lmemsm

I've continued my search for organizing software ( https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/25452.html ). I've tried several options available from F-Droid and Google Play. I've run across interesting concepts such as using gamification and rewards systems to encourage new habits or complete large tasks. There are also tools to help set goals (such as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound SMART goals), break down tasks, remind when to do a task and track what's completed. With all those apps and even some FLOSS programs out there, I've yet to find anything I'm comfortable working with. Some of the commercial mobile apps have wonderful concepts behind them. However, they also have fees or ads or require you to sign up for a service on the Internet. The F-Droid apps are typically more friendly when it comes to privacy. They don't have ads and most don't require sending personal data over the Internet. They're typically simpler than the commercial apps which can be a good thing. However, it's a matter of finding one that does what you need in a way that's comfortable to you not just what the developers and core users need.

I've been reading a lot lately about flow states and the psychological inertia many experience when they're trying to break out of the flow and do something else. Writers may get lost in writing and forget to break for a meal. A programmer may be so engrossed in a coding project, he or she may not notice the clock and the fact that it's time to go home. Who really wants to miss that? Inertia can also make it hard to start a new task. So, I tried to narrow my search to alarm programs that could notify me when to change focus and switch tasks. There are several timer programs that can time tasks for you and fire off an alarm when the interval to work on a task is over. I decided I wanted something more along the lines of an alarm that notified me at a specific time every day. It was suggested I check out the Google clock program which has an alarm. The alarm certainly got my attention. However, I couldn't turn it off without turning off my phone completely and it could easily annoy people around me.

I finally decided to overcome my own inertia and stop searching for a solution and just write one. I used SDL because it ports to a number of platforms including mobile devices. I broke the job up into tasks and started with the most crucial pieces I needed. I figured it would be more difficult to come up with a file format and source code to decipher multiple alarm times, so I started by hard-coding the time. Then, I switched to passing the time via the command line. Once I got that working, I realized, I don't really need to store several alarm times in an initialization file for the program. Using the Unix philosophy of doing one thing well, I decided to leave that task to another program and call this one just to display one alarm. So, one could combine this program with another program like remind or one could use cron or Windows task scheduler to start this program when needed.

What I really wanted was a way to gradually shift gears when I'm heavily concentrating on something. I did not want a jarring alarm. I wanted something that would give me time to complete what I'm doing and transition to something else. I really liked the Toastmasters concept of using green, yellow and red signaling to decide when to end an ongoing talk. So, I started with the color concept. I added a way to play an optional wave file with it. By limiting what the program did to just handling the alarm related tasks, I was able to get it done in a fairly reasonable amount of time.

While I was searching for useful organizing and scheduling programs, I experimented with remind. I found it very promising, but it takes some work to create the entries you want to be reminded about. The main drawback is that its designed for Linux and the developer would prefer that it not be ported to non-Free operating systems. While it can be ported, I'd prefer to work with software created by developers who want to support multiple platforms. I do like the idea that it's a command line tool and can be customized using a text file. Instead of using todo programs, I've been using simple text files to keep track of my lists. I've found that more effective. Something like the todo.txt file used by todo.c and other programs might be an option at some point in the future because it combines the idea of a simple text file with a more programmatic tool. It would be nice to see a todo tool and an alarm tool combined. Possibly if a time is part of each task, a program could parse out times and activate an alarm when needed. So, I'm still searching for the right tools to use together to help improve organization. However, I'm happy to finally have an alarm that offers the features I most wanted.

I'd be very interested to hear how others organize and switch or begin new tasks when they're experiencing inertia. What tools and programs do you use? What works? Also, if anyone is interested in brainstorming putting together different simple tools that each do one task well to help improve organization and efficient use of time, feel free to contact me. Discussion is welcome via Mastodon (https://fosstodon.org/@lmemsm) or the distasis mailing list on groups.io.