use
it to keep on top of daily and weekly routines.
Stickk http://stickk.com/: Commits money to longer term goals. I only
use this very rarely as I’d rather focus on process than results.

Scheduling:
Todoist http://todoist.com/: The best todo app I’ve found… I’ve tried
a lot.
Google Calenda http://google.com/calendarr: The calendar app I use
MeetMe http://meetme.so/: How take the headache out of scheduling with
clients and contacts with busy schedules across different timezones.

Focus:
Focus@will http://focusatwill.com/ This is what I listen to while I’m
working (sometimes with binaural beats in the background). I’m not quite
convinced with the science, but it does seem to help me focus.
Tomatoes http://tomato.es/: I use the pomodoro technique to stay
focused, because if I don’t take breaks I find I burn out quickly… This
helps me stay on top of my timers, as well as see where my time is going.
StayFocusd
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji?hl=en:
will block distracting sites when I spend too much time on them during work
hours. There’s also Leechblock for chrome, as well Rescuetime for every
browser.

Networking:
Contactually http://contactually.com/: Hooks in with my phone, email,
and social networks, and reminds me to contact people if it’s been to long.
Newsle http://newsle.com/: Let’s me keep on top of news items about my
network

Team:
iDoneThis http://idonethis.com/: Used to keep track of my clients and
teams between meetings., Gives them a simple way to record what they got
done that day.
Todoist: http://todoist.com/ Scales seamlessly to teams

I also make heavy use of zapier to make sure everything gets recorded in
Beeminder and HabitRPG.

–
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “Akratics Anonymous” group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to akratics+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
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3

Matt, I wanted to offer a suggestion instead of Stayfocusd that I love. I use SelfControl (Mac), it works pre-browser. SelfRestraint is for PCs. Sometimes they’ll be a little buggy and block for longer than I specified, but on the whole much better for me than browser-specific blockers.
I’ll be digging into your list more for sure!
-Kate

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 30, 2014, at 4:47 PM, Matt Goldenberg magicmattg@gmail.com wrote:

The reason I use so many is that I feel like I need the extra help to just get even a bit beyond what the average person does naturally :).

Behavioral Economics:
Beeminder: Charges me money if I don’t do something X times per week or month. This is how I stay on top of blog posts, guest posts, gym, etc.
HabitRPG: Treats my life like a video game. I use it to keep on top of daily and weekly routines.
Stickk: Commits money to longer term goals. I only use this very rarely as I’d rather focus on process than results.

Scheduling:
Todoist: The best todo app I’ve found… I’ve tried a lot.
Google Calendar: The calendar app I use
MeetMe: How take the headache out of scheduling with clients and contacts with busy schedules across different timezones.

Focus:
Focus@will This is what I listen to while I’m working (sometimes with binaural beats in the background). I’m not quite convinced with the science, but it does seem to help me focus.
Tomatoes: I use the pomodoro technique to stay focused, because if I don’t take breaks I find I burn out quickly… This helps me stay on top of my timers, as well as see where my time is going.
StayFocusd: will block distracting sites when I spend too much time on them during work hours. There’s also Leechblock for chrome, as well Rescuetime for every browser.

Networking:
Contactually: Hooks in with my phone, email, and social networks, and reminds me to contact people if it’s been to long.
Newsle: Let’s me keep on top of news items about my network

Team:
iDoneThis: Used to keep track of my clients and teams between meetings., Gives them a simple way to record what they got done that day.
Todoist: Scales seamlessly to teams

I also make heavy use of zapier to make sure everything gets recorded in Beeminder and HabitRPG.

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “Akratics Anonymous” group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to akratics+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

–
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To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to akratics+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
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4

Thanks for this list, Matt! I’ve been hearing a lot of people gushing
about Workflowy as a productivity app.

Related Beeminder blog posts: Trackers vs Lifehackers | Beeminder Blog and
Aiding and Abetting | Beeminder Blog (i like the idea of doing another post
on general productivity apps, and maybe another on fitness apps.)

On Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 5:35 PM, Kate k.bendrick@gmail.com wrote:

Matt, I wanted to offer a suggestion instead of Stayfocusd that I love. I
use SelfControl (Mac), it works pre-browser. SelfRestraint is for PCs.
Sometimes they’ll be a little buggy and block for longer than I specified,
but on the whole much better for me than browser-specific blockers.
I’ll be digging into your list more for sure!
-Kate

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 30, 2014, at 4:47 PM, Matt Goldenberg magicmattg@gmail.com wrote:

The reason I use so many is that I feel like I need the extra help to just
get even a bit beyond what the average person does naturally :).

Behavioral Economics:
Beeminder: Charges me money if I don’t do something X times per week or
month. This is how I stay on top of blog posts, guest posts, gym, etc.
HabitRPG: Treats my life like a video game. I use it to keep on top of
daily and weekly routines.
Stickk: Commits money to longer term goals. I only use this very rarely as
I’d rather focus on process than results.

Scheduling:
Todoist: The best todo app I’ve found… I’ve tried a lot.
Google Calendar: The calendar app I use
MeetMe: How take the headache out of scheduling with clients and contacts
with busy schedules across different timezones.

Focus:
Focus@will This is what I listen to while I’m working (sometimes with
binaural beats in the background). I’m not quite convinced with the science,
but it does seem to help me focus.
Tomatoes: I use the pomodoro technique to stay focused, because if I don’t
take breaks I find I burn out quickly… This helps me stay on top of my
timers, as well as see where my time is going.
StayFocusd: will block distracting sites when I spend too much time on them
during work hours. There’s also Leechblock for chrome, as well Rescuetime
for every browser.

Networking:
Contactually: Hooks in with my phone, email, and social networks, and
reminds me to contact people if it’s been to long.
Newsle: Let’s me keep on top of news items about my network

Team:
iDoneThis: Used to keep track of my clients and teams between meetings.,
Gives them a simple way to record what they got done that day.
Todoist: Scales seamlessly to teams

I also make heavy use of zapier to make sure everything gets recorded in
Beeminder and HabitRPG.

–
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
“Akratics Anonymous” group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
email to akratics+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

–
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
“Akratics Anonymous” group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
email to akratics+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

–
http://dreev.es – search://“Daniel Reeves”
Goal tracking + Commitment contracts == http://beeminder.com