A little confession here. I've been really bad of late (ok, for a good long time now). On the job, between every report I would complete, I would switch over to checkout my FB status, end up getting involved in some debate or such, and before I knew it, minutes went by. I also confess that I was guilty of going to google to search a term, only to notice my FB tab had a notification. "Oh, I have to check that. It might be terribly important." Riiiiiight. Before long, I would forget that I was supposed to be googling a term. I'm not naive. The entire time I was hopelessly lost to this "habit," I knew the day was coming that my supervisor would contact me. "Is there some reason your numbers are falling?" she would say. "Is there something you need help with?" She is so kind and understanding, she would never suspect that I could be guilty of wasting company time simply because I'm so lonely here in my little home office, disconnected from the world, desperately needing my opinion posted for all 200+ friends to see. Well, not to my surprise, the jig is up. I got that anticipated email: "Hi, I'm _______ , your new quality coach..." You can guess the rest. I have my speech all planned out. Like a parishoner to their priest, "Forgive me, Quality Coach, for I have sinned." I accept full responsibility for my actions and throw myself on the mercy of the court. We all need a good swift kick in the pants sometimes, don't we? Please tell me you've done it too. I turned over a new leaf this week. I have told facebook to get thee behind me, and you guessed it: my numbers jumped way up. So, the moral to this story is birds of a feather flock together on facebook, but it's okay to not know what's going in said birds' lives every second of the day, because, even though a change of habit cannot alter nature, it can bring you more income. Hey, this sounds pretty good. Think I'll post it on FB too. : )
Melody, I could be doing the same thing. That's why I purposely stay away from Facebook during the week. Our daughter posts there frequently, and my husband always asks if I've seen her Facebook posting for that day. He has to tell me what she said because I refuse to look; I'll lose at least an hour that way. So I wait until Saturday or Sunday to catch up. Two of my hobbies are knitting and crocheting, and there's a web site called Ravelry that I have to stay away from also. THAT could sop up at least an hour and a half of my time!
Stay strong!:)
You guys are funny! :) This happens to me also - not with FB but anything else that might catch my attention. My husband calls it "going down the rabbit hole" and if I ever find an Alice in Wonderland print of the rabbit hole I'm going to buy it to hang in my office.
Try this and see if it helps you stay focused. Write down the hours you are working. For instance 6pm, 7pm, 8pm then decide how much work you need to get done in each hour. Now for the hard part - don't get up from your chair until you either have your work for the hour done or 55 minutes have passed. Take a break for 5 min (or more if you get your work done early) and then start on your second hour.
Let me know how this works for you.
There is an app called "Self Control" that I've been wanting to try. It blocks applications you choose (email, FB, etc.) for a period of time that you set. There are versions for Mac or Windows. It's ironic that I found it on Pinterest, which is my weakness. ;)
Mozilla won't let me post a link, but it should come up on a Google search for "SelfControl" and "Steve Lambert".
I think this is an issue that comes with the internet! I too struggle with this Facebook addiction. I have thought about getting rid of my facebook, but it so handy to stay in touch with family and friends from afar. Thank you Adrian for sharing this possible solution!! I downloaded the Windows version and am going to try it out. Now to put down the household chore list... hahaha