According to an app that I use, I spent almost 6 hours one week on Google. I spent 3 hours 15 minutes on Netflix. I spent 3 hours on Gmail. And I spent another 3 hours on YouTube. I spent less time on Facebook, as I have been checking it once a week (which is completely sufficient).

But 6 hours searching for things on the internet? I don’t know if that is totally accurate, but I do spend too much time looking up what randomly comes into my brain. I am sure that some of my searches are productive, but many of them are not.

I often will stop one method of wasting time only to fill it up with another one. I stop checking Facebook only to look at the news more often. I stop watching Netflix only to watch more YouTube.

I don’t want to waste time, but I persist.

(Most of this discussion has been wasting time by staring at a screen–but this is not the only way I waste time. I recently spent 10 hours reading a book that I had already read before, and I don’t see how that’s much better than watching 10 hours of movies.)

I get distracted very easily sometimes. I do things that are easy and fun, instead of taking the time and effort to focus and work hard.

So how do I focus? How do I prioritize?

• Planning what I want to do in a day and when I want to do it.
• Get out of the house and change my location.
• Keep trying even when I get distracted, and bring myself back to focusing again.
• Fill up my life with enough good things to do that I don’t have time and energy to sit there and be bored.
• Use routines so that I know what to do next instead of constantly trying to figure it out.
• Block of certain hours for focus and certain times for leisure.
• Review my goals, values, and commitments regularly.
• Get enough sleep, exercise, eat, and drink water.
• Take breaks by getting off the computer when I’ve been on it for a while.
• Track my time so I have to be accountable for where the minutes go.
• Have lots of good things to do that I really enjoy doing and want to do.

Any other suggestions that help you?