Comments on: Increase focus by preventing distractions online

By: Western DVD

Western DVD — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:51:35 +0000

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By: jennifer

jennifer — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:06:52 +0000

Tami – How did your chirp-free experiment go?

Kerrie – Interesting! So the chimes get you, too! I didn’t even know that TweetDeck *had* a bell – I must have turned it off at some point.

Emma – I love that you have two stations. What a fantastic way to put a healthy barrier between work and non-work! Thanks for sharing!

Marie – Wow! It sounds like money well-spent as far as productivity is concerned! The computer is a tool – and the internet is a tool, but they don’t always have to be used together.

By: Marie Young

Marie Young — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:25:30 +0000

I find if I am online I easily slip down the rabbit hole of following one cool link after another. I don’t have the discipline not to look, but I had a super productive night when I checked into a hotel room with no internet access. I wrote three blog posts in Word, designed business cards, and created a new banner for my blog that I uploaded once I got home.

By: Emma McCreary

Emma McCreary — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:47:00 +0000

I turned off the chime notfications on email after I read The Four Hour Work Week. But I find I still then habitually go look at it so I’m not sure if that’s better or not!

What I do mostly is have a laptop that is designated for fun and games (Facebook, etc), and a desktop where I get my real work done. So since I know I’ll get my goof off internet time later, I can focus more when I’m at my desk.

And sometimes I’ll take a goof off break in the middle of the day – but I go to my laptop to do it. That way I am not shuffling Firefox tabs and opening and closing stuff–just moving my butt, which is good to do anyway.
Emma McCreary´s last blog ..Introversion and Online Socialness/Productivity

By: Kerrie Lee

Kerrie Lee — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:37:06 +0000

Tweetdeck is a big distration for me also. If I leave Tweetdeck open that little noise pulls me away from other stuff. Tweetdeck now only gets opened when I’m actively using it.

Email is my biggest distraction. I am a slave to that chime! I quit my email client when I know I have to get something done without distraction, but oftentimes what I’m working on is waiting for more info via email.

By: Tanya Geisler

Tanya Geisler — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:10:19 +0000

All great tips, as ever, thanks!

I think that Tweetdeck is my biggest distraction. The little chirpy noise that it makes when there’s an update holds 30% of my attention if I forget to turn the volume down.

Twitter/Tweetdeck for me is like walking through the halls in highs school…the cool kids are talking about this alluring topic, the artists are talking about that tantalizing topic and the techies are talking about innovation. All delightful and compelling. Where to hang out and chat? Then you look down at your watch and realize you’re late for micro-economics. And now you’re in trouble AND you’ve missed out on all of those great conversations. STRESS!

So this afternoon, I’ll experiment with shutting ‘er all down as I try to write a blog post in under an hour with zero applications open on my laptop…and the volume way down (ooooh what a juicy metaphor for turning the volume down on other areas of life too).

Wish me luck, and thanks for the inspiration!
Tanya Geisler´s last blog ..What being Bill (or Ted?) taught me about being me