As a fellow developer, this resonates so much. We can debug race conditions but can't debug our own lack of dopamine for the gym.
You hit the nail on the head: Knowing ≠ Doing. The reason your roommate worked where Todoist failed is that humans are wired for social accountability, not just checking boxes in a void.
I actually leaned into this 'simple check-in' logic when I built PomoPlan Kiddo (pomoplan.live). Even though it’s a Pomodoro tool, I designed it to be highly visual and shareable—specifically for parents and kids to use together as a social contract. It’s less about the 'system' and more about the 'deal' you make with someone else to stay in the seat.
If you ever want to apply that roommate-accountability logic to your deep-work sessions, it might be worth a look. Glad you finally found the 'gym patch' that worked for you!
You hit the nail on the head: Knowing ≠ Doing. The reason your roommate worked where Todoist failed is that humans are wired for social accountability, not just checking boxes in a void.
I actually leaned into this 'simple check-in' logic when I built PomoPlan Kiddo (pomoplan.live). Even though it’s a Pomodoro tool, I designed it to be highly visual and shareable—specifically for parents and kids to use together as a social contract. It’s less about the 'system' and more about the 'deal' you make with someone else to stay in the seat.
If you ever want to apply that roommate-accountability logic to your deep-work sessions, it might be worth a look. Glad you finally found the 'gym patch' that worked for you!