I told you last week that I was going to keep a time diary to help me find areas in my life where I’m wasting time or maybe just spending it on things that I don’t really want to be spending it on.
I’m not going to trot out my daily records here (that would get boring for you), but I will tell you that I decided the main place where I waste time is on the computer, and more specifically on the internet.
I tend to be consistently efficient in the way I use my time away from the computer, and I also tend to spend that time in ways the reflect my priorities (which means that I do things like talk to my kids, hang out with Mr. FG, go to the pool, etc. It’s not all work!)
And to a degree, I’m that way online…I keep on top of my email fairly well, I blog faithfully, I organize my pictures, and I do a number of blog-related tasks.
But I find myself sitting down at my computer way more often than is necessary, thinking I’ll just check Twitter or my email, and then I end up getting sucked in and wasting 20 minutes. That’s not the end of the world, but if you do it a lot of times over the course of a day, it starts to add up.
So, I’m not going to keep a general time diary this week but I am going to keep an internet time diary…every time I check Twitter or email or Facebook or Pinterest or whatever else, I’ll write it down. At the end of the week, I should be able to see how much of my internet time is spent well and how much is just wasted.
As with my regular time diary, I know this diary won’t be an accurate reflection of how I’ve been spending my internet time because I will inevitably self-correct.
But correcting my bad habit of checking my email every time I walk by the computer is what I’m after, so it’s all good.
Because I know some of you will be thinking, “What?? It’s ok to have fun on the internet and it’s not necessarily wasting time.”, I’ll add a link here to the Don’t Waste Your Leisure post I wrote. In it, I explain my thoughts about the difference between meaningful, truly refreshing leisure time and wasted leisure time that doesn’t really leave you refreshed.
Suffice it to say that at least part of my internet time is the wasted sort that doesn’t leave me refreshed.
If you kept a time diary, how did it go for you? Were you surprised at what you saw? Did you do a lot of self-correction?
Larry Shank
Monday 22nd of March 2021
I absolutely love Aldi and what Aldi has done for the "poor pocket communities" where the residents are literally Targeted by major food conglomerates to sell them complete junk foods, made from artificial flavorings, artificial coloring. Basically "Laboratory Food" that was never meant to be eaten at all. But the price is right and parents are often forced to feed this crap to their growing off spring because the alternative is literally "starvation" ....With. Aldi stores n now serving these neighborhoods many people are able to eat like real humans. Their kids (& often themselves) have the ability to expand on their cuisine. They can n o w afford Artisan Crafted cheeses, real sweet cream butter (1 lb fit 2.69$) half the cost anywhere else, enjoy fresh produce, pnut butter (organic) for 1.99, variius other dairy products. The can throw dinner parties and serve first rate dips. Great bottled water. Even if your a Ginger ale obvessed nut like me you can by a 12 pack for about 2.75. These are regular everyday prices. Baking supplies fir a fraction of the cost anywhere else. They gave given alot of Moms some "fire power" to fight back some of the bad food companies. Aldi and Trader Joe's. I am thankful to have access to both of these places!
Tina Ray
Monday 9th of July 2012
I received my Aldi gift card. It was a welcome blessing. I just wanted to let you know it was used to have a mommy and son date night. My 11 year old son Noah and I had Sirloin steak screwers (verrrry yummy) and sweet corn as a special treat for our "mommy and son" only party. He of course helped me cook. I love my little sous chef. We then laid the rest of my mulch around my Hostas and the all along the back side of my house and then went in and played a long game of Payday (bought at a garage sale). It was an awesome Saturday night "out"...er well "in" with my son.
Tina Ray
Paula in the UP
Thursday 5th of July 2012
Sadly I have never been to an Aldis nor do I know where the closest one is to my house. Sounds like a store I would like though! Consider yourselves lucky for having options; we have two regional chain grocery stores and a Super Walmart(which I hate).
Shannon
Friday 29th of June 2012
Check out Mind the Time add-on! I use Firefox and have just been using the add-on for a couple of days but it has already shown me websites that I am spending more time on!
Elizabeth@ReadySetSimplify
Wednesday 27th of June 2012
Too much computer time here, too! Here are my time diary results: http://readysetsimplify.com/2012/06/27/time-diary-experiment-results-yikes/