Help, the internets are calling
November 27, 2005 11:46 AM Subscribe
Mac-Distraction-Filter: I need to write using my mac but I am endlessly distracted by the internets and email.
I'm looking for two things a) strategies to avoid this and b) applications that will essentially lock me out of my web browsers and email clients.
I'm looking for two things a) strategies to avoid this and b) applications that will essentially lock me out of my web browsers and email clients.
Is it a laptop? I face the same problem, but I've found that designating certain locations for certain activities helps me get stuff done. For instance...using my computer on my couch in the living room means I will get no work done (and sometimes this is fine). Using it at a coffee shop with free wifi = slightly more work done. Using it at a coffee shop with wifi I would have to pay for = lots done.
If it's not a laptop that makes it harder, but I used the same principle when I had a desktop and needed to write papers. I could get little to no work done at my home computer even if it wasn't connected to the internet. But if I dragged my ass to the computer lab at the library, I could immediately get more done, simply because in my mind the library was associated with work and not play.
(Of course, I am writing all of this at a coffee shop where my goal is to get work done...)
posted by jetskiaccidents at 11:59 AM on November 27, 2005
If it's not a laptop that makes it harder, but I used the same principle when I had a desktop and needed to write papers. I could get little to no work done at my home computer even if it wasn't connected to the internet. But if I dragged my ass to the computer lab at the library, I could immediately get more done, simply because in my mind the library was associated with work and not play.
(Of course, I am writing all of this at a coffee shop where my goal is to get work done...)
posted by jetskiaccidents at 11:59 AM on November 27, 2005
Get a full-screen editor, like Ulysses or CopyWrite.
Or do what I did, and buy an 68k PowerBook from eBay. Works a treat, System 7 looks great and Word 5.1 is still the best yet.
posted by bonaldi at 12:02 PM on November 27, 2005
Or do what I did, and buy an 68k PowerBook from eBay. Works a treat, System 7 looks great and Word 5.1 is still the best yet.
posted by bonaldi at 12:02 PM on November 27, 2005
Temptation Blocker. Blocks any application for as long as you want. Free.
posted by blag at 12:02 PM on November 27, 2005
posted by blag at 12:02 PM on November 27, 2005
Response by poster: I like the idea of temptation blocker but it's unfortunately windows only.
posted by captainscared at 12:07 PM on November 27, 2005
posted by captainscared at 12:07 PM on November 27, 2005
Create a user with wordprocessing software available. All web based software (e/mail, browsers, etc) are under another user... with a very complicated, long password...
And, face the fact that you need to use a little self control....
posted by HuronBob at 12:38 PM on November 27, 2005
And, face the fact that you need to use a little self control....
posted by HuronBob at 12:38 PM on November 27, 2005
You could probably do this with multiple accounts ("work" vs. "play") and manipulating which things your "work" account can access through the Parental Controls tab. It'd take some work, though.
posted by mkultra at 12:38 PM on November 27, 2005
posted by mkultra at 12:38 PM on November 27, 2005
Nothing useful to contribute, but: thanks. I'd been thinking of making a nearly identical post.
posted by soviet sleepover at 1:02 PM on November 27, 2005
posted by soviet sleepover at 1:02 PM on November 27, 2005
Response by poster: the issue with another account, as I've thought about this, is how do you share an iTunes library among users when the music files are located in only one users account?
posted by captainscared at 1:02 PM on November 27, 2005
posted by captainscared at 1:02 PM on November 27, 2005
I've had lots of success with 43 Folders Procrastination hack.
It basically tells you to get a timer that's easily resetable, work for 10 minutes, surf (or whatever) for 2, and start over, do this five times, and you've gotten a good 50 minutes of work done.
The use of Minuteur as the timer is also sugested, it's very easy to use.
posted by splatta at 1:23 PM on November 27, 2005
It basically tells you to get a timer that's easily resetable, work for 10 minutes, surf (or whatever) for 2, and start over, do this five times, and you've gotten a good 50 minutes of work done.
The use of Minuteur as the timer is also sugested, it's very easy to use.
posted by splatta at 1:23 PM on November 27, 2005
This may not apply to you, but it certainly applied to me: you may be constantly distracted as part of a pattern of procrastination, avoiding things that you really want to do deep down, but are somehow afraid of.
Again, this may not be it, but if you recognise any of the following as a description of yourself, consider buying Neil A. Fiore's The Now Habit. It will save you a lot of counter-productive self-criticism over your distractions.
You see, in some ways, the human psyche is not well-suited for the demands of survival in the 20th Century. Fiore says, amongst other things, that procrastination stems from fear of failure at the task you're trying to undertake. So the writing projects are valuable, but if you're taking your sense of personal value from their success, then the stakes are very high. Losing yourself to these distractions constitutes a rational short-term strategy for dealing with these high-stakes: your mind just shuts out the task and occupies itself with something nearer, smaller and more immediately satisfying.
Maybe in response to the resulting failure to get anywhere, you punish yourself with deadlines and other ways of increasing the pressure to succeed. But that just makes the task more threatening and increases your mind's tendency to route around the problem.
Another point Fiore makes is that, having procrastinated and completed a project at the last minute, you can tell yourself that the outcome doesn't represent the best you can do. It's thus not a true judge of your worth. Again, it's a psychological safety valve.
In reading the book I recognised these weaknesses in myself, and that went quite a long way to solving the problems. The (not entirely complementary, but equally effective) strategies for overcoming distractions include:
1. Just starting. Grab a tiny piece of the project and tell yourself your just going to spend 15 minutes working on this piece. As soon as fifteen minutes is up, whether you're finished or not, you can check mefi. You'll find that momentum builds up and you can get into the swing of the project. When the 15 minute timer (you *must* set a timer) goes off, you'll often find a desire to continue. It's a cheap psychological trick, but it works.
2. Don't programme times to work. Programme in immovable blocks of leisure time that you take regardless. Don't feel guilty about this leisure: tell yourself that it's your right and you need it to recharge. Mark out the times that you've worked after you've worked them, but only if you've managed 30 minutes uninterrupted, concentrated work. A good 30 minute spot gets coloured in and you can look back proudly at the end of the day on what you've accomplished.
All you naturally effective people probably pride yourselve on your shiny work-ethics and look down on procrastinators. "Use a little self-control" you might say. Seriously, in most cases there's much more to our problem than that, but it's actually pretty easy to overcome if you recognise the roots.
Once more, I may be completely off track in your case, but I thought I'd lay it out anyway. All this crap definitely helped me out.
(The book also contains a lot of cringe-worthy self-help-book-style 'examples' ["Billy came into my office one day looking glum. 'I just can't seem to get started with my dissertation', he said..."]. Ignore them and cut to the psychology and strategies.)
posted by godawful at 1:24 PM on November 27, 2005
Again, this may not be it, but if you recognise any of the following as a description of yourself, consider buying Neil A. Fiore's The Now Habit. It will save you a lot of counter-productive self-criticism over your distractions.
You see, in some ways, the human psyche is not well-suited for the demands of survival in the 20th Century. Fiore says, amongst other things, that procrastination stems from fear of failure at the task you're trying to undertake. So the writing projects are valuable, but if you're taking your sense of personal value from their success, then the stakes are very high. Losing yourself to these distractions constitutes a rational short-term strategy for dealing with these high-stakes: your mind just shuts out the task and occupies itself with something nearer, smaller and more immediately satisfying.
Maybe in response to the resulting failure to get anywhere, you punish yourself with deadlines and other ways of increasing the pressure to succeed. But that just makes the task more threatening and increases your mind's tendency to route around the problem.
Another point Fiore makes is that, having procrastinated and completed a project at the last minute, you can tell yourself that the outcome doesn't represent the best you can do. It's thus not a true judge of your worth. Again, it's a psychological safety valve.
In reading the book I recognised these weaknesses in myself, and that went quite a long way to solving the problems. The (not entirely complementary, but equally effective) strategies for overcoming distractions include:
1. Just starting. Grab a tiny piece of the project and tell yourself your just going to spend 15 minutes working on this piece. As soon as fifteen minutes is up, whether you're finished or not, you can check mefi. You'll find that momentum builds up and you can get into the swing of the project. When the 15 minute timer (you *must* set a timer) goes off, you'll often find a desire to continue. It's a cheap psychological trick, but it works.
2. Don't programme times to work. Programme in immovable blocks of leisure time that you take regardless. Don't feel guilty about this leisure: tell yourself that it's your right and you need it to recharge. Mark out the times that you've worked after you've worked them, but only if you've managed 30 minutes uninterrupted, concentrated work. A good 30 minute spot gets coloured in and you can look back proudly at the end of the day on what you've accomplished.
All you naturally effective people probably pride yourselve on your shiny work-ethics and look down on procrastinators. "Use a little self-control" you might say. Seriously, in most cases there's much more to our problem than that, but it's actually pretty easy to overcome if you recognise the roots.
Once more, I may be completely off track in your case, but I thought I'd lay it out anyway. All this crap definitely helped me out.
(The book also contains a lot of cringe-worthy self-help-book-style 'examples' ["Billy came into my office one day looking glum. 'I just can't seem to get started with my dissertation', he said..."]. Ignore them and cut to the psychology and strategies.)
posted by godawful at 1:24 PM on November 27, 2005
I use a seperate user account for serious work, and one where distractions are okay.
The former has no IM, email, web icons handy. Theoretically I could run them anyway, but I never do.
posted by I Love Tacos at 1:27 PM on November 27, 2005
The former has no IM, email, web icons handy. Theoretically I could run them anyway, but I never do.
posted by I Love Tacos at 1:27 PM on November 27, 2005
I second splatta's recommendation of the whole 'ten minutes work, two minutes break' (aka 10+2*5 GTD). It's no panacea, but it's a good way to get started on work, and also to blaze through a bunch of unpleasant-looking small tasks. I use Minuteur for this, but any kind of timer will work.
posted by adrianhon at 1:34 PM on November 27, 2005
posted by adrianhon at 1:34 PM on November 27, 2005
A related question about blocking out a given list of websites for a span of time every day.
posted by abcde at 1:36 PM on November 27, 2005
posted by abcde at 1:36 PM on November 27, 2005
I've used the resettable countdown timer trick to keep myself on target. If I'm in a really bad way I'll allow myself as many as 10 minutes of messing around for every 10 minutes I stay on target, and then I start working on either reducing the length of breaks or increacing the time between breaks. Generally what happens is that I start cutting out breaks when I'm in a groove.
One annoyance is I've never really found a timer for Windows that I'm happy with for this sort of application.
posted by Good Brain at 2:02 PM on November 27, 2005
One annoyance is I've never really found a timer for Windows that I'm happy with for this sort of application.
posted by Good Brain at 2:02 PM on November 27, 2005
Wow, a lot of complicated suggestions here for something that should be very simple: turn off the Internet when you're not using it. You ought to have an AirPort icon in your menu bar -- you can be offline (or back on) in one click, from any application. If you're hardwired to the Net, you'll have to reach around and unplug, but the principle is the same.
posted by jjg at 6:44 PM on November 27, 2005
posted by jjg at 6:44 PM on November 27, 2005
how do you share an iTunes library among users when the music files are located in only one users account?
Easy. Run iTunes in both accounts with sharing turned on.
posted by kindall at 10:52 PM on November 27, 2005
Easy. Run iTunes in both accounts with sharing turned on.
posted by kindall at 10:52 PM on November 27, 2005
turn off the Internet when you're not using it.
THAT'S CRAZY TALK!!!!
Seriously, though, if you wanted to go this route, you can disable any of your network interfaces in the Network preference pane. Select "Network Port Configurations" from the "Show" menu.
posted by mkultra at 1:24 PM on November 28, 2005
THAT'S CRAZY TALK!!!!
Seriously, though, if you wanted to go this route, you can disable any of your network interfaces in the Network preference pane. Select "Network Port Configurations" from the "Show" menu.
posted by mkultra at 1:24 PM on November 28, 2005
I just stumbled across this post. You need WriteRoom
posted by armoured-ant at 11:35 AM on September 15, 2006
posted by armoured-ant at 11:35 AM on September 15, 2006
« Older Please don't make me triple-tap everyone's name! | Looking for a bus or train service running between... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Nelson at 11:49 AM on November 27, 2005