Do you find yourself spending hours on the internet doing nothing productive? Are you logged on to twitter, Facebook or just plain googling random things all day long? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you need to STOP and reassess your priorities.Are you spending time on the internet at the expense of say, working on that project you say is important to your future or just plain going out there and meeting people?
Below are 5 steps that will enable you be more productive online and enjoy the benefits of the internet.
1 – Write a list of all the tasks and sites you need to visit either at the start or end of each day.
2 – Prioritize the list based on deadlines or the value completing a task will add to your life. Include the social networking sites as they are the big time wasters. Ask yourself e.g. Do you need to tweet several times a day or do you just need a few tweets a day to keep you visible and active online.
3 – Schedule internet and email time into your daily activities as this will ensure that you are more effective whilst online. Consider connecting to the internet only when needed. Don’t react immediately to everything the internet throws at you. Emails can wait! People do not expect spontaneous replies to their emails so take your time and really think about your reply. Replying emails within 24 hours is acceptable.
4 – Subscribe to mobile internet so that you can multitask by updating your profile, replying to emails etc whilst on the move. This could save you a lot of time as any time spent behind the computer will be on productive, value adding work.
5 –Any time you find yourself just lingering online, STOP, time yourself and get off when the allocated time is up. Don’t sabotage your productivity by allocating unnecessarily long internet time.
These steps will see you significantly improve your productivity both on and off-line.
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You have identified one of the biggest problems with the internet. I particularly like steps 1 and 2 that you have recommended. It is very easy to forget why you went on to the internet in the first place and spend your time on random sites.
If I was to add one point it would be to schedule a little time to random internet surfing so that it is out of the way when it comes time to do the important stuff.
Thanks. I’m happy you like the post. I’ll include your point.
Wow! Very useful information you have written here. Its so true that you can spend ages on the net doing fruitless things and before you know it youve spent 6 hours and forgotten the reason you were on in the first place! Great stuff. Ill take note of these things
fantastic post, and vey practical, it is so very easy to get side track doing things you weren’t supposed to be doing. Net is the best way to be both distracted and productive… now I know how to attack this mass distraction a lot better. Thanks… oh am loving this blog!!!!
I am aware I spend so much time on the internet which is not productive but havent gotten round to manage this properly . I will definately try out your advise and will keep you informed as to how its going.
Very interesting indeed.
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