As a new SPLATer, I have been meaning to post to the SPLAT blog for over a month now; I felt this would be an appropriate first post for me. I recently finished reading The Procrastination Equation, by Piers Steel, PhD. If you procrastinate, this book is filled with all kinds of great information (according to the author, about 90% of humans procrastinate, so we are in good company).

Anyway, Steel gives a couple of tips about how technology can help you with procrastination. For example, software and Internet browser add-ons can lock you out of your email for a specified amount of time (15 mintues, 15 hours, whatever you need) or track what you are actually doing when you are on your computer. Ever experience the surety that you have been focused on a project, and yet you can’t seem to account for the last couple of hours? I used to lose hours to Pinterest (which I will be blogging about here soon).

Another one of Steel’s tips was creating a dedicated physical space for work, homework, writing, whatever you need to get done. If, like me, you live in a small apartment with a spouse and a dog, you can create a separate login for your computer as a dedicated virtual workspace. So, I now have two logins on my laptop at home: 1) me, and 2) school/work me. The school/work me login is not allowed to add tabs or bookmarks for things like email, Pinterest, and whatnot. When I am logged in as school/work me, I have a desktop photo of the interior of the Seattle Public Library to help keep me centered and inspired. I do allow the school/work me login to have access to Google Play for Music, because I cannot function without music, but other than that, it is all business–which is still fun, when it is library business.