If you’re like me– and you know you are– you’re spending way too much time on the computer. More time than you should be, and it’s eating up time that you should be spending on actual work or that thing called, you know, enjoying yourself!

I’ve been trying to implement the following in my routine. See if they can work for you as well.

1. Cut down on the number of blogs you read. Substantially. I’m now subscribed to about a hundred. Most of them are for news, some of them are other writers I think I can learn from, and others are those that are good for laughs or those that I enjoy. If I add a new blog to my list, one must go. There’s only so much time I have in my day, and I’ve decided I simply can’t read everyone’s opinion on everything no matter how interesting it may be.

2. Speaking of blogs, you know how some people do the I’ll-comment-on-her-blog-and-she’ll-comment-on-mine thing? It’s silly. It’s a waste of time. And it’s nothing more than a popularity contest which will only serve to stroke your ego (ooh, I got five comments!) Comment on other people’s blogs, but not if your only aim is to bring readers to your own non-revenue-generating blog. Focus more on producing salable work instead.

3. Buy a diary. A paper one. No fancy-shmancy Internet thingies will do. Real paper, real pen. Write down five things you’ll do tomorrow (workwise). Tomorrow, you do them. If you finish those five things, go play. Have a bit of fun, you productive freelancer, you! If you’re not done, take those things that are left, and put them on tomorrow’s list. BUT– and this is the most important part of all– tomorrow’s list should have no more than five tasks either. Do this every day. Five things a day, every day. When you’re done, you’re done.

4. Reply to e-mails only once or twice a day. Set aside one hour for only e-mails and get them done. There’s no point in replying to stuff as soon as it arrives, even if it’s from an editor. It can wait. Everyone can wait. I reply to emails once every morning, and I try to get some done before I finish for the day. Between those points, I’m typically unavailable, though people can reach me on IM or on the phone.

5. Take some risks– financially, creatively, personally. You know what that does? It motivates you. It pushes you beyond mediocrity. And it puts you in a position where you need to succeed in order to survive. It’s not such a bad place to be for a creative person. It’s not completely pleasant either, but it gets stuff done.