Ask YC: How do you avoid wasting too much time online?
I spend too much time browsing the web and it's hurting my productivity. There are so many interesting sites online -- hacker news, blogs, friendfeed, facebook, nytimes, etc -- and it's hard for me resist checking them on a daily basis, often multiple times a day. This stuff is really interesting and often useful, especially for an entrepreneurial hacker, and that makes it easy to justify spending so much time to "stay on top of things". However, the opportunity cost of not coding for an hour is huge compared to the benefit of reading yet another "20 things every startup founder should know" article. I need to find a way to break this bad habit. Just being aware of it apparently isn't enough.
I tried 8aweek. It didn't work for me. I've conditioned myself to reflexively press the "10 more minutes" button when the "your break time is up" popup comes up. Plus, at home I use Safari, and 8aweek doesn't work on Safari. (I avoided RescueTime -- the privacy implications are too creepy for me. Maybe I would use it if it had the option for only data collection. Also, I know I have a time wasting problem -- I don't need RescueTime to tell me that.)
The best solution I've found so far is to go somewhere where I don't have an internet connection at all, but it's not always practical.
If you have the same problem, how do you deal with it? I need a working solution.
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[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 98.7 ms ] threadI also disable all chat/instant messenger clients since you always lose productivity when switching from one to the other.
The other thing that you can do is try working from a different environment - if you find that you are browsing too much at your desk, try moving somewhere else that you can consider a "work only zone."
As a final step, try disabling your router for a bit and only give yourself access when you achieve your self imposed deadlines.
This has turned out to be quite a useful trick. Each time I find myself wasting time elsewhere, I spend some time thinking about why I'm not wasting time on justin.tv instead, and I get inspired to fix that.
1. Waste time on website
2. Get irritated to death by some bug/lack of feature
3. Go fix bug/feature
4. Goto 1
But there's no solution out there that your lack of discipline won't conquer.
One good hack is to set it up so that you either starve or are publicly shamed when you procrastinate. So, you could quit your job (thus putting starvation on the line!). Or you could embed a RescueTime graph on your blog and invite people to hassle you about how you spend your time. ;-)
I loathe apps and sites that make you feel like everything is in your face. Email is like this, so is RSS, same with pretty much all news sites. The list goes on and on.
It's why I was interested in that new Times application for the Mac, the one that turned RSS reading into a sort of newspaper. When you have that format, then you're expecting to look at something only to have it come to an end. It's a different mindset. At the same time, though, it doesn't solve the problem entirely, problem being: the Internet moves constantly, not only at set intervals.
I wonder: is there a way of limiting that without alienating people? Of setting a precise limit to how much can be done during any given time, then ending things up? It would make it a lot easier to avoid sites. At the same time, though, it would slow things down to a crawl compared to the speed at which things move now.
At least that is how it is for me. I've found that if I have boring work stuff to do, the ONLY way I can get it done in any sort of reasonable time frame is to just immediately dive into it and barrel through it as soon as I wake up. (actually after I wake up and do a bit of exercise)
Of course any super rich and successful person will tell you the real way to solve the boring work problem is to convince someone else to do it for you, so you can spend more time keeping up on things. :)
http://lwn.net/Articles/262570/
The default settings of 8aweek are definitely not strong enough for a major news junky. Mostly because the settings that news junkies need would probably piss of most users :). There are two modes to 8aweek, if you haven't tried already switch your settings to "block mode" and edit your preferences to limit the time and limit on the number of breaks in your day.
Currently we're only on FF and tend to focus more on our incentives and passive alerts than making the blocking more hardcore. If you immediately need something a little stronger I wrote a blog post last summer on the method I used before I had 8aweek (editing your hosts file).
http://thingsilearned.wordpress.com/2007/05/04/combating-int...
Another tip is to read a GTD book and try to only spend time infront of your computer when you have a clearly defined task to code out or read up on. Then walk away as soon as your done and re-define another task.
Also as always, send us some feedback on ways you think we could help you more, especially if you find another method that worked for you.
Why is it so hardcore? What do the systems actually entail?
It's really best suited someone who needs to manage a large quantity of varied but mostly small tasks.
Since the temptation to read news usually only lasts a second or two, this keeps me on task.
I started focusing on one thing only: the delta between what I planned to have complete at the end of each day vs. what I actually completed that day.
On Thursday, my plan was to have items A, B, and C complete before I knocked off. A & B were done by noon. I overlooked 2 prerequisites for C and had to go back and do them, then do C, which took twice as long as I expected. I didn't finish until 2 a.m. I also spent x hours on line. So what?
Sometimes going online gives me a break. Sometimes it gets the juices flowing again. And of course, sometimes it's just a waste of time. But it doesn't matter.
What's better, spending 6 hours online and getting everything done or spending 2 hours online and not finishing?
We often forget that (time spent) != (work accomplished).
Stop worrying about how much time you spend planting seeds and focus more on finishing each day's harvest.
Large parts of even web applications can be developed without connecting to the internet. Have everything you need on a local network, or even just your own computer.
I found this essay interesting: http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/ It shows you how procrastination has some hidden benefits. Give it a read.
Now, how do I cope with info out there. Well, every morning I give myself a set of tasks that I want to accomplish that day (if you have a boss... he will do a part of that for you I guess). I almost always start with the hardest thing on the list or with something that's time sensitive (like call someone at 11am etc) and I break it up into smaller tasks as I go along. The rule is that I am not available for chat, email etc. until I'm done with the big task. I do not browse the web for anything that's not related to the task. Until that task is done, I do not touch email or the browser. Now, once I'm done with it or I'm stuck, I take a walk for few minutes or I jump into the second task on the list. Funny thing is, as you start doing something else, very quickly you start getting ideas about the old problem. If I get an idea about how to solve my previous task, I go back to it and then go back to the task I was doing before. If most of your tasks involve programming, get git and it will be a godsend to you since it lends itself perfectly to this model of working.
Once I'm done with a big task, I take 30-40 min off and I check my RSS feeds, I check HN, check email etc. I check email only 3 times a day. I find it extremely distracting if I check email more often. Email eats up too much of my time. If you're an email junkie, look into Merlin Mann's Inbox Zero concept:
http://www.43folders.com/izero http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=973149761529535925
Also, take a look at this hack: http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/11/procrastination-hack-102... It's a method to get you in the mode of working on something so you acclimate yourself to work.
In the end, it comes down to strong will. Just force yourself to do something!
(Hope this helps.)
It also helps to have a router config that makes it difficult and time intensive enough to make a change, that wat it's easier to just NOT make the change and get back to work.
I've plugged this ridiculously simple tool so many times earlier that I am embarrassed to do it again now. I am not sure if you'll find it useful at all - but I find it to be very useful for me. Anyway, it works like this: You type in what you are planning to do and then later you can review it. This improves your consciousness and you stop wasting time online. The change comes from within. You don't need this web app... you can even do it with a legal pad.
I worked remotely for a long time and had the similar problem like you. When switched jobs I've found myself in an open environment and after the first "shock" I soon realized the benefits.
http://www.ibiblio.org/fred/freedom/
maybe?