Really really simple procrastination trick that works wonders for me: don’t just minimise the browser when trying to work, close it. If I need to use it for something work-related, one tab only and close it again immediately afterwards. The trick here, I think, is that flipping to the browser window is an automatic reaction when I get stuck on my work. If my mouse goes to the taskbar and it isn’t there, the extra moment required to think: “Oh, I’ll have to relaunch it” is just about enough to override the automatic reaction with: “No, I’m working”.
And generally, reduce the availability of distractions. If you notice something attractive that you could be doing instead of what you think you should be doing, you’ll need to spend willpower to suppress doing it.
don’t just minimise the browser when trying to work, close it.
There are a couple of other trivial inconveniences that can be installed on the path between you and the browser:
Remove the browser shortcut from the quick launch / taskbar and the desktop, so that every time you feel the urge to browse the interwebz, you have to actually navigate the Program Menu (or its equivalent in your OS).
If you use Firefox, turn off your bookmarks toolbar via the right-click menu, so that you have to actually type URLs.
Under Windows XP, I noticed that if I disabled my WLAN adapter while logged in as Administrator, I couldn’t re-enable it while logged in as Home. So I decided to generally work as Home with the adapter disabled, and when I needed to go online, temporarily plug in an external adapter (possibly limiting my online time using my laptop’s battery and/or my bladder). I should note that I’m not doing any of that now, though.
Occasionally I’ve driven to somewhere where I don’t have access to the Internet at all, and sometimes left my laptop home too, but I haven’t adopted that as a regular thing; for one thing, I need a separate motivation to get me in the car to begin with.
Really really simple procrastination trick that works wonders for me: don’t just minimise the browser when trying to work, close it. If I need to use it for something work-related, one tab only and close it again immediately afterwards. The trick here, I think, is that flipping to the browser window is an automatic reaction when I get stuck on my work. If my mouse goes to the taskbar and it isn’t there, the extra moment required to think: “Oh, I’ll have to relaunch it” is just about enough to override the automatic reaction with: “No, I’m working”.
And generally, reduce the availability of distractions. If you notice something attractive that you could be doing instead of what you think you should be doing, you’ll need to spend willpower to suppress doing it.
There are a couple of other trivial inconveniences that can be installed on the path between you and the browser:
Remove the browser shortcut from the quick launch / taskbar and the desktop, so that every time you feel the urge to browse the interwebz, you have to actually navigate the Program Menu (or its equivalent in your OS).
If you use Firefox, turn off your bookmarks toolbar via the right-click menu, so that you have to actually type URLs.
Under Windows XP, I noticed that if I disabled my WLAN adapter while logged in as Administrator, I couldn’t re-enable it while logged in as Home. So I decided to generally work as Home with the adapter disabled, and when I needed to go online, temporarily plug in an external adapter (possibly limiting my online time using my laptop’s battery and/or my bladder). I should note that I’m not doing any of that now, though.
Occasionally I’ve driven to somewhere where I don’t have access to the Internet at all, and sometimes left my laptop home too, but I haven’t adopted that as a regular thing; for one thing, I need a separate motivation to get me in the car to begin with.