4 Ways Web-Workers Can Use Time-Wasters Effectively And Productively
If you are a freelancer and work from home, then chances are the internet is your bread and butter. You get new clients, market yourself, network, work on and deliver projects via the internet. If you ask me, I cannot imagine life without it. I just go crazy when I find that the net is not working.
So the web is undoubtedly a boon for us but it also offers a lot of things which can easily distract us from our main tasks, making us less productive. Today I decided to discuss some of these time-wasters and talk about how you can use them in a productive and effective way.
Time Waster # 1- Social Networking Sites
Yes, social networking sites can be a major distraction and you could end up spending hours on sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, Facebook etc, just to find later on that you don’t have enough time to complete that very important project.
What To Do
Its not that these sites are bad but they can be addictive and so you should really prioritize. For example if you are a designer, you probably visit the design section on Digg and maybe use StumbleUpon to find design-related content. You maybe use Facebook to network with other designers. So primarily its about selective usage. And if you are doing it too much then track your time while doing it.
Time Waster # 2- Twitter
Twitter has really spread like wild fire in the last few months and there are no two opinions about the fact that it can be really addictive and you can easily lose track of time while you’re ‘Tweeting‘ (or is it ‘Twittering‘?).
How To Use It
Twitter has its merits too and it could also help you find new clients. But again, don’t be on twitter the entire day. Just use it at a particular time during the day and follow those who have the same professional interests.
Time Waster # 3- Instant Messaging Softwares
If you don’t use twitter a lot, then I am sure you are on IM chatting with clients and friends. Like twitter, this could also kill your time like anything. On another note, Skype is great for contacting clients, especially if you work with people from all around the world.
How To Use Them
I can’t really blame IM because personally I have found it to be very useful. However, in order to utilize it effectively, you should be offline when you are working on a project. If someone suddenly pings you then you lose track and it could hurt your project. Common sense really! To communicate with clients, why not use email rather than IM? And if you use IM and twitter frequently, then I’d suggest you be available on them at the same time. And when you go offline, just turn both of them off, not just one.
Time Waster # 4- RSS Feeds
RSS - an amazing technology with which I have fallen in love since the day I started using it. But reading RSS feeds can get really time-consuming if, like me, you follow many blogs and news sites.
What To Do
RSS feeds can help you stay up-to-date with the blogosphere and what the bloggers in your field are saying. Again, it’s all about setting priorities. First, if you are busy with your projects, don’t read feeds everyday. Do it once or twice a week instead. Second, don’t subscribe to too many feeds. Just make sure that you subscribe to the main blogs in your field and some other blogs which interest you. And third, use a feed reader which lets you read feeds quickly using keyboard shortcuts, like Google Reader.
Its all about selective usage and prioritizing. There’s a lot of other time-wasters too but I decided to cover the most common ones. So do you waste time online? If yes, then how? And how would you utilize that productively going forward ? See you in the comments.
Cheers,
Abhijeet Mukherjee
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About the author: Abhijeet Mukherjee is a blogger and freelance writer. He is a regular contributer for many blogs notably including DumbLittleMan.com and MakeUseOf.com. He also maintains his own blog about tech tips, productivity hacks and blogging tips - Jeet Blog
11 Rockin' Comments
June 5th, 2008 at 4:42 am
One thing’s for sure, I would never close my Twitter account. I opened an account like a year and a half ago, didn’t use it much for about a year, and recently I started using it on a regular basis, and it’s been awesome. Would you believe that I get most (if not all) of my design gigs through my contacts on Twitter? :)
June 5th, 2008 at 5:48 am
Great article, very useful read. I’ve been trying to balance my unproductive habits by incorporating something useful into them, these are some great examples & suggestions. Thanks Abhijeet.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:32 am
First of all I want to thank you Jon for turning me on to this site in the first place through one of the links you posted in Twitter, great resource.
Secondly great article, I have been trying to fully harness the power of at least three of the four mentioned and it is always helpful to hear what others have to say about using them more productively.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I’m very suprized that you are getting so many gigs from twitter. Thats amazing…
June 5th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
i’m guilty. the two biggest ones on the list for me are 1) rss feeds and 2) twitter. i’m such an addict to rss feeds. i have burned so much time going through all the feeds that i have subscribed to, but at the same time i have come upon so much useful information since i started utilizing them. i have been trying to move towards a strategy like you mentioned, of only checking my rss subscriptions once a week, but i’m not quite fully transitioned to that habit.
twitter is pretty addicting for me too. it’s such a cool toy, and i just love browsing around to see what people say and/or link me to. there is a lot of useful stuff. twitter has also been great for me in that it has become a sort of immediate extension of my blog. i have also been able to meet and interact with other music people who live in my home town (nashville). bottom line: i’m an information junkie. great article.
June 6th, 2008 at 4:21 am
for others, it may be a time-waster, but for us marketers, it is essential to promote our products online
June 6th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Well, thanks for pushing Twitter, everyone - now I have to go check it out myself! Oh dear,here we go, the long slippery slope…
You forgot one other time-waster, the Daddy of them all - eBay! I may as well take my laptop and go work at the food court in my nearest mall!
I do use Facebook, I’ll admit, but I try to keep it to business related stuff. This stops me from downloading every silly application and having streams of ‘yo, whats up’ comments on my wall. It helps anyway!
Yup, great post, AGAIN!
June 9th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
All of these are my sweet spots. Although Twitter didn’t really catch my attention as much. Social Networking sites are mostly how I market my business, but my trick is to check it once in the morning and post my daily bulletin, then once at night, but no more than that. Some days I can have 10 emails through there, but I just pace myself and come back to it if it is taking me too much time. I have begun to find that I have some extra time, which is why I started my blog, the first ever for me so be gentle. :)
Actually, I must give props to this very blog for persuading me to start it. I am hoping to keep it going for a long, long time.
~Melissa B
MBaileyMotivatedMom.tk
June 13th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
RSS Feeds… I follow many of the sites through it and sometimes find myself spending too much time on it, no to mention starring many of them for later reading. I’ve learned so much through them (articles, tips, tricks, …), but sometimes they can consume all your time…
June 18th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
#1, #3 & #4 I’ve survived without. One day, I just got tired of Facebook and AIM and deleted them. I haven’t looked back since besides an occasional FB visit to talk to an old friend.
Twitter I disagree with. Maybe it’s just that I don’t add that many people to my follow list or something, but it doesn’t get in the way of my work whatsoever.
In fact, by twittering major breakthroughs in my day to others, I feel like I get a good rush of energy to take care of the next major “to-do” for the day. It’s almost like twittering your overcoming of something is more satisfying that just clicking the check button on Backpack or Anxiety.
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