Are you tired of wasting time online? (I)

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I am. I recently undertook a truly unpleasant exercise – keeping a note of what I actually did when writing the first draft of a post.

What started with a relevant question (is Evernote available for pc AND mac or just mac?) ended up as a hunt for a cool anniversary present for Mr. Enemy, taking in a couple of extra stops on household organisation and ipads on the way.

This took around 10 clicks and about 5 minutes, which isn’t a huge amount of time in itself. But just say – just for argument’s sake – I spend an hour doing this sort of thing (purely hypothetical, you understand folks) – what’s the result?

A feeling that I have worked but really have nothing to show for it.

I didn’t find a suitable present • I still can’t afford an ipad • I can’t  remember the household tips in enough detail to actually implement them.

In fact, worse than that, I often feel worse than I did before – sore eyes from staring at the screen and that horrible sick feeling you have just squandered a chunk of precious free time.

In short, this sort of unmanaged surfing gives the illusion of usefulness but actually, doesn’t give any real satisfaction.

The main problems seem to be:

• The internet is always there (assuming you have wifi)
• It is very easy to blend one’s activities
• Being human (there is nothing wrong with the internet itself, just as there’s nothing inherently evil about alcohol or really good quality milk chocolate)

It seems clear that the key here is to try, when possible, to unblend your activities. And that, dear readers, is the subject of my next post because there is lots to say on the matter.

I’m going to  leave you with  two questions and a suggestion.

Question 1 – what sucks up most of your time?
Question 2 – what is it costing you?
Suggestion – for the next few days, just try to be aware… of your clicks.

Yup, I’m getting all Buddhist over your ass! Check next week for some ideas on how to, y’know, do something about it!

Anyone coming to my workshop & talk at Aye Write & Write Now in Glasgow tomorrow? Feel free to leave me a message or any burning questions you’d like me to answer. Look forward to seeing you there!