spend more time offline

i expanded my ideas from my march 5th post into a full article:

http://jeffcovey.net/simplicity/ramblings/offline.html

i’ve been slowly moving my whole working life online and making it independent of any particular computer (assuming any given computer has a net connection and, preferably, a reasonably recent web browser). i’ve been:

• replacing my homebrew gtd script with toodledo
• moving my bookmarks to del.icio.us
• setting up web-based ssh so i can get to servers from machines that only allow http traffic
• moving tasks previously done only on my laptop to an online server, and automating them as cron jobs as much as possible
• etc.

the goal is to make my laptop just another gateway to my online life, albeit the most pleasant one to use. by making it possible for me to work just as well from any computer anywhere, i’m not tied to being at home or schelping the laptop with me and finding wireless access for it.

the result is that it’s easier for me to just head out the door without worrying about things left undone. while i’m running errands or exercising at the park or passing through the city, i can always drop in a library and do some work, check my calendar, look up something in my notes, etc. keeping everything online actually encourages me to be offline and less homebound.

an added advantage is that library computers are often a little clunky (and always running windows with qwerty), the chairs are the wrong height, the environment is noisy, and there’s a time limit counting down, all of which encourages me to just do what i need to do and get out of there instead of lingering.

i’ve been reading the lifehacker book . unfortunately, most of it is irrelevant to me, but i have found one useful bit, the invisibility cloak greasemonkey script.

i’ve been thinking for some time that it would be good to pass my http requests through a proxy that would remind me not to spend my time surfing favorites sites. this works as well, and i’ve blocked my access to wikipedia, youtube, and a couple of others, with the result that i spend more time getting through my tasks and get offline more quickly.

i decided that if i can’t get my computer work done in 6-8 hours on my computer days, i must be wasting my time. so, i’ve started setting a two hour timer when i get on the computer in the morning. when it goes off, i finish what i’m doing, and the laptop goes into hibernation until after lunch. in the afternoon, there’s another two hours, then it’s off until another two hour block after dinner. then i wrap up the day, and the remaining time until bed is spent without the stress of net access and the artificial daylight of the screen.

parkinson’s law is kicking in. with the timer counting down, i find myself plowing into jobs about which i would ordinarily procrastinate. not only do i spend less time on the computer, but i get more meaningful work done while i’m on it.

i’m still keeping my tuesdays and thursdays computer-free (and saturdays by default because of my schedule). i would like, though, to limit my computer time on online days, as well. too much of my computer time is spent watching youtube and looking up every random thought on wikipedia. i need to treat my computer time as a precious and limited opportunity to get my online tasks done, reduce online time to a few hours of the day, and get past the computer and to the rest of life.

the internet has become a hamster wheel for me. i never get to the things i really want to do because a dozen fascinating possibilities pop up along the way, and, as at this very moment, the whole day is gone, i’m up too late, and my projects and todos have been pushed off to tomorrow.

using techniques from “the four hour workweek”, i’ve managed at least to whittle myself down to a four day workweek. on tuesdays, thursdays, and saturdays, the computer is packed away out of sight. i’d like to extend this to a reverse workweek, with five days offline and two on. i’m thinking of mondays and fridays online, so i get two- and three-day periods of detox.

in the meantime, this laptop’s going into overdue suspension. good night!