Back. Away. From. That. Phone.

Imagine me saying that to myself, in the meanest, most growly voice I can muster, at least once an hour, and you’ll have a pretty accurate picture of my afternoon yesterday.

Why am I yelling at myself? Because apparently, I have no will-power. I decided this week to increase my writing productivity by being internet-free between 10am and 2pm. These are the least-interrupted hours of my day, the hours while my kids are in school.

And um, I haven’t been successful a single day.

I have excuses! Really good excuses, about things that needed to be taken care of and responded to right that very moment. I didn’t fritter the minutes away on social media. And yet, my efficiency was shot, anyway, because life happens and life takes time. Lots of time.

But instead of chalking up my experiment as a failure, I’ve decided to see it as a lesson learned. It’s not (only) the internet that interferes with my productivity; it’s the little errands and chores, it’s calling the pharmacy and signing up for camps and responding to emails.

All these daily things need to get done — don’t get me wrong. But they don’t need to be done during my prime writing hours. So, next week, I’m going to give my productivity project one more try. Only this time, instead of being internet-free, I’m going to shift my goal and reserve the hours between 10am and 2pm just for writing. The rest of the “life stuff” can be done before or after.

What do you think? Will this tweak in my strategy makes a difference in my efficiency? I certainly hope so!

What about you? What tips do you have for increasing productivity? What are your prime writing or working hours?