Content:
Learning new things and forming good habits that help you practice regularly and follow your goal is not easy. Why, it is often very difficult for many of us to maintain discipline and force ourselves to exercise regularly. So difficult that we are forced to come up with different techniques and tools that will help us stay on course.
![Sit and study. Services for combating procrastination and planning training - 1]()
Therefore, today we have prepared a small selection of tools - mobile and desktop applications and web services - that should help CodeGym students and not only learn more efficiently, keep motivation and attitude up to par, and in general, prevent procrastination from spinning a web of laziness and excuses for another mediocre lived day / month / year (underline as necessary).
Services for blocking irritants
It seems logical to start with services for blocking irritants - for those who cannot concentrate on learning or work due to the fact that they are constantly distracted by social networks, email or, as it is now, reading CodeGym articles (our materials are, of course, very useful, and coolly written, but you also need to do business, after all).
The StayFocusd extension will help users of the Google Chrome browser to focus. “You sit down at the computer and promise yourself to work productively. But the working day flew by. You've checked your email, updated your Facebook status, viewed 200 pages on Reddit, read every article on your Twitter feed, researched your favorite band's Wikipedia page, Googled your name, followed your ex's social media, checked your new Instagram posts. and lost a week's wages at online poker. The only thing you didn’t do was work,” judging by the description of StayFocusd, the developers of this product know firsthand about procrastination. The StayFocusd extension allows for a certain period of time to restrict access to sites that, in the opinion of the user, are wasting his time. With StayFocusd you can also,
The Anti-Social application allows you to do about the same thing, namely, to block social networks and information sites on your smartphone. In addition, Anti-Social has another interesting feature: this program tracks phone usage statistics, including parameters such as the time each application was used, the number of times the phone was unlocked per day, etc., even allowing you to compare your statistics with other people ( apparently so that the user can make sure that he is not alone in aimlessly spending dozens of hours a month on Instagram or Tinder).
Services for maintaining todo lists
For those who need to work on a range of tasks every day, services for maintaining todo lists can be very helpful. There are a great many of them, but here are a few objectively high-quality and talentedly made options.
Remember the Milk lets you sync your to-do list with other devices and apps, including calendar, email, and even Twitter. The service has a Russian version and a fairly rich functionality, which includes a convenient task classification system and reminders of them in many different ways, including messages in instant messengers and email.
2Do is a minimalist app that lets you keep a to-do list and write down thoughts and ideas. One of the "chips" of the application is its speed and interface - adding an entry will not take more than a few seconds.
Finish is an app designed specifically for professional procrastinators. After each completed task on the list, Finish “rewards” the user with a solemn sound effect and animation so that praise for the successful completion of the task stimulates the formation of a habit on a subconscious level. The main distinguishing features of the application are smart functions, such as automatic reminders and task prioritization.
Services for working according to the Pomodoro method
The Pomodoro Technique - or
the Pomodoro Method - is a time management technique proposed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique involves breaking tasks down into 25-minute periods called "pomodoros" followed by short breaks. It can be very useful for hardened procrastinators who find it difficult to take on this or that job, especially if it is not very interesting and requires a lot of concentration. To work according to the Pomodoro technique, in fact, you only need a timer, but there are a number of applications that add additional functionality to this very simple, in general, method.
Pomodairo is an Adobe Air-based application that, in addition to the standard 25-minute timer for technology, allows users to mark the time it takes them to complete certain tasks, as well as note the most common distractions from work.
Tomighty is just a minimalistic desktop timer for the Pomodoro method. For those who need only basic functionality.
Services for storing notes and records
Keeping a diary with notes is in itself an effective tool for self-discipline and progress in school or work. The main benefit of using a special application or service to create and store notes is that the entries will be organized and structured, which means that nothing will be lost and any entry will be easy to find.
A very good digital notepad with a tree structure from Microsoft. Entries in it can be made not only in printed form, but also manually - using a stylus. This is quite a useful feature, because many people still prefer to use a paper notebook and a pen for taking notes, since handwriting is known to have a beneficial effect on the functioning of certain “creative” parts of the brain. OneNote also has the ability to sync between different devices.
Simplenote is a minimalistic cross-platform note-taking tool for those who love simplicity and functionality in such tools. Not overloaded with unnecessary graphics and interface elements, fast, and available for all modern platforms, including iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux and the browser version.
Services for forming habits
Forming the right and healthy habits for success in anything is not just important, but paramount. In a sense, the ability to form “good” habits and get rid of “bad” ones is the key to success in life and what distinguishes losers from winners and “handsomes”. Fortunately, there are a lot of tools for forming new habits and tracking existing ones. Among them there are many interesting applications and services with different approaches to the task and original solutions. Habit formation is an important and interesting topic, so in this section there will be five different tools at once.
A fun app (albeit only available for iOS devices) inspired by the productivity technique Don't Break the Chain by famous comedian Jerry Seinfeld. One day, Seinfeld revealed to a friend of his, an aspiring comedian, the technique by which he makes himself work. Jerry's idea is really good and very simple. To use it, you need a large calendar: one where all the days of the year fit on one page, and a red marker. “Each day that I have completed my writing task, I cross it out on the calendar with a bold red X. A few days later, a chain of such crosses is already obtained, and it grows day by day. You love seeing this chain, especially if it's been going on for a couple of weeks now. As a result, the habit is fixed in the subconscious.
By the way, there is an extension for Chrome with the same name -
Momentum . It replaces the standard new tab window in Chrome browser with a personalized page with a beautiful landscape background, sidebars with todo list, useful links, weather and inspirational quotes, and also allows you to set a reminder with a priority task for the current day.
An application with a really thoughtful and intuitive interface, alas, is again exclusive to Apple smartphones. Includes a set of tools for developing habits, motivation and achieving goals. There are features in his arsenal, including a variant of the “continuous chain” technique from Jerry Seinfeld.
A very interesting application that focuses not on the habits themselves, but on what influences their formation - the psychological and emotional states in which a person stays during the day. At a certain time every day, the application asks the user about his mood at the current moment. You can respond by choosing an emoji that matches the mood, as well as adding notes and descriptions of specific emotions and feelings. By collecting this information, the application helps the user track their emotional state, how it changes, and what factors have the greatest influence on it. Moodnotes is also an iOS app, but according to the information on the developer's
site , the Android version is already being tested and will be launched soon.
Another great app with an original concept. In short, Habitica applies the concept of role-playing to habit formation and tracking. “Habitica is a free habit building and personal productivity app that will turn your life into a game. Game rewards and punishments motivate, and a strong social component inspires - thanks to this, Habitica will help you become healthy, hardworking and happy, ”the developers promise. There are versions for both
iOS and
Android .
Services for organizing the educational process
And finally, a few good services directly for organizing the educational process and not only.
Degreed is a very well thought out and feature rich learning platform that is free of charge. “Tell us about the topics and skills you want to learn about, and we'll bring you the best articles, books, videos, courses, and people based on your interests and the way you learn,” the service's website says. With Degreed, you can also build a learning strategy by setting the time to study certain materials and keeping the information up to date. The service also has its own certification system, which allows you to assess your level of proficiency in a particular subject.
A simple, convenient and free application for managing your class schedule, task lists, deadline reminders, etc. Available for desktop and mobile platforms, as well as in the browser.
myHomework is a tool that will help you deal specifically with such an unpleasant aspect of learning something as homework. With myHomework, you can organize the schedule and process of doing homework so that you study regularly and do not delay the completion of those tasks that are difficult.
![Sit and study. Services to combat procrastination and planning learning - 2]()
Tools for Effective Learning and Fighting Procrastination by CodeGym
And finally, let us remind you that among the functionality available to CodeGym users, there are also a number of tools that help students in the difficult task of fighting procrastination and gradually transforming from a green newbie into a disciplined and trained pro-javist. So, for success in learning, our users receive achievements (game elements in action). Awards are given, for example, to solved problems (the more, the better), helping other users, answers in the help section, etc. In addition, you can bookmark interesting articles and lectures on the site so that they can be easily found and read again. Well, chats and a forum on CodeGym give us the opportunity to combine business with pleasure - if we kill time for communication in social networks, then at least we can communicate with like-minded people who also learn Java,
Therefore, today we have prepared a small selection of tools - mobile and desktop applications and web services - that should help CodeGym students and not only learn more efficiently, keep motivation and attitude up to par, and in general, prevent procrastination from spinning a web of laziness and excuses for another mediocre lived day / month / year (underline as necessary).
GO TO FULL VERSION