People in their late 20’s and early 30’s are used to the internet. If you are working a desk job chances are that you spend loads of time in front of a computer. If you are a freelancer or work with the new media, chances are you spend a lot time in front of the computer. It’s an interesting question to ask yourself, especially when you spend more than 4 hours each day in front of the computer. Where would you be at if you wouldn’t spend your time surfing youtube, tumblr or connecting on twitter and Facebook? Probably nowhere near where you are now. Distraction is the toy of our generation, destroying our working brain each slowly while we are busy with… well, let’s be honest… not a lot. It’s not a new problem, even in Office Space Peter Gibbons had: “Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I’m working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I’d say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.” Now, if you do this for the company of your choice, fuck it. They are using your work power while you are probably underpaid. Who cares if you are not a perfectly productive worker bee.

Where is your life?

It’s easy to track your habits, which is probably the first way to open your eyes. A good program for this is Manic Time Tracker. A simple and honest assessment of the time on the computer. No judging, just counting. How many hours on a given day do you spend on a computer? How much of that time can you truly recount? We are probably all going to be masters of distraction, as this the thing we practice the most. 10.000 hours in 10 years equals the mastery of a skill you always wanted to achieve. Pro Sports. Musician. Dancer. Writer. Whatever… a little talent and 10.000 hours of practice. There are not many naturally gifted people, only people who work their asses off. Unless you are working day in and day out to make ends meet, why don’t you use your time to perfect a skill?

The media diet

A media diet might be what you need. Timothy Ferris wrote an honest approach about our habit of stuffing our brain with useless information. We have too many choices, reducing them will not only lead to improvement of your life, it will also excel your skills at the few aspects of your passions. Why do you think there are people who call themselves musicians, actors, writers, pick-up artists or whatever their passion is. Because they simply spend most of their life achieving a skill that takes time to master. Get off the bench. Pick your passion and get fuckin good at it.