I task switch like a drug addict when I'm in a browser. Always opening distracting websites instead of staying focused on my task. Every time there's a 5+ second for something to load, I open another tab. It is stupid. But I do it anyways...
How do you keep yourself focused?
When I try to study or work, I end up task switching all the time by going to distracting websites.
I made a an extension that creates focused sessions, so that I pick before hand which websites I can visit and then when I'm entering a session I am limited to those websites.
If you think it may help you, then find it here: Cenote.
I'm genuinely not going to make any money from it (100% free - no upsale), so just want to share a tool which works for me.
I understand it may be considered self-promotional, and in some way it definitely is, but hey, I think it may help some people - so fuck it.
I've created Cenote, a web extension, which allows you to create a focus session which keeps you focused on the webpages and tasks that you want to perform.
The second feature is a web page pauser, which creates a pause screen before entering a website.
Please give it a try, and let me know in the comments what you think.
I tried to make it simplistic and artistic. An elegant way of interacting with your browser.
I appreciate any feedback!
For years. I mean really 10+ years. I've developed this habit of impulsively open tabs to some distracting, time-consuming, website. I find myself typing "Y" ... --> youtube --> enter ---> " --> And then I'm on Youtube before realizing what I've done.
I didn't have a good solution for this. I used webpage blockers for a long time. But it would always come a time when I needed to use facebook or youtube, so I would have to turn it off. I would then turn the blocker off once, and then twice, and eventually I wouldn't turn it back on again.
As a developer, and a recent agentic coder, I figured I could create a solution that works for me. So I made a chrome extension that doesn't block webpages, but it adds a timed delay when you open a distracting webpage. Usually that's enough friction for me to stop myself from entering the application - or to enter it more consciously.
The second feature is "Focus session", where I can pick the specific pages which I want to use, and then either limit myself fully to those pages, or strongly nudge towards working on those pages. This feature takes my focus to a different level, when I really need to stay focused.
The extension is available for the public, because I thought others might benefit. It's free and will always be (100% free, no premium features behind a paywall). The extension is called cenote, and it's available in the chrome web store. Leave a message if you're interested in trying it.
I'm curious. Do anyone of you have similar issues to what I had? And what was your solution?
For years. I mean really 10+ years. I've developed this habit of impulsively switching tabs to some distracting, time-consuming, website. I find myself typing "Y" ... --> youtube --> enter ---> " before I realize what I've done.
I didn't really have a good solution for this. I used webpage blockers for a long time. But it would always come a time when I needed to use facebook or youtube, so I would have to turn it off. I turned the blocker off once, and I did it twice, and eventually I wouldn't turn it back on again.
As a developer, and a recent agentic coder, I figured I could create a solution that works for me. So I made a chrome extension that doesn't block webpages, but it adds a timed delay when you open a distracting webpage. Usually that's enough friction for me to stop myself from entering the application - or to enter it more consciously.
The second feature is "Focus session", where I can pick the specific pages which I want to use, and then either limit myself fully to those pages, or strongly nudge towards working on those pages. This feature takes my focus to a different level, when I really need to stay focused.
Aaaany who.
The extension is available for the public, because I thought others might benefit. It's free and will always be (100% free, no premium features behind a paywall). This post kind of reads as promotion, so it may be blocked, dunno. If you want to find it, look for "cenote" in the chrome web store or send me a DM.
I'm curious. Do anyone of you have similar issues to what I had? And what was your solution?
I am Computer Science student, and over my studies I've been easily gotten distracted while I should be studying. I noticed that what always happened was that I opened a youtube, or 9gag (and I actually fucking hate 9gag), or facebook - with an impulse before I had the possibility to stop myself. I then already broke my focus and would easily get lost for a long time in that application.
I tried webpage blocking extensions, but it didn't really work ... because I end up unblocking Youtube because I would always actually need it at some point - and then I would forget to turn it back on (and part of me didn't want to).
And the scheduling thing that many extensions have never really worked for me.
So.. I developed a web extension that adds a timer before I can enter blocked pages. That way I can still go to it (with my impulses), but I need to wait for 3, 5, 10s (or longer), if I really want to go to it. In most cases, I'm like "fuck it, let's go back to studying". Other times, when I really need to go to the website, and 10s doesn't deter me, I'll continue to the website.
Don't want to advertise anything here.. but it really has helped me.. So if you want to use it too, I can send the link. The extension is free. Will always be.. And I won't ever add any "premium tier" or stuff like that.
I two quite different versions of a CV.
They have the same context, but different tone and style.
I'm looking for computer science jobs in data engineering, full stack development or backend development.
- Which one do you prefer?
- Anything you'd change/add on both of the CVs?
Thank you!
FYI Americans:
European CVs should include an image - the anti-discriminatory regulations are not as strong here.
Also, one column is better for ATS systems... However modern ATS systems deal with two columns pretty decently.
I spent a long time treating my phone/laptop habit as a willpower problem. Read the books, made the rules, set the limits, did the streaks, joined the accountability threads. Each new system would work for about two weeks and then quietly stop working, usually without me noticing until I'd already been off the wagon for days.
The pattern was always the same: I'd set up some hard rule, it would work while it felt novel, then a stressful afternoon would hit and I'd "make an exception just this once," and within a week the rule was gone. Then I'd blame myself, double down on a stricter version, and run the exact same loop again. I did this for years.
What eventually worked was the opposite of discipline — it was removing the need for it. Specifically: putting a few seconds of friction between the impulse and the payoff. Not a block. Not a punishment. Not a streak to protect. Just enough delay that the autopilot loop breaks and the prefrontal cortex catches up before the dopamine hits.
The mechanism, as far as I can tell, is that the bad version of this habit isn't really a decision — it's a reflex. My hand opens the tab before I've registered wanting to. The discipline approach assumes there's a moment of choice where willpower gets applied, but there isn't one. The choice has already been made by the time I'm aware of it. Adding a few seconds of delay doesn't fight the reflex; it just inserts a moment where a decision can actually happen.
It feels less heroic than "I disciplined myself out of it" but the results are better. I'm not white-knuckling anything. I'm not protecting a streak. I'm not feeling guilty when I slip, because there's nothing to slip from. The decision just gets made consciously instead of by reflex, and most of the time the conscious decision is "no, I don't actually want this right now."
Has anyone else here found that the discipline framing was actually getting in the way? Or is this just me dressing up giving up as insight?
This happens probably 40 times a day: - I'm typing an email. - I get to a word I'm not sure about. - Some part of my brain goes "uncertainty → discomfort → escape." - My hand opens a new tab and types "ins" before I've registered any of it. - I'm on Instagram for 8 minutes. - I come back and I cannot remember what the email was about.
It's not boredom. It's not even procrastination in the deliberate sense. It's like the discomfort of a half-formed thought is physically intolerable and my hands solve it for me.
Is there a term for this specifically? And — separate question — has anyone found anything that interrupts the loop before the tab opens, rather than after? Most of what I've tried intervenes too late.
For years I bounced between hard blockers (cold-turkey, leechblock, hosts file) and nothing at all. Hard blockers always ended the same way — I'd get annoyed, disable them, and then not turn them back on for weeks.
The thing that actually changed my behavior wasn't a stronger wall. It was a delay. A few seconds of "are you sure" between the muscle-memory keystroke and the dopamine. Long enough that the autopilot breaks and I notice I'm not actually here for a reason.
Most of the time, when I notice, I just close the tab.
Curious whether others here have landed on the same thing, or if friction-based approaches have failed for you and walls worked better. What's the mechanism that actually does it?
I've been on the max plan for about 4 days now.
And I don't understand how people get fill their usage within the 5h or weekly rolling time-window.
So.
People with max plan that manage to run out of credits.
How do you do it?