Limit Computer Usage:
The Problem: People are always trying to do too much such that whenever they come to a lull in workflow, the countless distractions of the computer take hold and ruin productivity.
Secondary Problems: Too much computer usage can limit real human interaction, encourage laziness, shorten your attention span, and reduce time spent outside in nature.
The Solution: Limit computer Usage.
There are many ways to limit computer usage. Obviously, just using it less is the simplest solution, but that is only if going cold turkey can work. Most of the time, it can’t. Let’s face it, computer addiction is an addiction. How many people can say that they’ve gone on the computer to look something up online and then reemerged hours later having done nothing but browsing from page to page, scanning vast amounts of information and most likely retaining none? I think if we rephrased the question to count how many people have never experienced this, the number would be more manageable. The computer is addicting.
More Power With Less Power
So what can you do if cold turkey is not for you? If you have a laptop, you can use it on battery, allowing yourself only to charge it while you sleep. The average laptop battery lasts 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Knowing you have a limited time to use your computer that day will force you to spend that time getting your work done first. Then, if you have power left, you may spend time browsing the web, but this time is limited by the battery’s capacity.
In fact, this using your battery until it is dead and then charging it (instead of leaving it plugged in all the time) will increase it’s lifespan.
Don’t bring your laptop’s power cord with you when you go out. Less weight and added freedom, trust me.
Bring a Notebook With Your Notebook
It’s easy to feel very limited when your computer’s battery is dead and you still have work to get done. Therefore, you should bring a notebook around with you as well as your laptop. This way, you can use the notebook to jot down ideas that you might normally type up somewhere. You can also write out text you plan to type later, getting the proof-reading in while you transcribe it later.
Prevent Spirals of Unproductivity
I work at a computer lab 20 hours a week and in those 20 hours, I am given work that takes about 3 hours per week to accomplish. That leaves about 17 hours of myself and a computer to do what I please. Somehow, I one day realized that I had gotten myself into the habit of refreshing the same 5 pages over and over for hours on end. I would start at my email and follow a link to a page that I post content and check for updates, then I’d check the next and so on. By the time I’d checked the last page, I was already curious if I’d gotten any new emails.
The internet moves at unfathomable speeds, but that doesn’t mean we need to be constantly catching up. Chances are, these updates that are so important, really are not very important. Probably not at all.
Try to find the 5 (or so) websites that you visit most often and limit yourself to only visiting/refreshing these pages 5 times per day each. That includes email. If that becomes easy and you realize that even 5 times is too much, move to only using these pages 3 times per day.
Reduce Distractions
If you use your computer for work, obviously it’s hard to completely reduce your computer usage as drastically as only one battery cycle per day. However, there are measures you can take to reduce the distractions offered by your computer.
Clean up your desktop. Only have icons or files that pertain to your current project. Get rid of everything else.
If you have a Mac, clean up your dock. Use an app launcher such as Quicksilver.
Also check out the program Think (also for Mac). This handy app only lets you focus on one application at a time and hides everything else.
Go Old School
I am an avid proponent of many things old school. Not just because it’s ‘cool,’ but because it’s practical. A pen and paper doesn’t require batteries or an internet connection, they probably won’t get stolen, they are lightweight and they can withstand impact and in many cases, even spills better than a computer. They also don’t offer all the myriad of distractions that your computer does.
Get A Typewriter, Your First Draft Machine
Sure, your friends might think you’ve sold out and become a hipster, but typewriters aren’t just for indie kids. In fact, many writers still swear by typewriters. If you’re like me, you can write 10 times faster on a keyboard than with a pen and paper. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing with a pen, but sometimes it’s frustrating when my hand is rushing to catch up with my brain. This tends to be the other way around with I’ve got a keyboard in front of me, and that’s how you want it.
Therefore, my typewriter has become my first draft machine. Think about it, it’s like a word processor, but you can’t minimize it and check your Facebook. People complain about how hard it is to correct mistakes on a typewriter. Don’t correct your mistakes! Don’t stop writing. Plow through the work and let your creativity flow uninterrupted. Then, when you’re transcribing it to your word processor, you can correct all the errors and edit. It’s not nearly as easy to be distracted when you’re copying work you’ve already written. It eliminates the whole “I don’t know what to write at this moment, let’s browse the internet” step.
