Your Online Attention Timer
I've noticed over the past few months that I've been spending more and more time online at Digg, various forums, numerous blogs and more web 2.0 sites than I can count. And less and less writing words and writing content - the stuff I get [hopefully] make money doing.
Time for the Timer From Hell.
Starting today, I'm tracking the amount of time I spend online each day as a painful reminder of where I am spending my time and attention. It's so easy to get sucked into a never ending stream of web sites, blogs, RSS and Diggs. Too easy. It's high time to start running the meter on my online journey; otherwise I'm going to be taken for a ride.
Need a dose of reality too? Here's a link to a 80-odd Windows OS timers at Downloads.com: Listing for Timers.
Checheck out TimeTracker,a FireFox extension that tracks how much time youyou spend browsing per day.
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1887/
Posted by: Tom Corcoran | May 24, 2006 at 03:42 PM
I'd like to hear how it goes. Measuring time and keeping a log as a means of self-improvement is a time-tested classic idea (Drucker comes to mind), though I've never done it. Good luck!
Posted by: Matthew Cornell | May 23, 2006 at 11:20 AM
I think more and more web sites will have RSS feeds - I know I'm adding one to my company's site. (Feedforall is a very good product for this).
Until that day, WebMon and similar apps definitely cut down on wasted online time.
Posted by: Bob Walsh | May 23, 2006 at 09:24 AM
I've started doing something similar. I use a little utility called WebMon to alert me to when certain web sites change (like this one) so I only go to them when the change. For others (like Digg, Drudge) I look at them first thing in the morning while Outlook is purging the spam, and then once again at night. I've gotten in the habit of writing a bit of code, then check Drudge. Write some more, then Digg. I've stopped that now and spend more time on my business (and my wife and kids).
Posted by: KerryF | May 23, 2006 at 09:01 AM