Day 12 | A Bit Late
I was going to post updates weekly, and now it's already day 12. Sorry about that. I'll be more consistent in the future.
Don't quote me on that. I make no promises.
The Verdict So Far
What has happened in those twelve days? Let me answer the burning questions:
- Have I started the no-internet challenge? Yes.
- Have I failed already? No.
- Have I been productive? Yes.
- Am I a millionaire yet? No. 'Bout a million to go.
Breaking Old Habits
The first days were tough. Pure habit drove me to my three newspaper sites every morning. That half-hour news ritual? Gone.
Hop on Youtube and watch random nonsense? No can-do.
With those distractions blocked, I worked on web projects from morning to evening. I even got in a few household chores here and there.
I mean what's the alternative? Be bored? Heck no.
One aspect worth mentioning: I don't have a TV. The only film-or-series-watching I get to do is things that I have on my local hard drive. Theoretically, I can also download an episode during my five daily allotted online minutes. That's about it.
An Unexpected Change
With no internet distractions available, I decided on Day 1 that it would make sense to take my meals at the table. Instead of at the desk while watching Youtube.
Strange at first, then surprisingly enjoyable - just me and my thoughts, no distractions. By the second meal that day, I really enjoyed it a lot.
Around Day 5, I ended up setting another rule for myself: I'm not allowed to eat in front of the screen. Internet or not, it's not allowed.
This forces me to reduce screen time, which can only be a good thing. Because believe it or not, I still spend almost the entire day in front of the computer screen.
12 days without internet:
- Haven't read a single line of a book
- Haven’t gone out unless I absolutely had to
- Screen time still cranked to the max
While reducing internet time is definitely the main priority, getting away from the screen occasionally - even though it may not let me hit the maximum possible productivity boost - would also be a good idea.
I'll try to go for a walk every now and then. We'll see in the next update how well that works out. (Update from Future Me, two weeks later: Nope. Didn’t go so well. No pun intended.)
What I Have to Show For It
All that miraculous productivity... and what did it yield?
Well, a new website.
I now have four websites online, and this latest one is different from the three I mentioned in my first entry. While those other three websites are informational in nature - where visitors can read up on a certain topic - this new website is a tool that helps people with certain tasks.
I'm keeping the specifics under wraps for now. I might reveal these if they ever find any kind of success. But to give you a bit of an idea what I mean by a tool website:
Think of websites that offer to convert a PNG into a JPG, or some kind of measurement calculator that tells you what 12.4 feet are in inches.
The Traffic Problem
Tool websites are hard to get off the ground. Source: Zero clues and a hunch.
Just how do you get traffic onto such a website? I have no idea. For now I'll wait a bit to see if search engines pick it up and start working on the next web project.
I may do some active promotion for my tool site, perhaps on Reddit, in a bit. Or not, because I'm not exactly Reddit's biggest fan. Ahh, it can be such a helpful resource though.
Oh, I don't know! So many choices, so little time!
The Money Situation
I added affiliate links to two of my websites. Since these sites don't have a ton of visitors, the links are getting very few clicks.
And none of those clicks has led to an actual commission. In other words, the people who clicked the link didn't end up buying anything.
Which forces me to end this entry the same way as the first one:
Money made so far: $0
-Hank