Re: [Orgmode] Re: Added support for "habit tracking"

[John Wiegley]

On Oct 23, 2009, at 11:24 AM, Marcelo de Moraes Serpa wrote:

> But isn't consistency in the long-run the fact that you have  
> actually *completed* them?

Yes and no.  I don't need to always complete them, and yet I could  
still be consistent.  It's optimal to be perfectly consistent, but  
that's no what's expected.

Missing a deadline is something else entirely, as one imagines there  
are consequences.  Missing a habit is, well, just harder to pin down.

> In this case, IMO, a weekly review is a habit, even though it does  
> not happen daily, it still has consistent period to be respected (1  
> day, every seven days), and a deadline (the very same day). Or  
> habits need to be daily?

I guess it all comes down to whether you just want the graph or not.   
A weekly review is really something you need to do every week, so it's  
just a repeating task.  I have too have regular repeating tasks for  
things like downloading bank statements, paying the rent, visiting the  
dentist, etc.  These are tasks which are _each important in  
themselves_.  A habit, on the other hand, is never important in  
itself.  It doesn't matter so much if I miss washing the dishes  
today.  It's the _habit overall which is important_.  As long as I  
wash them more often than not, I'm doing better than if I'd never used  
Org at all.

The only difference between regular repeating tasks and habits is this:

 1. Habits appear at the bottom of the agenda (by default)
 2. Habits can be removed by hitting K
 3. Habits have a little graph, since you need to see consistency  
over a
    period of time.

Another difference between habits and tasks is this: If I get to the  
end of my day and there are tasks yet undone, it means I need to  
schedule them for another day.  But if there are habits undone, *I  
never reschedule them*.  Once I reach a point during the day when I  
know I no longer have time or opportunity to work on my habits, I just  
hit K and exclude them from the view.  What it means is that I'll try  
again to do them tomorrow.

But since tasks are, in a way, much more self-important, they need to  
be allocated to a certain day, or given a specific deadline -- whether  
or not that deadline repeats itself.

John