Increase Your Productivity
Here are instructions for setting up a subliminal message flasher on your PC. I will come up with a simpler setup soon, but this should suffice if you’re willing to do a little bit of copy-and-paste work.
(For reference, here’s the blog post I wrote about it on March 6th. This static page contains a simplified introduction to the same program.)
Copy the following into a text editor:
#!/usr/bin/wish
# Message Flasher
# Public domain code. Please leave this notice intact.
# Created by Luke at http://10kluke.info
set fontsize 7
# Setup window geometry
set x 100
set y 50
#Slurp data from aff.txt (make sure this exists)
set fp [open "aff.txt" r]
set data [read $fp]
close $fp
wm transient .
wm overrideredirect . on
wm withdraw .
label .output -text "test" -font $fontsize
pack .output
set left 1
set top 1
set data [split $data "\n"]
while (1) {
foreach line $data {
# check if this is the end of the list of lines
if {$line=="." || $line==""} { break }
# adjust the length of the window to fit the line
set width [ expr $fontsize * [ string length $line ] ]
if { $top > 1 } {
if { $left > 1 } {
wm geometry . =${width}x20+${x}+${y}
} else {
wm geometry . =${width}x20-${x}+${y}
}
set left [ expr rand() * 2 ]
} else {
if { $left > 1 } {
wm geometry . =${width}x20+${x}-${y}
} else {
wm geometry . =${width}x20-${x}-${y}
}
}
set left [ expr rand() * 2 ]
set top [ expr rand() * 2 ]
# hide the window temporarily
wm deiconify .
# set the text to the current message
.output configure -text $line
update
# give the user some time to see it
after 150
# hide the window after the brief flicker
wm withdraw .
update
# wait 8 seconds (8000 milliseconds) and try again
after 8000
}
}
Save this as “flasher.tcl” somewhere on your hard drive.
Place your desired affirmations in a new text file, each on a separate line. A single affirmation by itself will work, but you may wish to add more to compliment it. I find that about 4 at a time is good manageable number to start with, and often increase them gradually to 20 before starting a new set.
I am a willing worker. I am energetic and healthy today. I am grateful for everything. I am always avoiding time-wasting activities.
Save this as “aff.txt” in the same directory as flasher.tcl.
On Linux, you should be ready to run the program at this point, provided you have a copy of “wish” installed. wish flasher.tcl or ./flasher.tcl will start the program.
For Windows users, grab TCL Kit. It’s an executable that is about 1.3 MB, and will let your computer interpret the script. You may have to use the DOS command-line to get it working. Make sure all three files (flasher.tcl, aff.txt, and tclkit-win32.upx.exe) are in the same directory.
Next, cd into the directory using DOS and type tclkit-win32.upx flasher.tcl. It should begin running, so minimize the DOS console. The little tooltip-like box that flashes in the corner of the screen briefly every 8 seconds will contain a message selected from your list.
If you know what you’re doing it’s a fairly simple matter to make a desktop shortcut that runs the script.
To quit using affirmations without losing them, open aff.txt in an editor and press enter twice at the top of the file. Add your new affirmations above the blank line. A blank line comments out all entries below it. A single period on a line (with nothing else) will do the same thing. This makes it easy to experiment with new affirmations (and styles of affirmation) without losing your old ones.
Life overflows with abundance. I am a willing worker. I am energetic and healthy today. I am grateful for everything. I am always avoiding time-wasting activities.
This example will only display the affirmation above the blank line — the rest will be excluded. A log of previously used affirmations can thus be kept, as you add new ones on top and separate them with blank lines.
