Email Discipline

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It’s 11:53 PM on a Wednesday night.  Another deadline is upon me, as the big cheese here at Monkey Toss does not appreciate tardiness, regifting, or the Ice Capades.  And what do I have so far?  Nothing much.  Why, you ask?  Because I can’t stop watching Youtube videos of angry kittens.

The internet is a procrastinators dream, or nightmare, depending on your point of view, since their is no shortage of things to widdle away your time with.  The easy options are social sites like Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter; video sites like the afore mentioned Youtube.  You can watch TV on Hulu, listen to music on Pandora, play flash games practically anywhere… but what if you’re actually trying to get some work done?  Um, well, there’s google docs, but the odds of successfully typing one sentence without pausing to watch the Farting Preacher are slim.  So, aside from turning off the wifi, what actions can you take to ensure enough productivity to make the next car payment?  Turns out their are a choice of programs to help curb your appetite for your internet drug of choice.

Let’s start with E mail.  If you find yourself chatting in Gmail longer than entering numbers into Excel, go into Google Labs (in Gmail, look at the top and click the green beaker) and enable the “E Mail Addict” feature.  This program will pop up messages when it senses too much Gmail usage, telling you to take a break for fifteen minutes before letting you get back to more useless forwarded E mail of prayers and funny newspaper clippings.

What if you Facebook more than you Quickbooks?  Firefox has an add-on called E Mail Discipline.  When enabled, it will not allow you to visit twenty predetermined E mail and social sites without doing at least two hours of work.  Only then can you go onto Twitter and discover that your ex girlfriend is eating soup at this very moment!!!  Of course, as the picture suggests, you can easily override this program by clicking the cheat button…  but you’re better than that.  I believe in you.

But if your needs are specific, and you find yourself spending more time comparative shopping for riding lawn mowers than the average person, then Leechblock is what you need.  It gives you total control over your terrible habits, letting you group and prioritize sites, and setting up parameters as to when, or for how long, they can be accessed.  It’s like having your very own parole officer, without the hassle of robbing a liquor store or sharing a cell with a guy named Bubba.

So there you have it.  You have no excuse to keep from finishing your taxes or studying for that biology exam.  As for me, it’s 12:56 AM, and if you’ll excuse me, I have some Chicken Songs to watch… now that’s entertainment!