Notices

Somebody just send him a blank script.

It will serve as a placebo effect and the end result is that he will have to follow his clock anyway, not knowing the actual deviation (none).

You could probably do this with a shell script and run it using cron or Alarmed. But the real solution is to plan to leave 5/10 minutes earlier. I do know what it is like, I'm just the same, leaving late does get me running more though

How would you work this though? Would you just have it run once, but then you'd get used to the offset after a while, or would you run it every night, but the the offset would add up and after a week it could be anywhere between 7 and 70 minutes fast. I guess the best way would be for it to check the time via the internet and do a random offset each day based on that.

genius! really i love it! well, not that it'll work now he's read that post, but definate brownie points for the theory!

You can use evil alarm.

That works for me...
I have to shake my phone for 2 minutes in order to make it stop... xD

It is a great idea, I'm using similar tactics myself. My Microwave in the kitchen (main occupation area in the morning) is set 10 minutes in the "future" and even if I obviously know that, it does add that extra little stress-factor I need to get out of the door with some time to spare.

I tried Evil Alarm, and all it did was gently vibrate and play a few seconds of music... Perhaps I didn't set it up properly?
What I would really like to see is an alarm that can't be stopped until I have opened my eyes and got my brain in gear, solving some math problem, getting through a maze or like something off one of those Brain Train games for instance. Sitting in the dark furiously shaking one's right hand is all too easy.

It's an amusing idea, as are many of the responses. How about putting a message in the alarm that pops up saying: "If you miss this train you will probably lose your job!"

That ought to get you going.

I do wake up earlier, but that's the point with the app: It gives you the "stress" of not knowing if it is 10min forward or not, it should/would work.
It's not that I need it when I wake up, but in general. Even though I am awake for 2h I would not know the real time.
This is as serious as Jobs is about not allowing Flash.

I like the placebo effect thing though, but that only works with me thinking I got some LSD.

Well yeah, auto updating the time, then change it.
You should be able to choose if it should work everyday or just weekdays etc. For me it would work everyday, since I always have something planned.