what helped me wasn’t forcing myself to shutdown, but giving my brain a clear signal that it’s time to switch gears. One simple trick that actually worked: before each coding block, I write down the last line I want to write before I stop. It gives me a natural off ramp and weirdly, my brain starts to anticipate that pause instead of resisting it.
On top of that, I use an app that’s built around nervous system regulation, not just timers or blocks. It actually changes how focused I feel while working. I don’t need to fight myself it gets me into flow and keeps me there longer, without the crash, music is pretty awesome too
I was making a layouting library in Go based on Clay. Took me three weeks. I often woke up at 4 AM because I wanted to work on it. After two weeks I got worried whether it is worth it. Luckily I finished it. It was not a smooth sailing but I got it done. I'd say - don't worry about it and just plough trough. If the excitement and eagerness to get it done dissipates, it will happen naturally. No reason to force it.
I’d use a tool like that if it could detect video calls in progress and not lock the computer while that’s happening.
Current plan is to acquire a loud and obnoxious physical timer and place it somewhere I have to get out of the chair to turn off.
But later I either got too lazy to turn it on, or I'd just turn it off and continue.
If you're interested, you can also follow the software I'm building. https://forcebreak.zenfeed.xyz
the tool's job is to add friction, not to be unbreakable. Even if you bypass it sometimes, if it stops you from staying up late a few more times per month, that's a win
Curious – what made you stop using your script?