Turn Off The Internet
October 31, 2020•272 words
530
More often than not, I find it pretty hard to focus on writing. It's just that sometimes, when I'm in a creative dip, I procrastinate away from writing. And produce lesser-quality, missing-a-point, shitty posts.
Damn, I guess this is not just sometimes; it happens way too often.
Alt+Tab is such an easy way to switch to another task. Boom, now I'm in my email client, with plenty of interesting newsletters waiting to be opened. Boom, now in Discord, with multiple messages to reply to. Boom, now in the browser. The worst of the worst. Down a Wikipedia rabbit hole? Watching the 10th TED Talk in a row? Checking out some random island in Chile on Google Maps? Yep, that's me, way more often than I'd like to admit.
So, upon taking advice from Derek Sivers, I've started to turn off the internet. Completely. Since 95% of these attention-grabbing rabbit holes I go into require an internet connection, shutting it off gives me a significant boost. It's tough, and sometimes just turning on Airplane Mode on my laptop doesn't work - I have to turn off the router fully. Drastic, I know. But very effective.
Everybody's mind is a monkey mind. We all loose focus. We all fall into rabbit holes. The ones that make great things do just one thing differently; they make their environment force them to create. They create systems of accountability, cut down on options, and choose their tools wisely. An aura of creativity, responsibility, and respect of their time.
Not pleasant at first, not easy at all, very effective.
That's how I want to write, nay live.