Ask HN: How could I hire someone in Bangalore to watch me for 8 hours a day?

1 points by rajlego 2 years ago | 13 comments

I recently saw this post a friend had written again: https://www.simonberens.com/p/i-hired-5-people-to-sit-behind-me

and realized that being in India instead of the Bay Area, I could possible afford to pay someone to do this every day. I'm not really sure how to tap into local networks to find someone to do this for me though; any suggestions on how to hire someone that could come to my house and: - wake me up - ask me for data on how i'm feeling every few hours/analyze it once a week - make sure I do what I set out to do - help me figure out why I'm not doing things if I don't want to do them

gregjor 2 years ago |

What to say about that kind of obsession over productivity, or the narcissism of valuing your supposedly insanely productive time so much? Hiring people to babysit a self-absorbed adult with apparently no self-control or discipline. And if that’s not enough, to look for people in developing countries to serve as low-paid audience and human to-do list.

All this to write blog articles? Code no one will cares about? Spin on the millions of ideas pouring out of your brain? Comically “optimizing” your activities and schedule? This describes a mental illness, not a productivity hurdle.

rajlego 2 years ago | |

Should've added more detail to my post but the reason I want to do this is less to become more productive and more to become sane - I'm trying to create a robust system to make sure I meditate, exercise and work on health issues every day.

It probably isn't far off to describe my struggle to manage these as mental illness rather than a productivity hurdle

Figs 2 years ago | | |

> It probably isn't far off to describe my struggle to manage these as mental illness rather than a productivity hurdle

You might try asking your healthcare provider for help finding a therapist or social worker. They can help you assess the issues you are facing in a way that's different from what you'd get from friends or family (for example such discussions are generally confidential), and they can check-in with you regularly if that's useful for managing your problems.

gregjor 2 years ago | | |

Honestly, I can't comprehend or imagine the lack of self-control and discipline you describe. Most people get by with a calendar, alarm clock, to-do list, and internal motivation if they want to develop habits or just show up on time for things important to them.

I don't have the qualifications to actually diagnose mental health problems, but having suffered from OCD myself I suggest you seek professional help.

porkbeer 2 years ago |

Local message boards, interest groups, and job/gig sites might work best. Sorry for all the people calling you names,that shouldn't happen here on HN.

Teamancer 2 years ago |

With the right series of prompts and criteria ChatGPT could probably whip up an effective virtual nanny.

rajlego 2 years ago | |

I've thought about this but the problem is it has to be able to poke me in a way I can't ignore

It seems plausible to add penalties of some sort that make me take it seriously but hard for me to align it in a way that handles edge cases well