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Slackson comments on What Are You Doing for Self-Quantification? - Less Wrong Discussion

7 Post author: hackerkiba 29 August 2012 06:14PM

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Tags: instrumental self-quantification

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Comment author: Slackson 29 August 2012 07:11:55PM 2 points [-]

As of yesterday, I've been putting 20 minute pomodoros and time spent meditating into Beeminder. I'm sorting out a system where each task on my todo-list is worth a certain number of points based not on how challenging the task is, but how difficult I find it to motivate myself to start.

Comment author: Pablo_Stafforini 29 August 2012 08:33:22PM 1 point [-]

I'm sorting out a system where each task on my todo-list is worth a certain number of points based not on how challenging the task is, but how difficult I find it to motivate myself to start.

I have thought about working on a similar system, too. Ideally, the points awarded for completing a task should be a function both of the intrinsic aversiveness of the task and of the benefit of actually completing it. One could then use Beeminder to commit oneself to scoring a certain number of points per day.

Comment author: Slackson 29 August 2012 09:54:08PM 1 point [-]

Some other people are already doing this. I had the vague idea for a while, but only bothered to actually do anything about it after reading Katja Grace's post about Beeminder on OB. The relevant part is this:

  • points accrued for doing tasks on my to-do list. When I think of anything I want to do I put it on the list, whether it’s watching a certain movie or figuring out how to make the to do list system better. Some things stay there permanently, e.g. laundry. I assign each task a number of points, which goes up every Sunday if it’s still on the list. I have to get 15 points per day or I lose.

I think getting too bogged-down in the details of the system could be harmful in the long run. So far I've got a TODO.txt with a table of tasks I need to do regularly, a table of tasks I need to do just once or very occasionally, and a table for each day where I list the tasks and tally the points. I'll revise the points as I go, but the hard part for me is to get into the habit of using the list.

Comment author: Pablo_Stafforini 01 September 2012 06:03:07AM *  0 points [-]

If you have an iPhone (I don't), you might want to try EpicWin. (A friend just pointed me to this app.)

EDIT: There is actually a previous LessWrong thread on EpicWin and todo list "gamification".

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