Since Thanksgiving break is over I figured now would be an appropriate time to talk about being productive (thanks, Glenn). Personally, I just spent a week watching movies, finishing seasons 2 and 3 of Lost, skiing, and napping. Unfortunately there are three weeks of school left before I can remain in this state of laziness.

The tasks in our lives always have two properties: urgency and importance. Tasks which are both important and urgent are emergencies and upcoming deadlines. Tasks that are important but not urgent are things like preparation, reading materials before class and gathering research material weeks in advance. The rest of the tasks are not important and are either urgent (some phone calls and email, instant messaging) or not urgent (most email, Facebook).

Your goal should be to minimize or even eliminate those non-important tasks in your life. Without them you’ll remain focused and infinitely more productive. If you haven’t read the Time article on multitasking (and its negative effects), read it to better understand the importance of focusing on one thing at a time.

So, what are some of the huge distractions I’ve eliminated from my life?

Link bar bookmarks
Every time I open Firefox I see a dozen or so links staring at me in my Link bar. It’s that bar right beneath the address of the site you’re visiting. In theory this is supposed to make my life easier because all my favorite websites are a simple click away. This leads to lots of useless clicking I’ve noticed. When I open Firefox I mindlessly see Facebook or Flickr and click just to ‘check up’. I’m embarrassed to say I’d do a few times an hour.

The solution was simple: remove the links and you remove the desire to click. Out of sight, out of mind.

New mail notifications
Not everyone receives a helpful popup every time they receive a new email. But, you can easily tell which people do: they respond to you within minutes. Sure, for many, their success depends on email; it’s a primary means of communication. But, when trying to focus, this is a huge distraction. Turn it off and don’t be tempted to constantly check for new mail. Again, if you set aside time to focus on a single task at a time then you’ll be much more productive.

On the other hand, I sometimes found myself opening up my browser to check for mail many, many times an hour. I’ve obviously lost my self-control. So, I installed Google Notifier to remedy this. I can now glance at the subject of any new mail I receive and determine whether it’s worth interrupting my task at hand. Most often it’s not.

Instant messenger, IRC
These are classic high-urgency, low-importance tasks. When you remain signed onto an instant messenger you leave yourself open for immediate distractions. Especially when working on your computer. Close the programs and keep them closed. Nobody will go to AIM if they need you for something important. Set aside time to chat and catch up but keep it separate from your time to focus.

Think of it this way, would you invite your friends over to sit on the couch while you tried to study or do your accounting homework?

Television and music are good
You may think the sights and sounds are the biggest distractions imaginable but it’s quite the opposite. Forcing yourself to cut through the noise helps strengthen your brain.

Time yourself
Take the time to document how you spend your time for a few days. Jot down what you were doing and for how long. You may realize you’re spending half your time on the internet editing your MySpace page or checking out new picture on Facebook. You may also realize you spent 3 hours reading online news and blogs. A few months ago I installed TimeTracker for Firefox and it helps me notice how much time is wasted online. You may surprise yourself.

So, for many people this is obvious, for others it needed to be said. If you’ve got some self-control you hopefully won’t slide into the unproductive slumps I’ve been in lately. Now it’s time to go take my own advice…