5 ways to increase your productivity while living online.

I remain connected to Internet atleast 10hours a day. I am sure most of you who read this blog are online for major part of the day. Remaining online keeps you connected with the rest of the world seamlessly, but sadly, I sometimes feel that remaining online for long periods hampers productivity quite a lot. I am sharing what I do to remain productive while being online for long hours.

#1 Resist the temptation to check mail frequently

Easier said than done. We all have temptation to read the email moment that small white box pops up in the bottom right corner, silently screaming “You have received a new mail”. Disable the function till you finish your job.

#2 Resist the temptation to Google

Midst of your work some word you read in the morning newspaper flashes your mind and you want to google it…..lost the next two hours drifting away…..

#3 Subscribe to the blogs you visit frequently

Reading blogs is healthy, because you get a worldwide perspective on lot of things that matter to you. What sometime sucks is you end up reading 172 comments left in a strange blog post and opening the commentators blog sites in additional tabs and repeat the same. Best way to over come this is to subscribe to the blog post so that it reaches your mailbox. You read it and be done with it and later if you have time to waste, you do all that I described here…

#4 Sign into Chat only when required

My gtalk status will indicate I am offline or busy, but still somewould take a chance and hit a message… ”Hi”. I wouldn’t respond. Next message would be “Are you busy….can I call you now….” I respond immediately. “Hi….after 6pm…midst of something” and snuff out the conversation. A normal chat session can set you back by ten minutes behind schedule.

#5 Social media strictly after work

Facebook and Linkedin…..habits to be indulged in after 6PM. Yes it is a habit and you need to tame the “Peeping tom” inside you from going deeper and deeper into facebook or linkedin connections, connections’ connection, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against social media. Infact, I am a big advocate of having an online presence in Linkedin, Twitter and facebook and in my few earlier posts I have recommended social media bigtime.  These are the social media tools which if managed well for your online presence and identity can help you in tons of ways like connecting with your friends, colleagues both present and past and many others and help participate in forums, discussion boards etc. But if you have a poor control of your time online…you will feel sick and frustrated.

I am fortunate for not owning a blackberry or any of those modern mobile gizmos…..atleast that gives me time for live interaction with people around me….

I know it is easy to write but these stuff are really tough to accomplish. So I do something very rudimentary to be productive. Whenever I have some serious stuff to be done with my computer, like writing this post, which can be done offline, I unplug the cable and temporarily switch off the Wifi option. I am left with peace with myself and productivity does go up.

May be, everybody goes through this and probably you can share your thoughts on how you managed these challenges.  I would like to see your comments here…