
Show HN: Procrastinating? Take a 5min break without leaving your computer - hundredhours
https://break45.com
======
swalsh
I noticed a lot of my procrastination came from habit. Opening Reddit, or
Hacker News was the path to a surge of dopamine. Where as getting down to work
didn't have the same surge. So I tried to just block "bad sites". That helped,
but I still found myself occasionally opening a new tab, than out of habbit
going to one of the sites. What I needed to do was remove the root cause. So I
wrote this script ([https://gist.github.com/steven-p-
walsh/9b7c0ffd2fe4817d67459...](https://gist.github.com/steven-p-
walsh/9b7c0ffd2fe4817d6745951766f5a0f0)) it's like a shock-collar for social
media.

~~~
wickoff
I've blocked Reddit and HN on my desktop, now I am watching more YouTube,
drink 3 times as much coffee and tea and am hyperaware of what's going on
outside of my window.

Seems that specific websites aren't the cause, the problem is much deep than
that.

~~~
alexbanks
If the problem is "I can't bring myself to focus on this task", the mediums
used to distract yourself are irrelevant.

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
Agreed, but if that is the root problem, is there a solution?

~~~
Endy
The solution is to push back on whoever assigned the task to you and what the
value of it is, what the end result should look like, etc. If it's worthless
effort and busy work, make them understand it. If it's just the boring drudge
that makes the better things happen, at least you can be engaged in the end
goal.

------
kranner
Redirects to "Whoops, it failed." error message.

~~~
perujok
Whooops!

~~~
totaldude87
another - Whoops, it failed.

~~~
russfink
They should at least change it to, “Whoops, it failed. Now get back to work,
clickboy!”

------
neotokio
Optimal time for breaks vary. You should figure it out yourself. When it comes
to productivity it's 52 minutes work time vs 17 minutes break[1]. There is
also 'pomodoro technique'[2]. There is also kind of interesting work (which
can be extended to topic of procrastination) done by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
[3], namely - idea of 'Flow'.

From personal perspective I would say to also look at how do you eat, sleep,
spend your free time and take any substances (alcohol, drugs, cigarettes...).
Even if this is not an ongoing thing but occasional it has tremendous effect
on ability to concentrate for long periods of time. Excessive carbon based (or
worse, sugar based) diet can make you hyperactive (same as excessive fat based
diet can make you dull btw). Again, that's a personal perspective.

As last resort, there are some supplements which could help you with
concentration, not pharmaceuticals, there are a lot of natural nootropics[4]
you can get anywhere.

Bottom line, if you waste time on Internet - just stop. There is no other way.
Blocking websites can help, but in the end, you need to choose not to visit
those. It's addiction as any other. And don't treat this post as advice,
everybody needs to figure it out himself.

[1][https://lifehacker.com/52-minute-work-17-minute-break-is-
the...](https://lifehacker.com/52-minute-work-17-minute-break-is-the-ideal-
productivi-1616541102)
[2][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique)
[3][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi)
[4][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic#Herbs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic#Herbs)

------
deanstag
I love the idea! Gives us the false promise of Procrastination and gives us a
failure to train our brains slowly against Procrastination. Brilliant!

Jokes aside. Excited to see what it will show when it is back up :)

------
zimbatm
Even better, leave your phone and computer behind and go take a walk!

~~~
chasd00
i've solved a couple of sticky problems by giving up, shutting the computer,
and taking the dogs for a long walk hah.

------
yardshop
When I hit the "Whoops, failed" screen, I pressed F5 to refresh the page and
it started working. It tells you to turn off all devices and give yourself
this 5 minutes to really put everything aside, then shows a series of nice
nature scenes fullscreen.

First though, I did View Source and spent about 5 minutes trying to figure it
out, thinking I should really learn some more JavaScript! Great break, now I'm
ready to get back to things I need to do!

~~~
yardshop
Maybe I just hit it at a lucky moment before, now it's failing again. Probably
getting hugged to death.

------
totaldude87
did we(HN) break this :|

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 500 (Internal
Server Error)

Api.js:4 GET
[https://b45-backend.herokuapp.com/images](https://b45-backend.herokuapp.com/images)
500 (Internal Server Error) value @ Api.js:4 value @ Break.js:39 value @
Break.js:35 $a @ react-dom.production.min.js:4978 Va @ react-
dom.production.min.js:5123 (anonymous) @ react-dom.production.min.js:5975
t.unstable_runWithPriority @ scheduler.production.min.js:274 Nl @ react-
dom.production.min.js:5974 Il @ react-dom.production.min.js:5958 Pl @ react-
dom.production.min.js:5925 Ml @ react-dom.production.min.js:6020 _n @ react-
dom.production.min.js:1737

------
frereubu
Unreadable on mobile - even if it's only meant for desktops you need people on
mobile to easily read what it's about. I also just see the "whoops" message.

------
self_awareness
Whoops, it failed. -- My procrastination succeeded though

------
RutZap
JS Console errors for me.

>>> Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'src' of undefined at t.value
(Break.js:92)

------
JimBrimble35
I think this is a neat idea. I would love it if you made this into one of
those scary image popping up and loud screaming audio pranks. Three and a half
minutes in everyone would be pretty sold on just relaxing. The perfect
targets.

------
tambre
Unfortunately the pictures seem to be intentionally cropped to be low-quality
with apparent JPEG artifacts. Originals look great. Granted my screen is
2560x1440, so it's more apparent, but still.

------
tamersalama
Has anyone tried Focus Mate
[https://www.focusmate.com/](https://www.focusmate.com/)

------
jaimex2
Heh, this reminds me of the start of Portal 2 where you look at a scenic photo
for exactly 10 seconds as recreation time.

------
impalallama
Seems interesting but the website won't load for me Firefox, Brave, Edge all
fail.

------
mistersquid
This is wonderful and works well with traditional Pomodoro.

Thank you for sharing.

------
FillardMillmore
Whoops, it failed.

Sounds like an interesting idea though.

------
blue_devil
Getting "whoops it failed" on all browsers. Might be a new level of "hit-the-
monkey" annoying!

------
nestorherre
Another whoops in here!

------
msmerberry
whoops failed on Chrome / Win 10

nice idea though

------
GrumpyNl
Whoops, it failed.

------
fnord77
the page only says

"Whoops, it failed."

------
test1231123
Whoops failed

