Merlin Mann’s ‘Attention Dad’ Web Page

The brilliant (yet easily distracted) Merlin Mann says he has a bad habit of Cmd+clicking sets of web browser tabs full of shiny things out to wrest his attention from the important work of doing stuff. To avoid getting sucked down the rabbit hole with one mindless click, he’s purposefully inserting a page that asks him outright, “Is this really what you want to be doing right now?” He calls this little self-mind trick an “undistraction.” Love the idea (even though the irony that his page asks an eerily similar question as my biggest online distraction is hard to miss). If you’re not a Cmd+clicker, you can also use fuller-strength apps like LeechBlock to save yourself from online time-suckers. What games do you play with yourself to focus on the important stuff? Let us know in the comments.