Why is it that when I have the biggest deadlines, I have the strongest urge to take breaks and troll around the Web. It probably the brain’s way of relieving the mental strain. Someone has to come up with a name for this, like the Freelancer’s Law of Inversely Proportional Leisure Activity.
When I need a mental break, here are my favorite places to waste time, in no particular order of importance:
Email.
The stats page on my blog.
The “Write a post” page on my blog, to jot down a thought or two in case I want to turn it into something later on.
The Freelance Success message boards for new comments, first the work-related comments, then the non-work related comments.
MyYahoo for news headlines and to see if my favorite bloggers have written anything new. Paging Penelope Trunk, you haven’t added anything in more than a week.
My daughter’s blog; this only applies when she’s away at school and actually blogging.
My sister’s blog; she just moved to Copenhagen.
My high-school son’s Edline account, to read the daily announcements and check out any other news, and around the end of a term or semester to check on grades.
Safeway.com, to start or add to my grocery list.
RMLS.com, the real estate multiple listing service for Oregon and Washington, to look at new listings, a habit I picked up when we were buying a house five years ago.
The publications I write for, like IncTechnology.com, Portfolio.com and Workforce Management.
How do you waste time online?
I love my iGoogle page. In addition to online newspapers and gadgets that help me such as an exchange rate calculator and metric conversion tool, I have several television/spoiler feeds, celebrity gossip site feeds, my horoscope, and crossword puzzles on it that I use to take a break.
I also really like StumbleUpon (http://www.stumbleupon.com/)
I agree that content aggregator sites like MyYahoo and iGoogle are great tools, and good time wasters. I recently updated my MyYahoo page and could get myself into some serious trouble if I put anything else on it. I’m a New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle fan, but I limit myself to one a week – otherwise I would really never get any work done.
Michelle Rafter
Hi. I got the page. Thanks. I think.
The real estate listings like you, Michelle. We’ve been looking for a house for three years, and I suspect after we finally buy one, I’ll still look just out of curiosity.