I've spent the last 3 years or so finding solutions to problems like "how do I compile information about large projects" and "how do I stay focused on a project long enough to complete it" and "how do I force myself to exercise." Someone close to me asked how I, well over 30 and reasonably successful in my life thus far, hadn't figured out solutions for those problems thus far. The question stung a bit, but also allowed some useful introspection, so I wanted to share a bit of personal background before I get to the app review part of this edition. Unlike the person who asked me this question, I haven't been in the same job for the last decade, and I've changed job types between 4 and 5 times depending on how you count. The tricks I learned for achievieng success in college are sadly irrelevant for the majority of the work I've done post-college, and historically I've had really time-bounded tasks that were externally imposed, and implicitly involved exercise and movement. Most of my decade in education was spent traveling around classrooms and between rooms, circulating to help students, carrying heavy boxes of paper, etc. Being at home with a newborn, working from home on a newsletter, and white collar desk jobs are all very new to me, so it's not surprising that I've had to work hard to change my habits and make sure I don't ruin my health with the habits that stood me in good stead in my late teens. All-nighters to meet deadlines just aren't as easy when you're pregnant, 35, and have a toddler who might wake up at midnight wailing with an earache. I can't afford to be a zombie anymore, or crash for an 14 hour sleep session after a nasty all-nighter. So I had to learn to work in chunks. I had to learn how to set aside projects and come back to them. Obsidian helped _enormously_ with that, as evidenced by the fact that I initially started outlining this article in ::checks notes:: April of 2022. One thing I 've learned in the last few years is that more "advanced" tools are not always better. Despite the progression taught to us by video games, the discovery of copper did not make stone tools useless. The invention of the drill did not eliminate the importance of the screwdriver. On a more contemporary note, [I don't agree with people who think folders are outdated](https://www.obsidianroundup.org/yet-another-hot-take-on-folders-versus-tags/). The introduction of a new tool doesn't mean that we should discard the old one; there are plenty of situations when I would much prefer a screwdriver over a drill. For instance, I'm concerned that the drill might slip out of my hands and cause harm, or that the battery may be dead and I don't have the time to recharge it, or that it requires more maintenance. All of this demonstrates that the screwdriver still has its place in our lives. So, for much the same reason I still find folders valuable in a world with tags and AI-powered links, I really appreciate this fairly simple tool [first developed in 2010](http://eyeleo.com/view_changes) and wanted to share it with y'all. [EyeLeo](http://eyeleo.com/) hasn't demonstratively helped me _achieve_ anything the way that Obsidian has. It's an app that's meant to help with eyestrain, which wasn't even what I was looking for when I stumbled across it -- I was looking for a highly customizable exercise app that would take into account my postpartum complications, use gifs instead of videos, and help gamify quick exercises a bit. Instead, I found this: > EyeLeo reminds to take breaks regularly, shows you simple eye excercises and prevents you from using the computer at break times. Following EyeLeo's regulations will result in less physical fatigue. It's not a productivity app. It functions similarly to a pomodoro timer in that you can set intervals and it'll encourage you to stop working for a bit, but the intervals tend to be much shorter. It's not intended to help people achieve a flow state or keep doing deep work. It's just trying to save your eyes. But EyeLeo has really helped by making it easier to check in with myself every five minutes with a 20 second break and every 25 minutes with a 5 minute break. You can customize the times according to your own preferences, but I try to use this time to check in with my body; am I stiff? Am I hungry? I'll often run to the bathroom, or exercise. Pomodoro timers do the same thing, but I generally have to _set_ those timers. EyeLeo doesn't care about deep work; it cares about my eyes. What I appreciate about EyeLeo is that it doesn't frame these breaks in a "stop working on what you're working on and totally switch gears" sense, but rather as a "get off your computer and go walk around" thing. This is much more useful to me as I can still think about the task I was working on without having to actually do it, as long as I, say, get up from my desk and walk around with my eyes closed. I find that this helps me generate better insights, because I don't have to switch gears as much as I used to when using pomodoros. More importantly, though, it gives me an reminder to check in with myself periodically -- way more often than I'd consciously thought I needed to -- and ask if what I'm doing is aligned with my goals. Metacognition is a _super_ important part of efficiency and being productive... in the same way that situational awareness is critically important in player-versus-player games like [League of Legends](https://www.leagueoflegends.com/). I don't play competitive video games anymore ([I barely play video games at all](https://www.obsidianroundup.org/obsidian-replaced-games-now-prolific/); these days it's mostly Stardew Valley with my son who loves "shooing the [dancers](https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Dust_Sprite) away" or the occasional bout of [Rimworld](https://rimworldgame.com/) if I'm _really_ fried and have to stay awake anyway. But there was a time when I used to play League of Legends in 5-person teams with highly ranked people who took it seriously, and one of the first things I learned was to obsessively check the map to make sure you don't get snuck up on and ambushed, or worse, outflanked. It took a long time -- and a few really embarrassing losses -- to really ingrain that habit in me, but it's proven valuable in a lot of different aspects of my life... especially now that EyeLeo (and my fitbit, which pings me every hour I haven't moved enough) are here to provide a little technological assistance.