The 5 Day PM Computer Fast: Why I Got More Done In Less Time
- Posted by glen on September 14th, 2006
Last week I mentioned that I would be going on a nightly computer “fast”, meaning that I would only be using the computer until I was done working (5-6pm), and shutting it down for the rest of the evening. And believe it or not, I actually did it. For 5 days I was able to keep my computer shut down from the evening until morning. But it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
Being a web developer, I’m constantly on-line. I live and die by email, and the internet is my workplace. But the danger of having your “workplace” at home is a grave one. It’s way too easy to mix business with pleasure, especially when you use the same tools for both. I can easily let my mind fool me into thinking I “need” to get online to check my email, and pretty soon I’m cruisin’ sweet vids over at YouTube. The internet has done a beautiful job of seamlessly integrating all parts of lives into a keyboard, mouse and monitor; making it incredibly hard to stay focused and on-task while online. You have to have the mind-power of a ninja to get things done and be truly productive.
In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m not a ninja. That’s why I had to limit my computer usage at night. And here’s what I found when I did.
Less Is The New More
I read an article by Steve Pavlina about his theory on working less to get more done. Essentially, your mind will focus more if it knows that it only can work on something for X hours. When it knows that it doesn’t have the luxury of slacking off, it kicks it into the next gear and amazing results follow.
The same is true with my study. When I knew that the computer was going to be turned off at the same time every day, my productivity soared to new heights. Now that I only had a static, limited amount of time, I had to squeeze the most out of it. I had to plan, and only work on the most important things that had to be done that day.
By working less I also found that I was more refreshed and willing to work the next day. The anticipation of the things I got to work on was much higher. AND, I was able to plan more the night before about what I was going to do the following day. With the combination of meticulous planning and anticipation of what I “got” to do the next day, work was tons more enjoyable.
More Rest
One of the more obvious benefits of this “fast” is that I averaged almost two more hours of sleep a night. Two whole hours! I’ve written before on the benefits of sleep, but this really put the whammy on any doubts I had on its aide to my productivity. Sleep and productivity are like peanut butter and jelly, (or peas and carrots if you’re more into vegetables). They just seem to go hand in hand./p>
A Social Life?
Interestingly enough, I found that when I turned off the computer at a certain time, I was much more aware of my social life (or lack thereof). Because I knew that the ol’ compy was going to sleep at 6pm, I had about 4 more hours of true free time, without thinking about work. I could watch a movie, read a book, go to the coffee shop… whatever my little heart desired.
While this may seem like it doesn’t relate to being more productive, just hang with me for a minute. By having more social interaction or leisure time, your productivity does improve. The secret is in switching things up. By taking these much needed breaks, your mind has a chance to distance itself from the “job”. With our crazy wireless, interactive, never-turn-off-our-phones lifestyle, our work now follows us wherever we go. We are potentially always connected to everything and and everyone, including bosses, co-workers and clients. As a result: we’re less productive. By not allowing our work-life to distance itself from our personal life, our productivity goes into the fetal position and starts sucking its thumb.
Ironic, isn’t it?
Conclusions
I would recommend the PM Computer Fast to anyone. The benefits far outweight the drawbacks. In fact, the only drawback I could think of to this would be for employees or owners who absolutely need to know if something caught on fire. Otherwise, the majority of us don’t really need to check our email as often as we think we do. Most of the email I get late at night are crappy newsletters anyway.
This is really a bigger concept than just turning off my computer at night. This was my way of seperating my work life from my home life, based on the tools that I use. For others, this may mean not answering work-related calls after a certain hour. Or checking email. Just by making a conscious effort to un-connect yourself from work, you’ll immediately start seeing better results in your job.
Here are some tips for buying a computer and getting what you want.
September 14th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
[...] The 5 Day PM Computer Fast: Why I Got More Done In Less Time at LifeDev [...]
September 15th, 2006 at 9:03 am
[...] http://lifedev.net/2006/09/computer-fast/ [...]
September 15th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Get things done with a computer embargo…
Weblog LifeDev describes how the road to getting more done is sometimes paved with less time to work. In the author’s case, that meant imposing a ban on computer usage after 6PM. The result of the ban was that……
September 15th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Will you continue the habit? If not, why not?
September 15th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
This is a great reminder to us tech heads that spend waaaay to much time near the computer. It reminds me of a conversation I had in an elevator with co-workers after meeting a client with an impending deadline. We talked about working into the evening a bit and I commented, “It’s not like I have other things to do”, and the other person in the elevator says, “You mean like have a life?”. That really hit home. Just like this post does. Thanks!
September 15th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
[...] Trabalhar demais pode diminuir sua produtividade. Leia o texto sobre o desenvolve-dor que assumiu consigo mesmo o compromisso de desligar o computador sempre as 17:00. O mais incrÃvel é que venho lendo textos sobre o assunto com freqüência, será que é hora de diminuir a velocidade? [BL]trabalho,Descanso[/BL] [tags]trabalho,Descanso[/tags] [BBL]trabalho,Descanso[/BBL] 0 Comentário(s) Link [...]
September 15th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
So, when does ‘personal’ computing come in to play? ie, when do you read RSS feeds, browse del.icio.us, watch videos on YouTube, etc etc?
September 17th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
Great Article. Very interesting. I think i’m going to start on today with this fast.
Thanks.
September 18th, 2006 at 8:48 am
[...] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers canshare and discover new web pages. [...]
September 18th, 2006 at 9:40 am
[...] The 5 Day PM Computer Fast: Why I Got More Done In Less Time - LifeDev [...]
September 18th, 2006 at 10:04 am
I work in Tech support, and hence, I’m at PC’s all day. From time-to-time, I also take Internet college courses (when the subject matter is appropriate for the Internet, such as VB.NET programming, but not Philosophy).
I slightly modify the rule of not getting on my PC after six p.m. The mod I make ties in with my Palm. I keep a daily running to-do list; what I don’t do that day carries over to the next day.
When I think of something to do, I put it in the list, no matter it’s importance or unimportance. This means that I think of information I need to look up on the Internet and/or e-mails, I put that down on my running list.
The point is, if I have it on my list, I can sit down at the PC and look it up, but no extra surfing (no, not even for pr0n!)
September 18th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
[...] LifeHack have just linked to and article about switching off in the evening. Turn off your computer (and phone) and go do something else. Sounds good in principle, but what – if you are really honest – if you don’t want to? [...]
September 18th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
hsein has more mental strength than ninja has.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:27 am
[...] Check the full post here. [...]
September 19th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
[...] I wrote an article on Friday about my computer fast, and it had tremendous response over the web. The article actually made it to the front page of digg (and instantly crashed my server, yay Digg effect!). I had no idea that the article would have such an impact, but because it did means something struck a chord with a lot of people. Basically, the fact that somebody could actually shut off their computer after 6pm was something quite novel to a lot of people. Why? Because we use the computer for everything; work and play. The lines between the two have been blurred. You have to make hard edges if you want to be productive. [...]
September 20th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Did your power bill go down as well?
September 20th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Josh: Personal computing (for me) is done on my breaks. I find that taking more breaks works better for my productivity. But if I’m working all day on the computer, I won’t take a break and read my RSS feeds. I’ll get up out of the chair and change the scenery a bit.
Honestly, I don’t have a whole lot of time where I check my RSS feeds. I’ve found that if you follow 2-3 sites, you can get all the information you really need (as a general rule). Everything around the web these days is so rehashed anyway. You’ve read one, you’ve read ‘em all ;)
Rick: The running todo list (as opposed to the “daily” todo list) is a smart idea. That way, you can shut down whenever you want, without feeling like you didn’t get all the stuff done you were “supposed” to do. Nice point!
September 20th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
[...] Oh man, this post could be 8 miles long. I’ve already written a couple posts over the dangers of time spent on the computer. Limiting the time spent online seems so simple, yet it’s such a hard thing to do in reality. Especially for people working on the computer for a living (which the number is growing daily). The big beautiful internet and its email gives us so many more freedoms and choices, yet also gives us new expectations that traditional mail never could have dreamed of. Why? Because just like the cell phone, we use our email for both personal reasons and for work. We’ve blurred the line between work and play. [...]
October 1st, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Thanks for the insightful article (link from GTD). I will fast this month, and see how it goes.
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:17 pm
[...] LifeDev has a fascinating post that echoes Donna’s sentiments about being taken offline. He suggests that by shutting off the computer at 6pm and not revisiting it before 9am the next day, one might actually get more accomplished. Great idea, but not something I’ll be testing anytime soon. My addiction is far, far too strong. [...]
October 4th, 2006 at 10:51 am
[...] Hal yang sama diceritakan pula oleh Glen dari LifeDev, dia mengeset waktu tertentu untuk mematikan komputernya. Ketika tahu bahwa jam sekian dia harus berhenti bekerja dengan komputer, produktivitasnya naik, karena dia tahu bahwa waktunya terbatas. Sebelum bekerja pun dia memulai merencanakan apa yang akan dilakukan pada range waktu bekerja tersebut, disesuaikan dengan hal terpenting yang akan dilakukan pada hari itu. [...]
October 22nd, 2006 at 7:32 pm
I have practiced shutting off my phone for quite sometime as I found it
is a disruptive element. With computers now…that would take a
little effort…depending what’s on TV I shut down accordingly…
but to actually set an off time….
I think I will definately consider that….
November 14th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
[...] Limit your time on the computer by shutting it down early Take a break to plan your next action [...]
November 30th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
[...] Yet another example that it’s a good idea to take a break, especially from email. I would bet she didn’t miss those meetings and emails when looking at this view. Filed under: Email, Productivity, Rest on Nov 30,06 | Tags: breaks, email, email break, vacation. [...]
November 30th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
[...] Looks like it’s time other people started their own nightly Computer Fast. Filed under: Sleep, Rest on Nov 30,06 | Tags: sleep, sleep deprivation. [...]
January 25th, 2007 at 1:03 am
MY COMPUTER IS VERY LOW….HOW I CAN MAKE
IT FAST? VERY FAST.
PLEASE INSTRUCT ME
February 21st, 2007 at 3:15 pm
its a wonderful site and artile…..it has helped me great deal to understand how to use my comp
April 18th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
I think the website is good but i cant get anywhere online that shows me what a study plan looks like so why dont you do that cos i have seen better pages xxxx
April 20th, 2007 at 3:00 am
[...] and stay up until the wee hours of the morning finishing deadlines. So, I decided to try a week of turning off my computer after 5pm. Long story short, it was a very good thing. My brain had to come to grips with the fact that it [...]
April 20th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
[...] and stay up until the wee hours of the morning finishing deadlines. So, I decided to try a week of turning off my computer after 5pm. Long story short, it was a very good thing. My brain had to come to grips with the fact that it [...]
June 20th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! rqpaapkuqshk
February 26th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
[...] in distractions throughout the day. We have the power to tune them out, if we really want to.Disconnect from the internet, don’t check the email every 2 minutes, turn your cell phone off, set the IM client to [...]
March 30th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
[...] hard deadlines on Internet usage. I’ve tried a computer fast before, and it worked really well. It’s incredibly hard to do, but if you can at least make a [...]
March 31st, 2008 at 2:32 am
[...] un peu de bon sens ne nuit jamais, n’est-ce pas ? [...]
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:08 am
[...] hard deadlines on Internet usage. I’ve tried a computer fast before, and it worked really well. It’s incredibly hard to do, but if you can at least make a deadline [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Risky theme. I think you’ve hurt someone’s feelings, but what’s for me - I like it. No matter what they say if your opinion is true.