How Unplugging Helped Me Get More Done

Recently, my two girls were gifted a brand new computer from their grandmother.  They were so excited to have a computer to do “their stuff” on, one that they could call their own.  The thing is…it’s a nice computer, nicer than the laptop that I use for my online adventures.  It’s bigger,  newer, and man is it fast!  I knew that I wanted to use it for scrapbooking and my other online adventures, but I knew it had to be available for the girls to use whenever they wanted, too.  It is theirs after all.

So, I decided to drastically adjust my computer time.  I had gotten into a nasty habit of spending most of my free time online.  It’s funny how that happens, you never seem to set out to lose yourself in the computer, but after a while it just consumes you.  It had gone too far, and this was the perfect time to make a change for me.  So the decision was made:  the girls would have first dibs on the computer (within parental reason, of course) and I would leave all of my heavy duty computer stuff like scrapbooking for times when they were in bed.  I’m not going to lie, it scared me at first.

A funny thing happened, though.  When I started thinking about having less time to complete the things that I needed to do, I started thinking about how to get things done more effectively.  I started thinking about how I could get things done and use my time economically.  After a few weeks of unplugging and thinking about using my online time more effectively, I started getting more done.  More than I was getting done when I was spending all of my free time online AND I was having more time to spend with my awesome family!  For me, the key to getting MORE done was actually spending LESS time on the computer.  Who knew?

I challenge you to think about the time you spend on the computer.  Think about unplugging a bit, and how you can more effectively use the time you have on the computer.  Not only will you get more done, but I can attest that you will find more time to do things that will fill you with more joy than any website can.

Have you tried unplugging? What happened?