Muristek
Eleven strangers watched me write this article. Is this the answer to our productivity crisis?
When the pandemic hit, I realized the work that would take me a few hours in the office drags on at home. Discovering a site that forced me to be accountable saved me
The first thing I did when I sat down to write this piece was to have a conversation with Ben. Ben is a polite, clean-cut, white American thirtysomething with a five o’clock shadow, and he’s sitting against a plain blue wall. The only thing hanging in his study is a white frame with “less” on it in lower-case serif, which makes me think he’s a graphic designer. But the only thing I really know about Ben is he’s too easily distracted, and so am I.
I have been randomly assigned to work with Ben on a website I use every day called Focusmate, which uses a sense of accountability to help you focus. The homepage kind of looks like a Google calendar: you book in a 50-minute session and the site matches you with someone else who wants to work in that time slot (this is mostly done randomly, although brand new users are matched with more experienced ones). When the time comes, you and your buddy get placed on a video call. You politely and briefly tell each other what you’re planning to use the time to do – and then you get on with it.
Continue reading...