
Show HN: Jobs Done – A ritual app for ending the work day inspired by Deep Work - skidding
https://github.com/skidding/jobs-done
======
skidding
Hey, Ovidiu the author here.

So how could this be interesting to you?

The app

I read a book called Deep Work to improve the quality of my work and found the
simple "shutdown ritual" idea powerful. I started with a dead simple list that
I went through every evening to clear my mind and disconnect from work.

Then I decided to build a simple app and keep iterating in small increments
every day I also use the app. After about 2mo I use it daily and it looks good
enough to draw a line. So I made it public in case anyone else finds it
useful.

The codebase

Meanwhile, I wanted to learn React Native and try react-native-web. I also
wanted to see how well styled-components behaves "unversally" and how to do
server-side-rendering with RNW. It worked pretty well (for the most part...)
and I learned a lot.

If you're interested in this tech stack I encourage you to dig through the
codebase and maybe run it locally to get a feel.

If you have any questions related to the app or the codebase, fire away. I'll
answer gladly!

~~~
dvnguyen
Hey, cool project!

I haven't read the book. Is that possible to understand the idea without
reading the book?

~~~
jen729w
The book is worth a read. Don’t forget about your local library!

The end-of-day shutdown is just that. You put your work day in order, you make
sure your papers are tidy, you check what you need to do tomorrow (no nasty
surprises) and perhaps a few days ahead, then you actually say, out loud,
“shutdown complete”.

It’s supposed to help separate your day of (deep) work from your time off. I
like the idea but – ha! – never remember to do it.

OP: cool looking app, it’s really nicely done. Was this a “teach myself a
language” sort of project? If not, what was the motivation? [Edit: just seen
your comment below.]

~~~
spappal
I agree that Deep Work is worth a read. Quite a few meaningful ideas in quite
few pages. The end-of-day shutdown is one of the ideas that stuck in me. After
a workday my mind is usually buzzing a bit too much for most activities.
Focusing on winding down helps very much. Having accepted the point made by
the author in combination with it being such a small thing to say the phrase
when walking from work means that I often remember to say the phrase and then
instantly accept that I should focus the last drops of work-related attention
on disconnecting from work in a good way. Helps me a lot!

------
jaysonelliot
I've printed my own custom notebooks to track my planned vs. actual daily
activity in 30 minute blocks, inspired by Deep Work.

This would make an excellent companion to that. The lessons I've learned from
that book have been incredibly valuable in helping me work more efficiently
and happily. Thanks for building this.

~~~
jaysonelliot
I'm glad people are interested in my notebook! Here's a thread I just put up
with a link to the PDF and photos of the notebook in action:

[https://twitter.com/JaysonElliot/status/1057490478625705985](https://twitter.com/JaysonElliot/status/1057490478625705985)

The front page has an unmarked calendar so you can write in any three month
period. It's meant for the Jerry Seinfeld chain method. Write the one thing
you want to do every day at the top, and X out the days that you do it.

Inside, each day has one page broken into 30 minute blocks, with a column for
"plan" and one for "actual." Next to that is an open area with a dot grid for
planning. (I also put a full page of dot grid on the back, for random notes.)

Use your shutdown ritual each evening to make a list of things you want to do
the next day in the dot grid area. Then assign them to 30-minute slots in the
"plan" area.

As you go through your day, write down what you really did with your time in
the "actual" column. Then you can review in the evening, and see how your
plans differed from reality, to help you plan more accurately as you continue
to use the notebook.

I hope this is helpful to someone, it's been a great tool for me.

------
humanetech
Very nice! I have added your project to Awesome Humane Tech [0], in the
Mindfulness section. Thank you!

[0] [https://github.com/engagingspaces/awesome-humane-
tech](https://github.com/engagingspaces/awesome-humane-tech)

~~~
scns
That is a list worth checking out, Thank You.

------
nathan_f77
I think I will try doing this. It's a bit embarrassing to admit but I really
struggle to go to bed at a regular hour. It's really bad when I'm "in the
zone" and working hard on a project. I'm based overseas and all of my clients
and customers are in the US, so I already stay up very late (usually at least
2am so that I have enough overlap with PST/EDT.) But then 2am turns into 3am,
4am, and eventually the sun comes up.

Maybe this will help. I think I'll schedule an event on my calendar to visit
jobs-done.now.sh and go through the checklist. Then it would be good to relax
for an hour or two and read/watch something before sleeping. The problem with
my weird schedule is that I usually go to sleep immediately after finishing
work, so I don't think that's very good.

~~~
skidding
No shame in admitting this. I still struggle with it. Computers are very
effective at messing up our sleep function.

Happy to hear you're giving Jobs Done a try. Note that you can customize the
steps, set phrase and suggested activities by cloning the repo, editing
data.js, building and publishing the static build with a service like
[https://zeit.co/now](https://zeit.co/now) or
[https://surge.sh](https://surge.sh) (free).

Good luck!

~~~
rmetzler
It also helps to use a app like f.lux that dims the screen to emit less blue
light. The blue light mess with the sleep cycle.

------
jordanmoconnor
This layout immediately reminded me of a Typeform form, and then got me
thinking that if this were a Typeform form it would automatically log your
responses and you could have historical data on your tasks, thoughts, and
actions.

------
westonplatter0
> So how could this be interesting to you?

Dumps all work related ideas out of my head for me to feel like I can leave
work at work.

------
stevenhuang
Hmm, nothing seems to happen when I press the Start button.

Windows 10, Google Chrome Version 70.0.3538.77 (Official Build) (64-bit)

It works on Firefox Quantum though!

EDIT: It seems on Chrome I need to press on the Start text itself; clicking
the button doesn't work.

~~~
skidding
Do the official react-native-web examples work OK on Win10/Chrome70?
[http://necolas.github.io/react-native-
web/examples/](http://necolas.github.io/react-native-web/examples/)

~~~
stevenhuang
The linked examples work fine here.

~~~
skidding
I fixed some Firefox & Safari issues in the meantime, and added more browser
polyfills. If you have the chance let me know if you see any improvement on
your side after clearing the cache. Thanks!

~~~
stevenhuang
I'm clicking away and everything works fine now! Best of luck to your project
& future projects :)

------
snvzz
>I extended the original shutdown ritual with the last step because I've often
found myself clueless about how to spend my evening after a day fully immersed
in work.

This must have been the most depressing thing I've read in a long time.

~~~
skidding
I guess it's sad but true :)

Probably only applies to single people, though.

I have to say I've gotten much better at avoiding overworking myself lately,
but evenings are still an issue (again, probably only relevant for single
people).

The suggestions I've added help but not entirely, as evenings usually have to
be planned in advance (you can't just summon friends at 5:59pm).

Going through these activity suggestions daily helps me in two ways: 1) it
reminds me what a true afterhours activity looks like (ie. not more work stuff
desguised as leisure) and 2) it reminds me to plan ahead my evenings in the
near future.

~~~
keerthiko
I am very single and this is never true for me. I love my work, and then I go
hang out with a friend or two for dinner or dessert, explore neighborhoods,
cook myself some interesting food, play some games, work on some serious side
projects, talk to my housemate, scribble notes for an essay or blog post, and
generally find myself not having enough time to enjoy the things I would like
to do despite not investing any time in a romantic relationship. This when I'm
not keeping myself busy with traveling out of town.

~~~
Bjartr
That sounds just exquisite, and I hope to someday have a similar set of
habits. It's been a real challenge though so far.

------
christefano
Does it play the sound from Hearthstone? That would be fun!

[https://youtu.be/bBCB0y9Mgns](https://youtu.be/bBCB0y9Mgns)

~~~
skidding
The first version did! But I removed it because I didn't want Blizzard to take
me down for copyright infringement, haha. And to be honest it was getting
annnoying while I was working on the app cause I heard it dozens of times a
day.

But Heartstone? Ha! Go back in time another 12 years.

I used to play Warcraft III in highschool and that sound stuck with me for
sure.

------
xvector
I realize that the web version works fine, but I'd love to have a local
version for iOS.

~~~
skidding
Is it not possible to bookmark web pages on the home screen on iOS?

PWAs play nicely like this on Android, which is what I'm using atm. I'm
actually planning to switch back to iOS soon but not being able to have web
app shortcuts on my home page would be a bummer!

~~~
bonestamp2
> Is it not possible to bookmark web pages on the home screen on iOS?

It is possible. This is actually what they had in mind before the app store...
every app was just going to be a shortcut to a webpage.

------
jessep
Yay! Thanks for including WorkFlowy in this, very cool.

~~~
skidding
Oh I love Workflowy. I manage my life using it!

------
wprapido
Awesome! Any plans to monetise?

~~~
skidding
Thanks! I think the scope of this app is too limited to monetise. Happy to see
it grow as an open source project for now. But hopefully this sort of exposure
(and building experience) will increase my chanses of finding customers when I
focus on a paid app/service.

~~~
wprapido
I'm working on something in that area too.

