Heat of the Moment Insurance Policy

I have spent the last two or three months occasionally hearing Aaron Mahnke and Dave Caolo talk about an app capable of completely cutting a computer off from a certain set of domains as a means to increase productivity. By making it impossible for one to get distracted, the creators of the aptly-named SelfControl reason, productivity must increase accordingly. I downloaded SelfControl Sunday night, and even in my brief experience with it so far I can attest to its effectiveness.

After my disavowal of gaming I wanted an insurance policy, something I could fall back on if boredom struck and my resolve faded. Thanks to Dave and Aaron on Homework it only took me a few minutes to find, download, and open SelfControl. An open-source app aiming to remove the greatest obstacle to productive work — namely, your own resolve — SelfControl works by allowing users to define a list of sites to block and then irrevocably preventing their computers from accessing those domains for a set period of time. No amount of terminal work can reverse this action, nor can deleting the app or even restarting your computer; once SelfControl’s timer has begun its countdown, the specified domains might as well not exist.

Personally, this is exactly what I needed. Now I not only have my own resolve to lean on, but should all else fail I have no way of falling back on my unproductive ways; now I really have absolutely no excuse.