Discipline is hard and not fun and I’m no good at it. So, since I’m surfing around anyway instead of working, why don’t we find out what sort of free motivational programs are out there for lazy creative types like us?

Let’s start at the beginning; I think that’s a common thing among the disciplinati.

1. Alarm Clock. So many clocks, so little time that I feel like working. I had high hopes for Alarm Cocky, which is a timer that lets you choose from a number of alarms, such as a guitar riff or a standard beep, or a freaked-out rooster cock-a-doodle-doo (hence the name). But I couldn’t get it to do a short 10-15 second trial and I didn’t want to sit around waiting for a longer experiment, so I can’t recommend it. Klokoo.com had a cheesy home page with weird RSS links and a slogan that read “Wake up tomorrow morning with Klokoo the radio alarm cock online” that made me nervous about what I might roll over and and see on my work laptop, so I went elsewhere. Kukuklok.com was a better option with a simple design that seems to work okay with a small selection of alarm noises, but the coolest was MetaClock (www.metaclock.com), which lets you pick a wakeup time, a song, a website you would like to pop up, a note from yourself, a random fact, and a “Today in History” factoid.
2. Affirmations. Even though a recent study suggests that things like this really make us feel worse, there are surprisingly large amounts of people who would like to stomp that kind of negativity into a fine powder and smoke it. People like that pay $15 a year for 365 positive message presentations (with “music”) from Ralph Marston at the Daily Motivator. You may find that the 10 free samples on his website are plenty. Try the Taste the Beauty sample, ” and accept the gift, and/or drink the Kool-Aid. But, suppose that research is right? Could you be risking your mental health with too much positivity and proactivity? Play it safe and sign up for an Insult a Day widget.
3. Reminders. Some of us need reminding. Some of us need nagging. If you are still reading this with that pile of paper on your desk, you probably do have a discipline problem, and you may as well jump ahead to the nagging. HassleMe is a fun snarky app that pesters you (and/or others) at “semi-unpredictable intervals” with nagging emails. It’s free, stultifyingly simple, and you get to read all the great HassleMe notes people send to themselves, like “WATER THE DAMN PLANTS BEFORE YOU KILL THEM ALL AGAIN YOU FREAK!” or “Stop eating cheese. You’re a vegan, God Damnit.”

The apps are in place. You are now ready to embark upon whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish. Not sure what that is? Oh, for crying out loud. We’ll deal with that next week.

Don’t worry, Ruby will make it all better. Spill it here.

Advice for the Rest of Us appears on auspicious Fridays.

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