Can Blogging be a Thief of Time?
‘All that glitters is not gold!’ just like internet success stories from blogging (internet marketing) seem to be. This is meant to be a friendly warning, or rather and advice, to those who often prioritize going online – ‘be careful, it can be addictive’. It could be blogging, checking emails, chatting, updating community profiles; the twitters, facebook and the like. There are surely many reasons why one would want to go online. One major reason is the never ending stories on successful blogging and other internet marketing projects. You can easily find yourself lost in the internet world at the expense of other important activities.
I’m a personal witness to that. Right now I’m on study leave but busy writing this article for my blog. Like many bloggers say, I also find myself often writing to keep my blog alive. I also am driven by passion but wouldn’t mind some cash rewards for this. I have tried the following strategy to keep away from finding myself having spent a lot of time in the internet. You may also find it interesting.
1. Leaving the Computer Alone
Even without thinking, the first thing that I commonly do when I sit in front of this computer is turning it on, open Outlook, check for unread emails, go to my Gmail email account and do the same, check the performance of my articles with article directories, start looking around for more information to improve my blog, do some searches, and get lost in the internet and suddenly realize that I have spent more than 30 minutes, and sometimes it goes up to 5 hours, online.
I therefore have learnt that the starting point to my digression is having the computer turned on. Keeping it shut down closes the door to spending time in the internet. This strategy works well if there are some assignments that I have to do that don’t need computer usage at all.
2. Assuming the Internet is down
This calls for discipline. I often think of pulling out the network cable but don’t know what the IT guys would say. I therefore physiologically switch my self off with the impression that the internet is down. It works for me and maybe it can for you too.
3. Facing the Devil Head on
This is one area I’m battling with because most of my work is done on the computer. Sometimes I have to use the internet and still guard myself not to divert. You know, when a Skype message pops up, there is temptation to open it. When an email notice pops up, there also is temptation to follow it.
Discipline is a requirement for successfully facing your computer without going to the internet. This may sound like it’s a joke, but I have lost some quality time to vanity online. You may be lucky not having found yourself in that trap.
This is another not so obvious life development tip to may. To your successful blogging but with caution!
Trackbacks