Mar 22

The American Journal of Psychiatry has recently published a trade paper in support of adding “Internet Addiction” as a category in the next version of the DSM V, making it an official disorder.

I would not say that I am addicted to the Internet like some people whose virtual world has become more active than his or her real world. Although, I am mildly curious about certain potentially addictive sites like Second Life, the level to which some take it is a little disturbing. I do believe it will become harder and harder to manage the upcoming Millennial workforce because of all the social networking sites they have become accustom to keeping up their profiles on.

Many people use the Internet as an escape from their real lives, much like TV has been for over fifty years. He/she can get caught up in email, filing out surveys, or playing solitaire. It doesn’t have to be one specific site.

I’m not a hard core social networking site junkie (at least anymore). The newness wore off years ago. Although I still check for messages, I’m done spending too much time building Zuckerberg & Murdoch’s content.

Recently, I have realized the devastating effects of email checking on work productivity. It’s not the act of checking email, but the tangents that it causes — links to sites, newsletters, fwds. Some productivity and management experts say that checking your email in the morning is one of the worst time killers. I have recently adopted a new approach at work, based on a Timothy Ferris suggestion, I do not check my email until 11am when I get to work. I want to make sure I have at least 2 1/2 client billable hours completed before doing it, and then 4 - 5 hours after lunch. What about need-to-know info or “emergencies?” These rarely happen, if at all.

Busy Does Not Equal Productive
Also, being busy does not necessarily mean you are being effective or productive. I want to do things that are effective, not just so I can say I’m doing something. This is not conventionally accepted, especially in large corporations where you could waive a bunch of papers, shoot a bunch of emails around, and make some loud phone calls and you’ll be perceived as a productive employee. I’ve narrowed my job down to two things: writing and finding link opportunities. When I can not think of anything to do for a specific client, I’ll just start writing which is valuable for publishing articles and building website content.

The reason I am even thinking about this is, other than the fact that I want to be more productive, a person’s mindset completely changes when working for themselves verses working as an employee of another business. When working for yourself, or building your own business from the ground up, one must be very wary that the things they are doing are bringing them closer to a contract or bringing real value to the product or service for their client. I’m practicing to help my own businesses take off. Although I am not in a sales role at work, every hour toward client work can either have value toward their marketing goals or not. As a small business owner, the founder is the original sales person, which is what is in store for me. Luckily, most of my selling will be in print where more of my selling skills lie. So what is my solution to the inbox addiction?

Stick to an Email Schedule
I learned in door-to-door sales that a schedule is everything. Giving yourself arbitrary time limits and planning to only do certain activities during that time. I eventually only want to check work email at 11am and 4:00pm and not spend more than 30 minutes each time responding. I plan on sticking with a schedule and consequently that means only checking my personal email at the same frequency, since I fwd my work email.