Addicted to WW - killing my site

How on earth did this happen?

[I Will Make It]

Until about half a year ago, I was working on my site, 3-5 hours every day. I got everything done; from writing new articles, changing designs when I was bored with the old ones. Updating my page with new content and so on...

Then one day, I found this forum, added adsense to my site, and got stuck between WW and adsense-stats.

I'm still in front of my computer for the same amount of hours every day.
I'm still surfing around for my site-topic to know that I'm still updated when it comes to site-features. Checking my competitors sites, so they don't offer visitors some really new cool things that I don't have.
I'm still interested in my site topics.

BUT

I'm NOT still working as much on my site as I used to. All I do is reading on this forum, checking the stats over and over again, even though I'm a small earner.. I have to check'em.
There are some days when I get some things done, but those days aren't enough.

To stay ahead from the competitors, we really need to work like hell, I'm sure you know what I mean.

Anybody have any opinions on this? I'm I the only one who have become really really lazy? What should I do? Send a mail to Brett and ask him to ban my IP.. heh (Please don't)

But seriously, this has become a problem. Damn, I'm addicted to WW.

[celgins]

Don't worry. You'll eventually get to the point when the excitement will wear off! :)

Not that WW is a bad place. It's a really helpful entity and most of us gather a lot of useful information from it.

If it helps, schedule time on WW. Treat it like part of your work schedule.

For example:
- research site topics
- contact "widget" website owner about affiliation
- one hour researching topics on WW
- lunch (open shrimp sandwich, an apple, and 5 wheat crackers)
- write articles for website
- check Adsense ads for MFA's, poorly targeted ads, etc.

Sound like a plan?

[androidtech]

I wonder if I could make any money coming up with a "12-step program"? :)

It's true, the excitement does wear off, especially when you try to truly understand the fluctuations in eCPM.

[Khensu]

It is called setting deadlines.

Act as if you were the employer and make a list of what you need done by a certain date.

Now take that hat off and put the employee hat on.

What do emploees do?

They estimate how much srewing around they can do on the bosses time and still make deadlines and get their paycheck.

Put a yellow tablet by your computer and layout your work for the week. When you finish your tasks then come to WW and socialize without any guilt.

It is just a mindset. Most of us don't need the yellow legal pad but I think you do, until you can train yourself a bit better.

[edited by: Khensu at 2:22 am (utc) on July 28, 2006]

[I Will Make It]

Celgins: Yep, it does :D
I'll make it a habit! At least I'll try. I really need to!

androidtech:
I gave up the understanding the stats months ago - I just like to check them all the time. :D

Khensu:

Most of us don't need the yellow legal pad but I think you do, until you can train yourself a bit better.

I think you're right!

[gamiziuk]

Put a yellow tablet by your computer

Usually the "red pill" works best for me.

[plasma]

I was like you once, and then stopped using WW.
Few Years later I'm back here to see how to recover from June 27 :)

[Jack_Hughes]

What you need is a bit of discipline. Restrict your browsing of WW to a specific time and a specific amount of time and restrict your stats viewing to once a day/week. You will then free up lots of time for web development. A good read is Stephen Coveys seven thingymabobs of highly effective people. The main one, in this context anyway, is putting first things first. Stats checking will not get you to the next level on its own it just becomes a work avoidance technique getting in the way of real work.

[Etonian]

If it really is becoming a problem, then I would recommend that you delete your bookmark to the site. You can still visit, but instead of being single-click access, you will need to type the url into your address bar. This slight delay will hopefully give you just a moment or two to think about whether your visit is really necessary right there and then, or whether it can keep for an hour or two until you've finished that other pressing task which you know you should be getting on with instead.

I've had similar problems myself and I found that deleting not just one, but a whole stack of bookmarks, was of great help. I still visit the sites but I've removed that all-too-tempting instant access.

[Brett_Tabke]

> I'm NOT still working as much on my site as I used to

But are you working 'smarter' and not wasting as much energy?

[sonjay]

If it really is becoming a problem, then I would recommend that you delete your bookmark to the site.

Not a bad idea. To be really strict with yourself, edit your hosts files so that calling up webmasterworld.com sends you to a page on our own computer that says "GET BACK TO WORK!"

[I Will Make It]

lol.. this is why I can't stop reading on WW. There are too many great people with too many great answers.

There are no problems, right?

and to Brett:
I do work smarter, and I HAVE learned a lot from this site.

I think I'll try a few of the suggestions you guys have given me.
With more time to work on my site, and with the knowledge I have gained in the last 6 months from this forum, I can't stop thinking about how great my site will be in a year from now.

But please, don't yell at me if you see me posting around here ;)
I can't just stop hanging around!

[mack]

Well daily I probably spend about 9 hrs on the computer. I am getting pretty good at multi-tasking. WebmasterWorld is open in the background pretty much all the time. But I am working on my projects at the same time.

As has already been said, set yourself targets that NEED to be accomplished each day.

Mack.

[Brett_Tabke]

> delete your bookmark to the site

Why would you need a bookmark when it is open all the time? ;-)

Just set it as your homepage and forget it ;-)

[essayswap]

Brett,

X-mas gift suggestion for all members: Yellow Note Pads ;-)

I'm an addict who understands the pains of I Will Make It. I'm not recovering, but I've taken the first step and admitted that I have a problem. It's a slow and painful process my friend. And the more you really know about making it on the web, the more painful it is to make sure you're not missing out on the wealth of knowledge here.

[harpoon]

Put a yellow tablet by your computer.

I bought a large white board instead.

[paul2yall]

I had the same problem when I first started. I finally just had to make a rule for myself -- no checking any stats, forums or feeds until I've written an article. So now, the first thing I do when I sit down at the computer is write (from previous notes and research I've collected). I try not to even surf the web, though sometimes I need to look things up. After I've finished the first draft, THEN I can take a break and catch up on stats and news. The best part is, because I have a new article sitting on my desktop, I'm eager to get back to it so I can edit and post. Then the rest of my computer time is non-structured "free time." I can write some more, read and post to forums, research new articles, or just click 'refresh' on my adsense stats the rest of the day.

I would also recommend the book "Getting Things Done" by David Allen.

[net_rambler]

I read WW on my Pocket PC just before sleep, in my bed, it helps to work out ideas which I find here. If I was becide desctop PC, I often try a new idea right away, but when read post in the bed, I think about it first, then sleep and next day I feel is it valuable for me or not...

Also somehow my brain works at nights also, because I read posts exactly I start to sleep.

So my advice is: go and buy small Pocket PC or mobile with big screen and read WW in your bed. Then you isolating the problem from your working place :-)

[shri]

>> Then you isolating the problem from your working place :-)

And bringing it where it completely does not belong!