But there was one big website that I couldn't put on an anti bookmarks list that was still opening the door for major procrastination: my personal email (gmail). I have to check this site during the day, and it's not always predictable when. But I do not have to check it nearly as much as I'd become accustomed to. The solution? I added a daily task called "check" to the routine column of my daily index card (I think I'm going to rename it, "site rationing" or some abbreviation). Every time I feel the need to check my personal email I first make a mark next to this task. There's no hard limit as to how many marks I can make, but it's embarrassing to see a lot, and that makes me think twice before checking. There's a natural ceiling at 4 marks a day, because in the conventional mode of tallying, at every 5 you have to draw a horizontal line through your vertical marks and that's visually discouraging, so I rarely do it. And I've found that 4 actually works out to be a pretty good number: enough to keep on top of my personal email, but not enough for significant distraction to creep in. It also focuses me. I check BETTER as well as less frequently -- the distraction isn't really a distraction anymore, it's something positive, something intentional and valuable.
This system takes/leverages elements from a number of previous everyday systems: anti-bookmarking and distraction management, of course, but also negative tracking, chain of self-command, and habitcal style "visual motivation." A good example of "code reuse", for you software engineers out there
.Reinhard
