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Get things done and have time to spare.


krakaton

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Before I throw it in your face, I believe I should explain how it works.

The human brain is an essentially goal-driven machine. Without a clear-cut target, it is difficult to channel one's focus. At the same time, lofty goals or target like "Harvard" or "42+" have little effect on one's brain because it sees little or no instantaneous gain. That is why it is easy to motivate oneself to study when finals are a week away - the brain senses a short-term gain. Thus, the closer the reward for a task is, the more likely one is to complete the task.

1 hour is a good period of time for which to set a goal. Much can be accomplished in an hour and yet an hour of work does not seem like a long period of time. Thus, when goals or work is divided into segments of 1 hour, one finds it easy to be motivated enough to complete each segment while simultaneously accomplishing something each time.

Of course, no person can work 24/7 and we all need free time. This is where the beauty comes in.

If I were to ask you how much free time you get in a day, you might reply 2 or 3 hours. Then, I'd ask you how much you study in a day and you'd reply, 1 or 2 hours. Does this sound familiar? But if one gets home at 5pm (and my school ends LATE) and sleeps at 11pm (and I sleep early), one has 6 hours of time every day when one comes home. Where does that time go? It is lost, it slips through one fingers while browsing the internet or aimlessly snacking. The worst part, of course, is that one feels guilty when relaxing because one doesn't feel that one has done enough work.

This is where this app comes in - Checkpoint Timer.

What it does is keeps a running clock of how much time is left before you go to sleep. Then, one adds 1 hour tasks to the list and each task decreases free time and increases productive time. If I reach home at 5pm and then add 4 hours of work to the app, then assuming I sleep at 11, I get 2 hours of free time. Once one adjusts for showering, eating etc, this is one and a half hours with which to do whatever I want. Considering that I usually sleep at 12 or 1, this means that with 4 hours of work a day (and that is a lot of work), I can relax for 3 to 4 hours - all that it takes is a little bit of planning.

So go out into the world fellow IB students, use this website and watch, amazed as you not only work more but miraculously, gain more guilt-free spare time.

TL;DR

  1. Go to Checkpoint Timer
  2. Use it
  3. ???
  4. Profit

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