Theoretically I should be one of the most productive workers online.  I am awake 22 hours a day and I consider myself organized and self-motivated.

and yet .. I can’t help feeling like I waste far too much time getting distracted online.  I often find myself opening up a ‘fun’ website when I want to take a quick break and suddenly I notice hours having gone by without me accomplishing anything!

After recognizing that I’ve loaded Facebook up 6 times in the last 20 minutes I’ve set up a solution to keep me free of these distractions

Today I’ve installed a Firefox Plugin called LeechBlock (free) which will prevent me accessing those distracting websites either for a specified period of time (i.e. no more than 10 minutes per hour) or between certain times on certain days.

So far I’ve just set up one rule an I’ve stuck a post-it on the computer screen to remind me to keep aware of online distractions (which I may block using more rules later).  I’d consider setting rules allowing me only 30 minutes of Facebook use in a 24-hour period but, don’t think it’s really necessary just now.

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As of now, I’ll no longer be able to access these sites (below) during my working hours (10pm – 8am) Monday – Friday.

runnersworld.com, youtube.com, facebook.com, google.com/reader, couchsurfing.org, diysuperman.com (yes THIS site!),

…  and also any sites that contain the keywords:  diet  paleo or thai

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Of course LeechBlock isn’t infallible – It doesn’t work on my iPhone, It only works on Firefox and there are a million ways of working around the restrictions.

I’m using LeechBlock as a REMINDER that – at some time in the past (right now in fact) I’ve made a definite decision and taken action to stop me visiting the sites.  I’m sure that will be sufficient for me to keep away and to focus more on my work.

You can install LeechBlock by Clicking Here.