You know the drill: Open your e-mail, click on a couple of links, your browser pops up with some interesting articles, you read them, find and click on more links on the side bar, jump to Facebook to let your friends know about this awesome article you came across, jump to twitter to do the same, whilst at twitter you find some interesting tweets with some more links, you click on those, you get to more interesting articles… [to be continued]

I can see you sulking behind your computer screen feeling guilty about the above, not to worry, it’s a common behaviour, and I admit that I sometimes fall prey to the above mindless surfing. Yes, Abu Productive falls into the above trap! But…the key is to catch yourself before the hours pass and you have no idea where they went. More importantly, the key is to redirect your purposeless surfing to a purposeful research/study/read.

We need to understand that the jump from tab to tab is our attempt to feed our pleasure senses in our brains with ‘mini-surprises’. Because the internet never failed to deliver a constant stream of such amusing news, it’s so addictive to find yourself constantly trying to look for the most recent, hilarious, or moving article or video clip you can come across online.

So how does one stop this mindless surfing?

1. Rather than trying to totally abolish it, control it. Give yourself 10 minutes of mindless surfing for every 90 minutes of work you do. Note: You must do 90 minutes of pure work first though.

2. Before you log online, make sure you know exactly what you want to get done, and write that on a post-it note and stick it on your computer. That way every time you’re wandering aimlessly online and you forget what you were looking for in the first place, a quick glance at the note will remind you why you went online in the first place.

3. If you’re bored at home, and really feel like doing nothing but surfing the web, try to think of interesting topics you always wanted to research but never found time for, e.g. some answers to fatwa questions you had in mind, or books on certain topics you want to know more about – just don’t allow yourself to drown in 20 open tabs with no benefit! Also, you could try picking up a book about Islam the next time you feel like learning new stuff online.

[continuing our story…]

So you arrive at those interesting articles, on an interesting site called ProductiveMuslim.com, and you come across this article and write a nice comment below and turn off the internet to focus on your work!