Top Tips For Staying Focused on the World Wide Web Ever notice how often you get side-tracked whilst working on the Internet? You open up an email, and hard as you might try to not leave email mode, you click on an irresistible link which plunges you into browser mode and the World Wide Web. One thing leads to another, and you're now looking at a stalactites Webcam in Africa. How did that happen? More important, how can you keep this unproductive behavior from reoccurring multiple times each day? Below are some tips to help you stay focused and on-point with your intended mission. 1. Turn off your speakers so you aren't distracted by the "be-dute" sound every time an email flies in. Like Pavlov's dogs, you naturally want to then leave what you're doing and visit your In Box to see what's up. If this happens every 5 minutes, you'll never get anything done. 2. Better yet, promise to only visit your In Box four times a day, like ebook author Jim Edwards does. This is one technique he uses to get such a prodigious number of ebooks written. He doesn't allow himself to get sucked into the In Box swirl. 3. Create a "Read" folder where you can stuff all those emails that demand reading time, then schedule time to read them, rather then perusing them as they come in. What you really want to read first is email from business prospects, clients and potential leads. 4. When reading email newsletters that are long-winded, simply skip the first three paragraphs, which should have been edited out anyway. These warm-ups often begin with analogies and metaphors you've heard before, and are often just padding for the real message, assuming there is a real message. 5. Look for action words in long-winded emails. Too often, people write email novels and give you their life's story before they get around to the bottom line. Maybe they figure if you're reading all the hot air they have your interest. I don't know, but it's annoying. I scan for action verbs or an out and out call to action like "...so call me if you want to have lunch with my client when he's in New York." 6. Use Boolean searches when searching the WWW. Search engines like Google and AltaVista offer this feature, which will help focus your search greatly. Some search engines let you search the search results as well. That lets you cast a wide enough net to catch much of what you want and then filter down to the nuggets. 7. Send yourself email. I'm certain most people do this already. When out on the Web, if you see something of peripheral interest, mail it back to yourself for later inspection, rather than going off topic to examine it at the moment you come across it. 8. Unsubscribe regularly from newsletters: Really! Many of them only serve to keep you from your appointed rounds. If you notice you're deleting some regularly, get rid of them altogether. It's one less thing to clutter up your radar screen. 9. Use the phone instead of the Net. Surprised to hear me say this? Well, sometimes one network is faster to use than another. 10. To stay on top of your competitors' moves, consider using automated reconnaissance services to notify you, rather than manually conducting exhaustive searches constantly. If necessary, pay for the reconnaissance services. Your time is worth more than what it will cost you. Bonus Tip: Don't you yourself contribute to the din of distractions. You know how you feel about people who send you novels about their family around this time of year? They go on for pages, largely about people you don't know. Keep messaging brief and to the point. People will and are grateful for this. I've talked to thousands of WDFM readers over the years, and their biggest praise is that the reviews are short and to the point. Bring an indisputable sense of immediacy and relevance to your message. In other words, get to the point, man:). |
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