Often we browse web without any purpose wasting our precious time that can be used in a more useful way. This purposeless browsing habit not only affects our work but also our health. However, with some simple tricks, you can keep control on this habit and can get more out of web that will not only refresh your mind but will also aid in your work.
Keep your desk and desktop clutter-free - This is the first step towards productive web surfing. It's not just your desktop but your computer table should also be free of any distracting elements. Do not populate your desktop with countless shortcuts and folders. Keep them to bare minimum by including only those applications that are used heavily on regular basis. For example, my desktop has only 3 icons - Recycle bin, Firefox and Filezilla. The cleaner your desktop, the less is the distraction.
Use filters for web access - Generally we use default DNS provided by our internet service provider. Although it works quite well, but it doesn't offer any blocking or filtering capabilities. Use OpenDNS and use it to filter content from certain categories (porn, drugs, or sites falling under specific category). This greatly reduces your time being spent on crap and you can focus on something better. This service also offers family shield option that protects you from phishing sites.
Temporarily block internet - If you're working on an important assignment and couldn't concentrate due to email notifications and some random surfing activity, the best way to get things done is temporarily blocking access to internet. I use an excellent application called Freedom that works both on Mac and Windows machine. It lets you to block internet for a specified period of time. I use it whenever I'm writing a post or doing some other freelance work that doesn't require internet connection.
Use filters for your mail - Often we spend lot of time in processing our daily mail. Fortunately, with some simple tricks we can greatly reduce this time to focus on important things. You can optimize your GMail account for better mail processing by setting filters and adding tags to your mails. This way, not only your inbox will be clutter-free, but you will also get a chance to process the most important mails first.
Install only essential browser add-ons - Nowadays there are thousands of add-ons available for Firefox, Google Chrome and other modern browsers. Make sure you install only the most (only work-related extensions) essential add-ons to your browser. Sometimes we try out different add-ons for a similar service and waste our precious time in testing countless browser extensions. Carefully prepare add-ons requirement, research and install only those that will help you in being more productive.
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