In an attempt to increase my productivity and overall happiness I’m trying something new for the next 30 days. I’m starting a low information diet and this has nothing to do with food. I’ve come to the conclusion that I spend too much time on the internet checking my email and various websites. It’s gotten to the point where it feels like an addiction. There’s sometimes even twitching involved when I don’t check Reddit or xkcd each day. I also watch my email like a hawk and know instantly when each spam hits my inbox.

It’s driving me crazy.

So here’s my plan. First, I’m going to start to check and reply to my email no more than once a day. This will probably happen in the late afternoon. I don’t get important emails, at least no ones that need to be responded to immediately. If something important comes up, I’m can be reached by cell phone. I’m thinking an auto responder letting people know what’s going on will be appropriate.

Part two, I’m going to stop checking the various blogs I read daily and start checking them weekly. This includes web comics news sites. If it’s really big, I’ll hear it through my friends.

By batching, I can get rid of the random distractions that plague me during the day. So, instead of checking my email for ten minutes ten times a day that I can check it once for 20 minutes. This also means that I won’t be breaking my focus repeatedly.

Wish me luck. This might not turn out as I plan. As I mentioned before, it’s pretty much an addiction for me at the moment. Once I’m past the worst of the withdrawal I’ll write some more about the topic.

By the way, I got the idea from the book The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. Which, by the way, I highly recommend.  It’s been a huge inspiration for me and I intend to follow his example.