My first 30 day trial

[marklang500]

Ok, I've read a bunch in Steves Blog. Here comes my first 30-day trial. Day 1 is today, August 18th. Last day September 18th.

DAILY GOALS:

1. Do not play a single internet or computer game at work for 30 days.

2. Limit internet usage to work related, or Pavlina (minimal). (I'm not ready to give this site up yet, so let me get through these 5 goals first)

3. Spend the first fifteen minutes every day planning the morning, and write it down.

4. Spend the first fifteen minutes after lunch planning the afternoon, and write it down.

5. Review my efficiency at the end of each workday.


That ought to do it for now. The first two will be the hard ones. The other three will fall into place if I can do the first two. You know, September 18th isn't very far away. I think I can do this!

My new mantra is:

No games, No Web, Plan, Plan, Review.

Got it! September 18th, here I come.

[veranadine]

I admire your enthusiasm.

But I think that this is perhaps too many things to attempt all at once.

Still, if you think you can bump up your productivity in this way then I say:

"Go for it!"

Bless,

[ar81]

I think not playing at work is a big enough goal.
I only play at home and I sometimes play long hours.
I can't imagine what it would be to play at work...
This article could be somehow useful.
Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Have a great working day!!

[Transilient]

A qucik quote from the Karate Kid movie.

" You karate do. OR You karate don't. If you karate maybe, then you get squashed like a grape in the road"

Paraphrased of course.

My point is make your decision and stick to it. I have complete faith in you.

Nothing is hard or easy, it just is. We can make it hard/easy with our beliefs.
Evaluate why you think it will be hard. Write down the reasons. Then write down a counter reason on how easy it was. Shift you beliefs to "this was a piece of cake"

Supporthing you all the way,

[Elrond]

Originally Posted by ar81

I think not playing at work is a big enough goal.
I only play at home and I sometimes play long hours.
I can't imagine what it would be to play at work...
This article could be somehow useful.
Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Have a great working day!!

"Study Finds Working At Work Increases Productivity"



"Our findings are astounding: By simply sitting down and doing work, employees can dramatically increase their output of goods and services,"

Good satire.

"Jon Halper, a Baltimore-area small-business owner, claims that people used to laugh whenever he told them that the key to worker productivity was not checking friends' MySpace pages for hours at a time, but rather working."

Heh, in my case, checking the Steve Pavlina forum for updates.
It's a good thing I don't have a desk-job.

[marklang500]

That satire was hilarious. But it hit me so hard I think it left a mark.

But in all seriousness, it ain't quite as easy as just "start working and stop ****ing off". There are habits and patterns formed that are tough nuts to crack. That's why I'm here though.

I'm hoping by breaking my bad habits (1 and 2) and forming new habits (3,4,and 5) I can become a part of the workforce that actually works.

Thanks for all the support. (I would love to print that Onion article out and put it back in the breakroom....but I think I'll wait until I pass my 30-day trial!)

[Matt Willard]

Originally Posted by ar81

I think not playing at work is a big enough goal.
I only play at home and I sometimes play long hours.
I can't imagine what it would be to play at work...
This article could be somehow useful.
Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Have a great working day!!

Mental note: read more of The Onion.

I'd give you karma if this board had it (and it's better off that way, trust me). You helped make my day even more better-I was looking for good humor to draw inspiration from and here we are!

[Keith]

Originally Posted by veranadine

I admire your enthusiasm.
But I think that this is perhaps too many things to attempt all at once.

That depends on how you view it.

It boils down to:
1. Stop activities in the category "frivolous" (this is a long list on the forum, but your brain immediately knows what it means to you so it's one item).
2. Plan twice daily and review plans at end of day.

Peasy.

Kick butt, Mark.

[marklang500]

That depends on how you view it.

It boils down to:
1. Stop activities in the category "frivolous" (this is a long list on the forum, but your brain immediately knows what it means to you so it's one item).
2. Plan twice daily and review plans at end of day.

Peasy.

Kick butt, Mark.

That's how I am thinking of it. It's really just "stop wasting time, and start being productive". But I needed to detail how to do those things a little more for the sake of having some concrete daily steps. Thanks for the support! It pushed me great.

This is hard, but I haven't played any games or surfed internet (other than this update, which I have allowed myself).

I have literally been shifting in my seat at times, disabled to do the work, disallowed to do any of the frivolous stuff.

My mouse sometimes hovers over the IE icon. I have put a block on zone.msn.com (it's easy to take the block off. But just having it there makes it a 4 click process instead of a 1 click process. That keeps me from going unconciously into a game. So far so good.)

I have uninstalled all the games on my computer, including solitare and minesweeper. Putting them back on would require me to go get the windows disks out of the software locker. (Which I am in charge of, so it wouldn't be hard. But I would have to go through a bunch of steps to do it, and possibly have to explain what I'm up to.)

So, this site is my last remaining sourse of procrastination. I am not giving it up, though because I need to know that you all are watching me. If you see me posting too much, then yell at me.

Planning is going OK. I have already gotten more done this morning than all last week.

But like I said. When I finish a minor task and have to start a new one. I kinda shift around in my seat. Drink my coffee. Move some papers around, shift in my seat some more. Hover on the internet icon. No, don't click it. Who knew it could get this bad? I don't really think it's an addiction to frivolous stuff. It's more of an addiction to avoiding the important stuff. I'm keeping at it though. Thanks for the support.

(I know this all sounds terribly ridiculous. But I have to be completely honest with SOMEBODY so that I can feel the heat of the challenge. It's not like a new excersise program that I can pull kudos from people I actually know. I need you anonymous folks, or else my credibility would be damaged before I can get myself fixed again. You all are my watchers.) Back to work.

I promise not to post or read this thread again until tomorrow. (Oh man, I just cut off my last avoidance technique.....♥♥♥♥♥)

[marklang500]

Ok, the work day is over, so this really isn't breaking the rule!

What a wierd day. Without my usual avoidance techniques, I had nowhere to run. I felt a bit like a cornered rat trying to find heroine.

I hope tomorrow goes better. I did get much accomplished today, but still there was a lot of avoidance. SHifting around. Getting up, helping other people with thier work (I know that doesn't sound like a bad thing, but it is still an avoidance tactic).

On the bright side, it is much harder to make the little avoidance techniques that are still available to me stretch out for the whole day the way the internet can. In fact, I am using them more as breaks instead of complete blackholes. Since I was allowing myself this forum, I thought about posting all day long, as it was my last internet avoidance technique that was still somewhat allowable.

I've decided to make this day one, not day two. Yesterday was not really a full day of it like today was because I had already blown the morning when I decided to create the challenge. So, Sept. 19th, here I come.

Day 1 had a measly morning list, half completed, a measley afternoon list, which was comprised of the incomplete morning activities plus a few more things. It also didn't quite get fully accomplished.

This post serves as my end day review. All in all I'd say I was 35% efficient. (that's a big improvement, trust me) The other 65% was either avoidance or searching for avoidance like an addict. Luckily, none of it was computer related. Funny how taking away the internet and games didn't solve the problem all the way. I found new avoidance techniques. I started making lists on paper of non-work related things, like organizing the kid's schedules. So more avoidance techniques must be pruned.

BUT, I didn't fail. It wasn't a complete success, either, but I DID do the 5 things.
No games, no web, plan, plan,review.

Hopefully, tomorrows review will be better. What a crazy experiment! Sept. 19th is further than I thought!

[rosegold]

What was the result of the 30 day trial?