Fuck! Wasted a day!

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HarveyJ

HarveyJ

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Feb 25, 2008
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I really need to lower my caffeine intake I think...

I've spent the entire day just chatting to people, hanging out on forums,
and generally going on Wiki Quests.

Now, this isn't really a problem. I'm making a comfortable living, and I had fun... but now I've got remorse over the whole "yeah, but I coulda done something... maybe drawn a little, or developed those domains I bought..."

And now it's the weekend (Anzac day tomorrow, so 3 day weekend), and I've sort of promised myself no working online during the weekend either (so 4 day weekend), because having my arse on a chair all that time just ain't healthy.

So, in my caffeine induced buzz, I posit this moral conundrum - what value do you, as a person have, if you do nothing with your time?

I don't mean if you do nothing as in you're a welfare bludger.
I mean the sort of nothing that only those that actually have money can do. The nothing where you just sit around all day not doing anything constructive or useful... Just chatting, chillaxing, playing games, watching YouTube, etc. type of nothing.
 


I usually love to work as long as I have something that I'm halfway passionate about doing that day. Those are the days, like today, that I'm up at 4:13 AM still on the computer.

Other days I just sit outside reading a magazine, smoking a cigar, and giggling inside at my buddies slaving away at the 9-5.

I've finally given up on giving myself grief for not working, sleeping until noon, or generally being lazy, because I still probably put in anywhere from 40-60 hours a week doing work that I enjoy. If I was ever doing 20-30 hours a week, I would probably have to give myself a kick in the ass, but until then, if I feel like doing nothing tomorrow, I'll be perfectly happy playing xbox. This will probably be happening a lot next week when GTA4 comes out.

Josh
 
If I want to get things done, I usually stop all music, get off Instant Messenger and start a parental filtering software (seriously, been using it for over 4 months and productivity has gone through the roof -- but I make sure I disable it at night to have some phun) to block most of the time waster sites. =)

And yes, forums are serious productivity suckers. Block them too if you want to get some work done.
 
You didn't waste a day. You lived a day.

Life is all about living. The time to start if 5 minutes ago. I'd lose the 'living remorse'. Remember that there are people out there jealous of what you are able to do.

I'd be perfectly happy sitting a coffee shop all day people/car watching. Nothing else.
 
patrick24601 said:
You didn't waste a day. You lived a day.
Click to expand...

exactly, you can't go full speed 24/7. Take day off and chill out in the park can increase your productivity.

sometime i just wander around central park talking to random people and all of a sudden new idea pop up.
 
I try as much as possible to stick to a routine. I highly recommend getting yourself into a strict routine so you don't feel like you're "doing nothing". When you work fulltime online it's VERY easy to get distracted and slack off.

Although it varies by day, the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is take a shower, walk my dog around the block a couple times, and then check my email. After that, I do all my client work for the day first to get it out of the way. This usually takes me 4-5 hours on average. I keep a list of what I have to do each day on my day planner and go down the list one by one. I take small breaks (like now, heh) between each item on my list.

After this, I work on my own projects for a few hours while I chat on AIM, research new campaigns, etc. At the end of the day I usually drink a few beers, play video games, watch a bit of TV or a movie, etc to unwind.

I repeat this process Mon through Saturday. I normally put in 60+ hours per week of actual work. I put in a lot of time, but it beats working a job. I almost always take Sundays off entirely to clear my head.
 
Actually living a day would probably involve not sitting in front of the computer :)

Screwing around when you should be working isn't always bad though. If you didn't just screw around now and a then you would be hard pressed to learn new stuff, get ideas, etc...

Heck me screwing around last night gave me a great idea that I'll be working on later today ---- I'm screwing around right now because my kids are running around.... later I work.
 
The problem with blocking sites to up your productivity is that you can simply deactivate the parental filter/blocker.
 
-Matt- said:
The problem with blocking sites to up your productivity is that you can simply deactivate the parental filter/blocker.
Click to expand...
Yup you can -- but it is no longer impulsive. As such I am not trying to block me forever, just till the time I can get this one bit of work done.
 
Your body and mind have limits - if you didn't spend the occasional day messing around, then you would either eventually feel rotten, or you would lose interest in those very activities that are generating your income. Don't be harsh on yourself because you're human.
 
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