Creating Success from the Inside Out: 2 Tools To Help You Climb Out of the Internet Rabbit Hole

You know what I'm talking about when I  refer to The Internet Rabbit Hole so let's just cut to the chase.  

Yellow Bunny Rabbit Monster Doll by Knot By Gran'ma on Etsy

Exhibit A:  I'm on the computer to find a recipe for raspberry cornmeal pancakes and while doing so I find this great app called Razoo on the computer for crowd-sourcing (seemingly unrelated subjects, yes - but my browser history could certainly find six degrees of Kevin Bacon on this)  and I sign up for it.  Per usual, I get the prompt to go to my email to click the link for the final confirmation.  Okay.  Can do.  Once I'm in my email, however, something else catches my eye.  "Oh, look-y, it's a new blog post from Denise Duffield-Thomas!" So I immediately click it, my initial reason for going into my email forgotten for an hour as I learn more about manifesting my dreams and eradicating my money blocks...until finally I see the tab for Razoo at the top of my screen and realize that I need to confirm my subscription.  I do so, make a donation for the care of a sweet little dog whose leg was mutilated, and then head downstairs for a glass of water and something to eat - my stomach is growling.

Whoops.  I was supposed to be printing a recipe for pancakes!

Raspberry Cornmeal Pancakes with Lemon Curd photo and recipe from Nutritious Eats

By the way, the pancakes were yummy!

Sometimes it's okay to fall down that rabbit hole, to wantonly DIVE down that rabbit hole.  After all, humans are curious creatures and there's so much to be learned and known from within the halls of the WWW.

But other times it's just not okay and you know this immediately after you come back from Wonderland and feel downright icky.  Time wasted.  Nothing on the to-do list achieved.  What to do????

There are 2 tools that I can recommend to help us avoid falling down the rabbit hole when we are serious about getting something specific done on the internet:

1. Timer

Your phone has one, so use it.  Consider one item you need to get done and estimate how long you need to accomplish it.  Set the timer to count down when that timer has run out and make sure the alarm is set to something really obnoxious.  You'll be motivated to finish before it rings in your ears.

2. Sticky Note

Write down on a sticky note the one thing you need to do/finish/find on the internet and place it in plain view next to the timer.  This will help you keep your focus on the one task at hand.

You can also keep sticky notes handy so that as you are working to accomplish your one task, you can write down anything interesting that you come across that you can't look at now, but wish to return to at a later date. 

Once you are done with your task, do it again for your next task and so on.  But do yourself a favor - leave yourself some time to go down that rabbit hole.  You never know what wonderful, fantastical adventures and new worlds you may stumble upon.

What do you do to avoid falling down the Internet Rabbit Hole?  Please share in the comments.

Lisa - Merry Alchemy