Comments on: Regain Your Focus By Taking A Break.

By: RowdyKittens

RowdyKittens — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:35:07 +0000

David – great post! I’ve taken a number of media fasts in the last few months. They’ve helped tremendously and have actually improved my writing / quality of life.

I do my best to keep up on the latest news, but there is no way to keep track of everything.

I was spending so much time on twitter and reading other blogs (for work and personal stuff) that I was missing out on life! Like going outside for bike rides, walks, etc.

Even though I’m not tweeting or blogging as much, I feel like I have a better balance.

Good luck!

By: David

David — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:59:49 +0000

Strange how that happens, heh?

By: David

David — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:59:27 +0000

And for some, by the time they notice it’s too late.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:56:02 +0000

This is so true, especially among the driven and productive people that frequent blogs like this. We all focus so much on being efficient and productive that we tend to forget about a very large part of being a well-rounded human.

A very timely post

By: KC

KC — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:22:19 +0000

Recently my weekends have been so busy I haven’t had much of a chance to check my email, read blogs, etc. And, you know what? The world didn’t fall apart! Amazing!

By: David

David — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:02:02 +0000

Noelle – I definitely need to get over the “what will I miss” issue!

By: Noelle

Noelle — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:24:29 +0000

Thanks for this post. I am feeling a need for a regular “media fast.” I am nearing the end of a 12-week Saturday class, plus freelance work that can only happen on the weekends. Combined with my weekday commitments, I am on the computer all day, every day, and it gets *old* fast. I’d like to start taking 24 hours off (probably Saturday night to Sunday night) every week to just not look at the computer/Internet at all.

Even as I type the above, I am thinking about all the things I might miss. I just have to remind myself that it’s okay to take a break – it’s not like I can read the whole ‘Net anyway – and maybe I’ll be a little more serene if I don’t know everything that everyone is doing on Facebook. :~)

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:10:39 +0000

Moving my computer to the basement family room cured me of being online all day long. Now it is deliberate and I stay conscious of the time I’m on the computer. The whole rest of my life flows better.

By: David

David — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:12:13 +0000

Wes – Luckily I never turned Push notifications on, and I do DVR the shows I want to watch. The email thing will be hard to break, since my entire business depends on it, but will see if I can at least set a few times a day to check/respond. Thanks!

By: Wes Baker

Wes Baker — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:14:53 +0000

I used to have this problem, but I’ve gotten a lot better about it. It takes time and effort, but it was worth it:
- Start checking your email 3 times a day: noon, 4PM and before bed
- Follow the same schedule for Twitter/RSS/Social Media
- DVR the shows you actually want to watch, or if you’re a bit more extreme, cancel your cable and buy the shows you want from iTunes. This will put a very clear (albeit not all that expensive) price tag on it.
- If you have an iPhone, turn off all push notifications
- Remove any notifications that distract you at all, Twitter clients are terrible about this

I wouldn’t say I’m done with this, but I’ve come a long way. Try not to do all of these at once, but ease yourself off of the noise.