[AndrewOMartin]

I did a combination of this strategy and the one in the article. I changed my hosts file, then changed my root password to something with ~20 characters, then I gave the password to my wife (coworker would have also worked) and told them not to let me have it before 6pm. In cases I need to install something I just had to convince them of the necessity.

The human element really worked wonders compared to a poorly technical solution.

[JadeNB]

> coworker would have also worked

I think some consideration of the social aspect here is required. I agree that part of a marriage is agreeing to help one another in these small accountabilities, but, if a random coworker tried to impose this on me, I would not appreciate even the small imposition on my time. It's not, and shouldn't be, my job to help a random coworker stop procrastinating.

… But maybe you meant "a coworker who is also a friend", in which case it's fine; but still then I'd argue that the important point is that you could give it to a friend, not that you give it to a coworker. In fact, even from a selfish point of view, the friendship is important: if a coworker asks this of me who isn't already a friend, then I'm less likely to spend energy in arguing with any password request, and so will simply grant it reflexively.

[Wowfunhappy]

What happens when you need to perform other administrative tasks on your machine?

[AndrewOMartin]

I just had to make the case to my wife/coworker. The nature of this technique is that it works best when you don't have much serious administration to do and just have to grind out a lot of writing.