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Ask YC: How do you avoid wasting too much time online?
44 points by bobp on May 12, 2008 | hide | past | favorite | 52 comments
I spend too much time browsing the web and it's hurting my productivity. There are so many interesting sites online -- hacker news, blogs, friendfeed, facebook, nytimes, etc -- and it's hard for me resist checking them on a daily basis, often multiple times a day. This stuff is really interesting and often useful, especially for an entrepreneurial hacker, and that makes it easy to justify spending so much time to "stay on top of things". However, the opportunity cost of not coding for an hour is huge compared to the benefit of reading yet another "20 things every startup founder should know" article. I need to find a way to break this bad habit. Just being aware of it apparently isn't enough.

I tried 8aweek. It didn't work for me. I've conditioned myself to reflexively press the "10 more minutes" button when the "your break time is up" popup comes up. Plus, at home I use Safari, and 8aweek doesn't work on Safari. (I avoided RescueTime -- the privacy implications are too creepy for me. Maybe I would use it if it had the option for only data collection. Also, I know I have a time wasting problem -- I don't need RescueTime to tell me that.)

The best solution I've found so far is to go somewhere where I don't have an internet connection at all, but it's not always practical.

If you have the same problem, how do you deal with it? I need a working solution.




My solution? I simply stopped worring about how much time I spent doing or not doing something.

I started focusing on one thing only: the delta between what I planned to have complete at the end of each day vs. what I actually completed that day.

On Thursday, my plan was to have items A, B, and C complete before I knocked off. A & B were done by noon. I overlooked 2 prerequisites for C and had to go back and do them, then do C, which took twice as long as I expected. I didn't finish until 2 a.m. I also spent x hours on line. So what?

Sometimes going online gives me a break. Sometimes it gets the juices flowing again. And of course, sometimes it's just a waste of time. But it doesn't matter.

What's better, spending 6 hours online and getting everything done or spending 2 hours online and not finishing?

We often forget that (time spent) != (work accomplished).

Stop worrying about how much time you spend planting seeds and focus more on finishing each day's harvest.


I'm one of the founders of 8aweek. It was created because Zack and I deal with the same problem.

The default settings of 8aweek are definitely not strong enough for a major news junky. Mostly because the settings that news junkies need would probably piss of most users :). There are two modes to 8aweek, if you haven't tried already switch your settings to "block mode" and edit your preferences to limit the time and limit on the number of breaks in your day.

Currently we're only on FF and tend to focus more on our incentives and passive alerts than making the blocking more hardcore. If you immediately need something a little stronger I wrote a blog post last summer on the method I used before I had 8aweek (editing your hosts file).

http://thingsilearned.wordpress.com/2007/05/04/combating-int...

Another tip is to read a GTD book and try to only spend time infront of your computer when you have a clearly defined task to code out or read up on. Then walk away as soon as your done and re-define another task.

Also as always, send us some feedback on ways you think we could help you more, especially if you find another method that worked for you.


Are there any GTD books you'd recommend? I've heard a lot about GTD and it sounds very interesting, but I've never actually figured out what a good starting point would be.


There is literally a book called Getting Things Done by David Allen. The system in its entirety is too hard core for most people (myself included) but the principles are good.


I'll check it out.

Why is it so hardcore? What do the systems actually entail?


It takes a great deal of discipline to manage all your productive output in a system. It requires a significant upfront time commitment to initialize the system. It's complex enough that it fills a book.

It's really best suited someone who needs to manage a large quantity of varied but mostly small tasks.


I'll second 8aweek. It has actually changed my browsing habits.


FWIW, with RescueTime you can create whitelists of the sites you DO want to track. Every other site will come through as "non-whitelisted site" (the site info never hits our servers). You can set goals like "spend less than 1h surfing news" and have RescueTime SMS you when you break them.

But there's no solution out there that your lack of discipline won't conquer.

One good hack is to set it up so that you either starve or are publicly shamed when you procrastinate. So, you could quit your job (thus putting starvation on the line!). Or you could embed a RescueTime graph on your blog and invite people to hassle you about how you spend your time. ;-)


Thanks for the heads up about the whitelist feature. I would also like to be able to record all my activity locally and not send anything to the server. It would make RescueTime more useful and eliminate my privacy concerns.


I found I'm pretty much unable to do this, so I've done the next-best thing: I concentrate on making justin.tv the site I most like to waste time on.

This has turned out to be quite a useful trick. Each time I find myself wasting time elsewhere, I spend some time thinking about why I'm not wasting time on justin.tv instead, and I get inspired to fix that.


Hehe completely agree. It's good to waste your time on your own website.

1. Waste time on website

2. Get irritated to death by some bug/lack of feature

3. Go fix bug/feature

4. Goto 1


This is the only way I can program. Sadly that makes me a terrible programmer for implementing systems at BigCo, since I usually don't use whatever product they have me working on.


I think you're approaching it from a wrong point of view. You don't have a browsing problem, you have an issue with getting things done or you have a procrastination problem. This is why I have little use for all the apps that tell me how much time I'm spending on diff sites / programs. That data is useful and interesting but it's not good for solving your procrastination issue since you already know you have a problem!

I found this essay interesting: http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/ It shows you how procrastination has some hidden benefits. Give it a read.

Now, how do I cope with info out there. Well, every morning I give myself a set of tasks that I want to accomplish that day (if you have a boss... he will do a part of that for you I guess). I almost always start with the hardest thing on the list or with something that's time sensitive (like call someone at 11am etc) and I break it up into smaller tasks as I go along. The rule is that I am not available for chat, email etc. until I'm done with the big task. I do not browse the web for anything that's not related to the task. Until that task is done, I do not touch email or the browser. Now, once I'm done with it or I'm stuck, I take a walk for few minutes or I jump into the second task on the list. Funny thing is, as you start doing something else, very quickly you start getting ideas about the old problem. If I get an idea about how to solve my previous task, I go back to it and then go back to the task I was doing before. If most of your tasks involve programming, get git and it will be a godsend to you since it lends itself perfectly to this model of working.

Once I'm done with a big task, I take 30-40 min off and I check my RSS feeds, I check HN, check email etc. I check email only 3 times a day. I find it extremely distracting if I check email more often. Email eats up too much of my time. If you're an email junkie, look into Merlin Mann's Inbox Zero concept:

http://www.43folders.com/izero http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=973149761529535925

Also, take a look at this hack: http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/11/procrastination-hack-102... It's a method to get you in the mode of working on something so you acclimate yourself to work.

In the end, it comes down to strong will. Just force yourself to do something!


I'm procrastinating reading this stuff on procrastination. Good stuff. Yet another thing I should try. Now how do I deceive myself that getting this homework done is not near the most important things I should be doing...


Who cares about your homework? You should be saving the world instead.

(Hope this helps.)


Is the problem that you spend to much time online, or that you don't like what you're working on?


You nailed it. Lately I've been bored by my work. When I'm excited about what I'm working on, the problem is much less serious.


Try to avoid extraneous sites (and email and IM, if possible) until you've gotten something done. I.e. don't start your day off with surfing and email. If you are bored by your work it is too easy to not get started and just continue reading stuff online. The effect of this is that by the time you get around to doing work, your brain is totally scrambled by all the stuff you just piped into it - making it even harder to finish the boring stuff you need to do, and more tempting to just return to the distractions.

At least that is how it is for me. I've found that if I have boring work stuff to do, the ONLY way I can get it done in any sort of reasonable time frame is to just immediately dive into it and barrel through it as soon as I wake up. (actually after I wake up and do a bit of exercise)

Of course any super rich and successful person will tell you the real way to solve the boring work problem is to convince someone else to do it for you, so you can spend more time keeping up on things. :)


Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely try it.


Stand up desk. My mind seems to act in a much more goal oriented manner when I'm standing than when I'm sitting and relaxing.


I really want to try this. I have a feeling it would be incredibly helpful.


I'm experimenting with the following: allow myself some web time (say, half an hour), then assign the next period (say, 2 hours) to focused work. So far it seems to work. My main goal is to prevent the two from mixing together - i.e., prevent the web browsing habit from popping up at random intervals and interrupting real work. I think that's the most important thing to tackle first, rather than the absolute totals spent on each.


Stop making yourself feel like you have a duty to spend time on any site. In the end, none of it will give you a meaningful experience.

I loathe apps and sites that make you feel like everything is in your face. Email is like this, so is RSS, same with pretty much all news sites. The list goes on and on.


I think you actually just nailed the three biggies. The reason is that each of the three works in the same way: it gives you a list of "things to get done," and in two of the three cases that list goes on for a long ways. (Email does too, I suppose, if you really use it extensively.) The only other thing I think fits into this case would be social networking.

It's why I was interested in that new Times application for the Mac, the one that turned RSS reading into a sort of newspaper. When you have that format, then you're expecting to look at something only to have it come to an end. It's a different mindset. At the same time, though, it doesn't solve the problem entirely, problem being: the Internet moves constantly, not only at set intervals.

I wonder: is there a way of limiting that without alienating people? Of setting a precise limit to how much can be done during any given time, then ending things up? It would make it a lot easier to avoid sites. At the same time, though, it would slow things down to a crawl compared to the speed at which things move now.


Go offline.

Large parts of even web applications can be developed without connecting to the internet. Have everything you need on a local network, or even just your own computer.


You can still play nethack. But you'd better not start that habbit.


http://www.smacklet.com

I've plugged this ridiculously simple tool so many times earlier that I am embarrassed to do it again now. I am not sure if you'll find it useful at all - but I find it to be very useful for me. Anyway, it works like this: You type in what you are planning to do and then later you can review it. This improves your consciousness and you stop wasting time online. The change comes from within. You don't need this web app... you can even do it with a legal pad.


You could always take a leaf out of Richard Stallman's book...

http://lwn.net/Articles/262570/


I like to use a timer particularly when I haven't gotten my day started yet. I set it for, say, 15 minutes, and that's my web time. Then I set it for 5 minutes, pick a small task, and try and get it done within that time without losing focus. Repeat that until I'm in the zone.


I have a few strategies aimed towards reigning in my drifting focus.

> I focus best in 2.5-3 hour blocks. Each day I lock in 2 of these, each focusing on an important task/project. I learned of this with an analogy from my Grandfather - if you have a jar and fill it with sand, nothing else fits in. If you fill a jar with pebbles, all the sand fills in the gaps. The strategy in having these two blocks of focus is that all the sand/smaller tasks fill in the gaps.

> Each week maintain a "top of mind" list containing all the things that are on the top of your mind

> Have a "possibilities" list - the things you want to do, but may not need to right now.

Regarding this constant flow of information:

> I prune RSS feeds by looking at the most active and least needed

> I check RSS feeds before and after work


I recently took on a new Java consulting job and I was very intent not to surf the internet while surfing. However, the work once again turned out so be so mind-numbing that I quickly gave up on that (for example waiting minutes for maven builds - what's a brain to do with itself??).

I need the news to have at least some interesting input to my mind occasionally. It is like coffee breaks for me (I'd like to wean off coffee, too, but I don't see how I could stand 8 hours at the office without it). Like coffee, I suppose the effects of web surfing are not entirely negative.

The other day an interesting problem came up at work and I was able to concentrate on it without the surfing breaks. So it really depends on what you are doing (at least for me).


Any site I find myself spending too much time on gets blocked in my hosts file. I still have them available on my iPod Touch. When it's time to work I put the Touch across the room.

Since the temptation to read news usually only lasts a second or two, this keeps me on task.


I do the same. I have a script that will update my hosts file at the start and end of each day. All my bookmarked sites are blocked during the work day.


This reminds me of me playing games. When I was playing a game too much, I deleted it right away with all the save games so the hussle of reinstalling was too big and I lost interest.


8aweek.com works for me. Just try switching modes, or fight against the 10 more minutes thing.


I find that creating a schedule for myself helps where I force myself to work on something - even if it is menial things that still need to get done for the site.

I also disable all chat/instant messenger clients since you always lose productivity when switching from one to the other.

The other thing that you can do is try working from a different environment - if you find that you are browsing too much at your desk, try moving somewhere else that you can consider a "work only zone."

As a final step, try disabling your router for a bit and only give yourself access when you achieve your self imposed deadlines.


I actually turn off my internet connection. It is the only thing I found that really works for me.

Not disruption from IM/email/web/etc and then I just get on with it.

I guess I am lucky I can do this as most of my dev can be done offline.


If you are on a mac, use Freedom, it disables networking, and allows you to get work done.

http://www.ibiblio.org/fred/freedom/


An open office environment, where others should peek on at any time helps a lot! I know, this sounds pretty bad at first, but from my experience this helps to each and every member of the team, seamlessly increasing personal and overall productivity.

I worked remotely for a long time and had the similar problem like you. When switched jobs I've found myself in an open environment and after the first "shock" I soon realized the benefits.


Just get into your router config and block sites that you know will suck you in (ex: reddit or digg), on your workstation. I personally block them during "my work hours", that way I have something to look forward to after I've got my work done.

It also helps to have a router config that makes it difficult and time intensive enough to make a change, that wat it's easier to just NOT make the change and get back to work.


I use a firefox addon called LeechBlock that lets you list sites that you shouldn't be allowed to go to. I have it redirect me to a to-do list at rememberthemilk.

Sounds like that won't help you too much since you're using Safari, but I urge any firefox users who have this problem to try it out.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476


Try to get a habit of at least 30 minutes with a good semi-technical book before you go to bed. If the book is right, it will inspire you to fall asleep only to wake up and code something, sometimes I won't go to bed at all - I'd stay up all night hacking. A book like that will make most news sites irrelevant, TV - pathetic and blog posts - either stupid or obvious. (and they are)


My solution was simple: add digg, reddit, and slashdot to Safari AdBlock's filters. It has really changed my life!


Create a list of 4 tasks to get done for that day. If you get all 4 done, reward yourself by being able to view the sites you love. If you get them done really quickly then of course you would need a longer list. I find 4 to be my magic number. Oh and these tasks have to have the highest priority.


I use 2 computers on a KVM. One for work/projects and the other one for "everything else." The work computer has all alerts and feeds off (including email). I find it gives me a psychological separation. If I really need to work or hit a deadline, the non-work computer goes off.


When I answer that question I'll be sure to blog about it.


use this wallpaper:

http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/details.php?id=1223

tested, works perfectly!


http://www.umassmed.edu/Content.aspx?id=41254

maybe?


I get more interesting projects.


I have exactly the same problem, I need a solution ASAP.


I don't. Give in to your temptations!


sudo apt-get remove firefox

Yes sometimes is necessary. The action of reinstalling it makes me rethink and postpone the decision for later.




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