Boost Your A.M. Achievement by Blocking Computer Distractions..

by Brad Isaac on October 13, 2006

I wrote recently about a little productivity application called Temptation blocker. It’s good at eliminating distractions such as web browsing, RSS reading and Instant messenger distractions. I have always contended you should get to work on your number one goal very first thing in the morning. Launching a web browser can cut into that early morning goal productivity by luring you into distraction-ville.

Here’s a simple way to ensure you don’t have a chance to get distracted using a tweak to temptation blocker. All you need to do is as you are leaving the office set temptation blocker so that it runs all night and several hours into the next day.

As an example, lets say you leave work at 5pm and arrive to work at 8am – in total, you don’t want to be distracted until 10am. As you are leaving work at 5pm set temptation blocker to run from 5pm till 10am the next day by setting a “Get Work Done” period of 17hours. That way, you arrive the next day with no access to your web browser, RSS feedreader, instant messengers or games. You’ll have to do something productive ;)

Technorati Tags: block temptations, productivity, lifehacks, success

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{ 7 comments }

Eugene Morozov October 13, 2006 at 7:55 pm

Unfortunately, almost all my work is done in browser. So this product is not really suitable for me.

Brad Isaac October 13, 2006 at 8:42 pm

Eugene..do you find yourself getting distracted from surfing? Or more from outside webbrowser stuff?

anna February 16, 2007 at 5:30 am

wow! this is a great idea; i used to just uninstall things. I might use it, but it won’t be effective with the hack you gave then.

i tend to get distracted very easily through surfing… any ideas?

Brad Isaac February 16, 2007 at 8:16 am

Hi Anna, I like using timers set for short periods of time like 10-15 minutes. This creates pressure to focus and get work done.

You can also set surf timers for 10 minutes or whatever…at the end of the time, close your browser, no matter what. If it was important, you’ll remember to go back, if it was a time waster, you’ll forget.

anna February 17, 2007 at 10:01 pm

Thanks so much! You’re site is fantastic!!! Unfortunatelly, it was mindless surfing that I found it, but as you said, I came back so it obviously wasnt that mindless!!!!!

Brad Isaac February 17, 2007 at 10:22 pm

Anna, glad you came back :)

manuel September 22, 2008 at 2:32 pm

without having the pop-ups, does it help you concentrate with the task at hand

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