Post: #1

Hey guys, I've had about an entire month of no productivity at this point, and I've got to get some work done in order to get my entrepreneurial activities to the next level. Now, while the internet is an absolute necessity for my current focus (entrepreneurial web development), it can also be an immensely distracting, never-ending, black-hole time-suck.

There was a similar thread posted recently regarding the detrimental effects of social media:

/thread-48411.html

However, I wanted a thread with more structure, where people could set customized goals, stick to them, and then report back on the results.

So, I'm setting a goal of staying off social media and news sites at least until the end of October. This will allow me to increase my focus on the areas I want to get to the next level in. I'll check in on the forum towards the end of my blackout and share how my productivity habits changed, if at all (perhaps I'll simply find other non-productive activities to fill the extra time with, perhaps not).

Thought I'd make this thread for others wanting to do the same so we could set a time goal for our blackout and then check back in when we either accomplish the goal or fail to do so. We can then note what positive and/or negative changes the blackout had on our productivity, social lives, health, etc.

Others could try a less strict blackout, something like no social media, but checking in on the forum once a week to touch base in this thread with others working on blackout goals. You can treat it like a team huddle, to keep motivated and share what works, what doesn't, any tools you used, whether it was worth it or not, things like that.

Or perhaps you'll only black out news sites, or online video games, for example, while keeping social media.

It's up to you, but my hope is for this thread to serve as a jump off point for getting a lot of us to the next level of our personal development.

Most of us have different online activities that we spend perhaps a little too much time on, so it's up to each of us to customize a plan for minimizing these distractions and leveling up, so to speak. Feel free to use this thread for hashing that stuff out.

If you're contributing to this thread, you've already decided that there are merits to re-allocating your focus to productivity.

That's it, so to summarize, here's my blackout goal:

Sites Blacked Out: News and Social Media.
Time Frame: Until end of October 2015.

Good luck to everyone else giving this, or a variation of this, a shot!

Post: #2

I've minimized my social media to facebook, youtube, and roosh v forum. It becomes difficult to not get consumed in conceptual youtube videos for me. Videos about manosphere, mgtow, powerlifting, cars, etc.. Sometimes I think it's too much mental masturbation and not enough living my life.

I did delete my twitter, instagram, and stream line my facebook feed. Unfollowing peoples posts. Everyone has those friends that post pro LGBT bull shit that you don't want to read in your feed constantly. I figure if my feed was only posts from men and not media outlets, it'd be a lot quieter and more interesting. Just a thought. How often do you find a post discussing a political issue or scientific advancement or achievement?

Sometimes I wish I could just unplug entirely.

Post: #3

There are tools you can use to help you regulate your internet usage. Seth_Rose talked about a few tips on this thread:

/thread-47992.html

Post: #4

(06-18-2015 02:21 PM)Mike0060 Wrote:  I've minimized my social media to facebook, youtube, and roosh v forum. It becomes difficult to not get consumed in conceptual youtube videos for me. Videos about manosphere, mgtow, powerlifting, cars, etc.. Sometimes I think it's too much mental masturbation and not enough living my life.

I did delete my twitter, instagram, and stream line my facebook feed. Unfollowing peoples posts. Everyone has those friends that post pro LGBT bull shit that you don't want to read in your feed constantly. I figure if my feed was only posts from men and not media outlets, it'd be a lot quieter and more interesting. Just a thought. How often do you find a post discussing a political issue or scientific advancement or achievement?

Sometimes I wish I could just unplug entirely.

I unfriended about 1000 people on FB a while back, cutting it down to just family and a few close friends. Then, of the people that were left, I unfollowed most. Even then, I find that when I login, there's this news feed on the top right, and I have no way to block it.

I try to avoid it, but every so often it sucks me in.

So, no more, we'll see how long I can go.

I think if I drop by just this thread, it'll help me stick to it, as it refreshes my productivity goal in my mind.

I'm doing a cleanup of my computer right now, organizing my stuff, setting out daily goals, and outlining my high value activity/ies for the day.

Post: #5

I already cut out the fb and rarely visit general news sites, I am looking at restricting email and cellphone usage to certain times as I find this is my biggest disruption at the moment as well as being in the right environment to complete your work.

Post: #6

Nice work Mogsy, keep it up!

I've been pretty good so far, I've reduced my news/social media time perhaps 95% or so, and it's already having positive effects. My goal this week is to hit 100% no-news. All of a sudden I have a ton of free time that I supposedly didn't have before, and I find that I'm in a much more positive mood.

I also plotted out a schedule, which I'll implement starting Monday. Then I plan to grade myself at the end of the week. So if I follow it 100%, then I get a 100% for the week, if I waste time instead of following my productivity schedule, whatever time I waste gets docked from it, so I can figure out exactly what percent of the time I am not doing what I should be, and then make corrections.

So, say I schedule 40 hours of studying in a week, but then only do 30 hours, that's 10 hours that I was off schedule, which is 25% of the time, which would give me a 75% for the week. If I get lower than 70%, I fail, but ideally, I want to hit 100% or above 100%.

I started listening to some CD's called "The Compound Effect," and they're fantastic. I won't place a link because I'm not sure what the forum rules are on that, and I have nothing to do with the author, but they're really great, feel free to google them. I can't recommend them enough to anyone wanting to unplug and make their own trail through this jungle instead of following the trail already cut by the media, which leads to where ever they want it to lead, instead of where you want to go.

Post: #7

I was going to cut fb but there are too many other sites that easily use log in with facebook.

Post: #8

What are your favorite productivity apps for Android? Other than pomodoro

Post: #9

I only have a roosh v forum account and Facebook with hardly any friends at all. I think that is more than adequate though I may give Facebook the chop soon . Let's see. Good thread.

Post: #10

Regarding time management, I highly recommend this tool for keeping track when web browsing, and staying away from distracting sites when you need to get work done.

Check it out: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detai...delahlfoji

Post: #11

facebook was my biggest distraction, so i tired deactivating it but that didnt even last a day. Now i just log in 2-3 times a day and only check notifications and events. After the election, facebook SJW activism went into overdrive and I didnt want any of that negative shit in my life. I deleted the app from my phone but kept FB messenger.

Post: #12

I'm off of "social media", only whatsapp with some close friends/family. I cut news to a minimum too, every day news are 99% just noise, that does not affect your life in any meaningful way. If you want to get something done, reduce everything unnecessary to a minimum.

Post: #13

Good idea to also unsubscribe from any email newsletter or promotion list that you don't actively need. Taking precious minutes out of each day deleting emails you don't read is a waste of time. Just unsubscribe so your inbox isn't as cluttered. As Tim Ferris has said before, cultivate a information diet of selective ignorance. You don't need to know everything that goes on in the national news. It most often doesn't affect you.

Post: #14

Roosh's 8 productivity tips podcast he did recently was actually surprisingly useful for me regarding how to get work done. I recommend listening. (link)

Post: #15

When you're busy with daily life and improving yourself things like social media are so far down the list that I don't even use them for 5 minutes a day. Just keep busy and you don't need to lose time learning more time management and being distracted by such irrelevant things as to install extensions to not go on social media.

I use Whatsapp and FB Messenger but pure to stay in touch with people I'm close with and schedule real life meetings.

Post: #16

All right guys, the forum has been a wonderful way to help me stay sane while in the West, but I'm bouncing abroad in a few months, so I'm going to go cold turkey on the forum again for a few months. This is in order to focus 100% on getting everything in order so that all runs smoothly while I'm abroad, and also, so the best version of me gets on that plane.

No TV, no forum, no news, no junk food, a walk in the forest every day, a short workout every day, and lots of creating every day, while limiting consumption to productive consumption.

I can have fun again once I'm abroad, but this period is key to having the options to extend my stay abroad indefinitely if I choose to.

The plan is to touch base with the forum crew again after my plane has landed abroad.

Good luck to everyone, whether you're ahead of me on the journey or still laying the groundwork.

Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure, until next time.