It wasn't like this in the factory or down the mines, sure I don't have calloused fingertips or crippling back pain but being a knowledge worker, despite the wanky title, takes its toll.
I seem to spend the entire day fighting temptations to stray off course into the candy shop that is the wonderful world of the web. Desperately trying to get into the zone whilst constantly finding myself on an open Twitter tab, mindlessly reading Hacker News, browsing stories on the Guardian, indulging in some guilty tabloid voyuerism on some Daily Mail link bait.
All of it disposable, none of it useful and certainly not helping me get my work done any faster. I understand this. But still my cursor wanders.
Its procrastination, plain and simple. If a task appears a bit difficult or I'm not quite sure where to start, the natural impulse is for me to head to one of my time-sink haunts. Any break in play, reloading our ruby environment, pushing code to production, waiting for a response on Skype... I'm off.
I started using Rescue Time to track where I was spending my time. Turns out I do put in the hours but undoubtedly more than I have to, in order to get my productive work done. I had hoped just tracking it would make me change my habits. It didn't.
This evening I have installed StayFocused, a chrome plugin, to force the issue a little further by limiting my time on black listed sites to an aggregated total of 10minutes per day.
Perhaps it's just a utopian fantasy but I imagine a time when I can work productively from 9 - 5 with breaks away from my desk. How hard can it be?
I seem to spend the entire day fighting temptations to stray off course into the candy shop that is the wonderful world of the web. Desperately trying to get into the zone whilst constantly finding myself on an open Twitter tab, mindlessly reading Hacker News, browsing stories on the Guardian, indulging in some guilty tabloid voyuerism on some Daily Mail link bait.
All of it disposable, none of it useful and certainly not helping me get my work done any faster. I understand this. But still my cursor wanders.
Its procrastination, plain and simple. If a task appears a bit difficult or I'm not quite sure where to start, the natural impulse is for me to head to one of my time-sink haunts. Any break in play, reloading our ruby environment, pushing code to production, waiting for a response on Skype... I'm off.
I started using Rescue Time to track where I was spending my time. Turns out I do put in the hours but undoubtedly more than I have to, in order to get my productive work done. I had hoped just tracking it would make me change my habits. It didn't.
This evening I have installed StayFocused, a chrome plugin, to force the issue a little further by limiting my time on black listed sites to an aggregated total of 10minutes per day.
Perhaps it's just a utopian fantasy but I imagine a time when I can work productively from 9 - 5 with breaks away from my desk. How hard can it be?
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