How To Fight Online Distractions

While having breakfast this morning, my friend and I had an interesting conversation about the topic of distractions.  How often do you get distracted when  you’re online trying to get some work done?  Do you find yourself wandering off to a website and when you look down at the clock, 2 hours have passed?  Where did the time go?  Distractions are the evil culprit that steals away your valuable time.  It can be from a simple instant message from a friend, to reading an email and responding back.

Most internet marketers spend their entire day online and I would like to know what type of things do they do to make sure they don’t go off topic and squander off 2-3 hours of wasted time.  Here are a couple of tips that I personally use to keep myself focused on the task at hand.

Use Sticky Notes To Cover The Computer Clock

Before getting started with your work, take a sticky note and write down what needs to be done and give yourself a time limit.  For example, if you need to write 2 articles to help grow your business, on your sticky note put down “Write 2 articles; 11am-1pm.”  This will constantly remind you that you should have your work done by 1pm at the latest.  Once you find yourself wandering off to a website or checking email, look at the sticky note, stop what you’re doing and go back to the task at hand.  I find using colorful sticky notes helps best and you can put it on the lower right hand corner of the screen to cover the time.  That way when you want to look at the time, you have to physically touch the sticky  note and that will become a reinforcement of doing that specific task.

Turn off your Instant Messanger

This is a tough one for most people.  We are all used to being and staying connected through wireless devices and instant messengers, but if we really have work to be done, we need to eliminate this distraction.  It only takes 1 second for a friend to send a message, and a simple hello can turn into a two hour conversation.  We’ve all been through it.  If a person really needs to get a hold of you in an emergency, I’m pretty sure they’ll call your cell phone.  Turning off your instant messenger can save you time and make you more productive in finishing your task at hand.

Use software to limit web browsing

There is a great Firefox add-on extension called LeechBlock which can help eliminate online distractions.  LeechBlock is a simple productivity tool designed to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day. All you need to do is specify which sites to block and when to block them.  Best of all its free to use.

I hope you realize that in life, there will always be some sort of distractions that can waste our time and make us unproductive.  You must focus on your main objective goal and not allow yourself to fall into the common pitfalls.  Feel free to leave comments on tips and tricks that you personally use to help fight online distractions.  What’s your best online distraction blocker?