Comments on: In Praise of Freedom, SelfControl and “Outside Strategies”

By: The New “Freedom” | Front Porch Republic

The New “Freedom” | Front Porch Republic — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:45:06 +0000

[...] is starting to get some coverage – see here, here, and here – and I imagine it will get some more. I also imagine that much of that coverage [...]

By: frankbures

frankbures — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:04:17 +0000

“creative individuals remain in contact with the extra information constantly streaming in from the environment,”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031001061055.htm

By: Sara Aase

Sara Aase — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:29:49 +0000

And I thought it was just me who should start writing “Internet whore” on forms as “profession.”

@Doug: What an excellent tip to cover the clock, too!

@DCWYTBMA: Scrivener post! Please. It looks amazing, and I love the “if this isn’t for you, check out…” disclaimer.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:59:30 +0000

@ Jill: I was also wondering about non-Mac versions, so thanks for pointing out “leechblock.”

Another trick I use when I really need to be productive: I put a Post-It over my computer’s clock so that I’m tracking my progress only by output. If I can see the clock, I’ll sometimes get frustrated that it took me, say, half an hour to write a paragraph–and then that frustration will distract me from writing.

By: Dennis Lang

Dennis Lang — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:42:06 +0000

Yup, very thought-provoking essay. Thanks, your “Excellency”.

By: denniscass

denniscass — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:03:39 +0000

@Dennis: Story is on Mother Jones website. And yes, I got the assignment because they know me and my work and I’ve done stuff for them in the past.

By: Dennis Lang

Dennis Lang — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:05:28 +0000

Dennis–The Trout book sounds pretty interesting. In what issue do we read your review? Does “Mother Jones” give you the assignment because you’ve written for them and they know your work? (Sorry, this question probably belongs with that Dan Baum post.)

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:56:59 +0000

Until about 5 weeks ago, I had been working on an old laptop with a wireless card and leaving the card at home when I go out to work at a coffee shop or library. It has been well worth the tradeoff. Now I’m home with Maxine and spending too much time on line. I wish they had these programs for Windows. But your post inspired me to do some looking around and I quickly stumbled across a Firefox add-on called “leechblock” — just blacked out all of the dangerous sites from 9-12 M-F. Signing off…

By: denniscass

denniscass — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:19:20 +0000

@Dara: Once Freedom is on the only way to turn it off is to reboot your computer, which I’ve found is just enough of a second step to keep me on task.

Whether you turn Freedom on in the first place is another matter. Like right now I’m at a coffee shop and, well, you get the idea.

Freedom time!

By: bets

bets — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:29:08 +0000

I agree. The Net is totally debilitating to work, especially when writing gets tough. I’ve taken to relocating somewhere else with my laptop, too. It does have access, but I hate using it on there so I tend to focus more on work.

By: Dara

Dara — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:59:00 +0000

My favorite coffee-shop has free wi-fi, I not only refuse to get the password, twice now people at the next table have been talking about it and I literally have put my fingers over my ears to keep myself from hearing it. Because if I knew the password I’d use it, and what makes it my favorite coffee shop is that I can get work done there! I don’t know if I could use Freedom because wouldn’t I just turn it off? It’s so hard being an idiot….