How do you keep focus when working online?

We all work online as an internet marketers. We spent a lot of time on surfing other websites on the internet. Another site is just one click away. This is very problematic as an online business owner, because work has to be done. How can we get rid of this? Do you have some useful tips to keep focus while working online?

List all the task that you need to accomplish and go through the list, one by one.

Disable distracting websites
Use a dedicated tool for browsing
Put your computer in “airplane mode”
Close programs that aren’t for work
Set a timer

After sticking my calandar up on the wall in front of me, and writing out a detailed to do list, then two pieces of software that really helped me;

  1. LeechBlock: Allows you to set time limits for websites, like Facebook or Youtube (my biggest distraction is Youtube) so I could allow myself a half hour of entertainment time per day (work portion of the day; LeechBlock lets you specify which portions of which days you’d like to block) and prevent access to it after that.

  2. Rescuetime: What a wonderful program. It’s an activity logger, and again you can specify what portions of what days you’d like logged, that allows you to set goals for yourself and keeps you accountable for the use of your Time. I love RescueTime.

Aside from that, remember to be fair to yourself and not make yourself feel buried under a mountain of work. If you do, you’ll find that you’d get demoralised and waste more time, rather than be productive. Pick out three main tasks that you need to get done each day, and portion out your day into thirds, each third devoted to each of those objectives. Take breaks when you need them. Go stare out the window every now and again, or just sit away from the computer for awhile. Most importantly, don’t punish yourself or start thinking you’re a failure. Morale is everything. You’ll find that simple, smaller changes make huge differences in how motivated you feel and how much you can get done.

HI matrixinfologic , could you pls. tell us details about that . I think it will be helpful for us.

The one I tried is paymo and it works great. I can analyse where my time goes and correct bad habits

Thanks for starting this thread.
glad to see I am not the only one w/this problem!
D

I’m afraid that we all suffer of procrastination crisis from time to time and it takes a lot of strong will and motivation to stay focused. Having a clear idea of where you want to reach and when helps :slight_smile:

I usually just ensure I list the tasks I’ll be doing for the day. I don’t do all tasks in one day because if I do, I won’t have any other things to do the next day (except if I get new orders or instructions). It’s important to avoid social media sites like facebook, twitter, and sites like youtube. This can eat up your working hours, except for those monitored with tracking systems.

The best principle to follow here is being proactive. You should be responsible for every work you make and take the initiative all the time. Another is to set up a calendar and a schedule. You should plan the few important SEO goals in a week and allot each day, hour and perhaps minutes where you can effectively perform them. Try to put your schedule near and when you wake the next day, look at it and do what it says; leaving no time for unnecessary distractions.

keep away from distractions, lock the door if you have kids who love to roam around every corner of your house, list down all important to dos, find a way not to browse any non-work related sites like Facebook, Youtube etc., use a time tracking software to monitor your work and everything that you do online.

Hi good question! I recognise problem. In the beginning I made mistake by hanging around on Facebook and mixing business activities and private chat… Does not work and I spoilt my time!
The best way is to make a planning in advance reserve a couple of hours for business pusposes only. Also reserve after that some hours for hanging around chatting browsing etc. So in short divide your time! Do not mix business with private. When doing business turn off email or Facebook ( except if using FB for business).

Those who are the masters of industry can keep focus for an extremely long time. … Sure, he had teams working on the project but he had the ability to … on article writing, blogging, making money online, time management, …


Hank Klibanoff
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Chitra,

Great thread here.

I have found that if I stick to making small, manageable to do lists, turn off the internet when it isn’t needed and schedule a time for checking email, I get much more done throughout my day.

Check out this article on productivity, its very interesting.

best,

Shawn

Not sure if you’re working as a team or individual. If it’s a team, have a daily status meeting and this will drive the team to do more work.

Close programs that aren’t for work! That would be all

I use a time tracking software to monitor all my work hours and tasks. It helps that the one I’m currently using an ‘analytics’ of my workday to help me evaluate what I’ve done.

But, I guess it would still boil down to self discipline. You may have access to all the productivity tools out there. However, if you don’t control or discipline yourself you will still end up being unproductive all the time.
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Hi
Don’t visit social media sites:- Don’t do social media. You can use the program Anti-Social for Mac and Windows to block your access to social media sites.
Use desktop software::-When you have desktop software, use it. Don’t compose in Google docs.
Never Follow Ads:-Remove the temptation to follow ads! If you use Firefox or Chrome, get the free AdBlock Plus plug-in. AdBlock Plus figures out where there are ads on your current web page and quietly blocks them.

At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference, in my case I find that working in 45-minute focused followed by 5 minute breaks works best for me. Also perhaps even more important, I started using a task-scheduler app that allows me to list all of the tasks I need to complete during the day, I then group them into “similar” tasks for efficiency, e.g. Administrative work, design work etc. and it really helps me structure my workday. Getting started with a task scheduler can be annoying and seem counter-productive, but once you’ve established a routine it can really up your efficiency a lot!

You can only stay without web distractions if you work Off-line, just kidding. Well I have pc and laptop on laptop I have some show/movie/clip playing while I work on pc. This way I get to enjoy a bit and work at the same time. However working speed maybe a little bit slower.