The Internet Diet: 4 Steps To Cut Time Wasted Online

In an effort to advance towards the accomplishment of Goal #1 for this year (Eliminate the people, things and tasks that clutter my life and drain me physically, mentally and emotionally.), I've been organizing and trimming my newsletters and blog feeds to cut back on wasted time. Here's what I did:

1. I got rid of blog feeds I no longer have time or the desire to read on a regular basis. If hadn't visited the site or left a comment or read an entire post in quite some time, it was time for it to go.

2. I grouped my feeds by categories - parenting, writers, freelance, sports, & fun - and assigned each category a day of the work week. This way, I focus all the blogs in one category each day, and I'm only checking in on blogs once a week. My only cheat is I created a folder for blogs I allow myself to check daily, but I've limited that to five. Also, so I don't feel I'm missing out on anything, I still have the feed for google Reader on my homepage, so if something timely or important pops up I'll at least see the title and can jump to that if I need to, but I think that may have happened once.

3. I did the same with my newsletters and list mail in gmail. Each group or newsletter - momwriters, the writing mother, Holly Lisle newsletter/workshop, etc. - has its own label and a filter to automatically archive the emails in that folder and completely skipping my inbox. I just changed each label to add a day of the week (ex: Mon-Momwriters), so I check these only once a week also.

4. In Firefox, I created a bookmark folder for "Weekly Visits," and I assigned a day to websites I only need to visit weekly. So, for instance, one of my bookmarks now reads "Wed - Cherry Forums."


The Result:
It took a week or two to get used to the routine, but it's been a HUGE success. No more peeking in on my feeds five times to see who has posted or what's popped in my mailbox. Labeling folders, sites, etc. with the day of the week also keeps me from having to remember which categories I've checked and which I haven't.

It takes discipline not to peek in the other days' stuff sometimes when I'm procrastinating on a project, but it helps to know that I've left the weekends free for catching up on anything I didn't get to during the work week and for visiting and reading whatever I darn well please. It's like that diet you stick to except when you let yourself cheat with a big meal at a restaurant or a giant piece of cake on the weekend. This is just my internet diet.