What happens are your workplace when the internet goes down? Has it ever been down long enough for you to wander the hallways or work in the offline world? Does it even affect your duties?
While Internet connections are undoubtedly more reliable now than they were a few years back, you’d be hard-pressed to find a connection that’s up 100 percent of the time. And for a web worker, those rare down times can be extremely frustrating.
No email! No checking your favorite websites. No access to information you rely on. No way to do your work (especially if you use web apps)!
Even the best of us will be checking the Internet connection every 32 seconds, pulling our hair out.
But do not fear. I submit that down time from the Internet is actually a blessing in disguise.
When we are connected all day long, disconnection can be a good thing. Seize this golden opportunity and make the most of it.
Here are just a few ideas.
1. Do a ton of work. For me, my most productive times come when my Internet is down for a morning or afternoon. I crank out a whole boatload of work. I hate every minute of it, of course, because I can’t check email or my blog comments, but I … manage. And I force myself to do work.
So instead of using Google Docs or WordPress to write a post or article, I use AbiWord. Sure, I might not be able to get the urls I need to insert into the text, but I can always do that later. Or perhaps I need some number or other facts to put in an article … so I just leave blanks and fill them in later. Or make them up. No one will know! Who actually checks facts? Only 2% of readers, that’s who. And it’s a proven fact that 62% of bloggers make facts up on at least a weekly basis.
2. Get outside. If you’re like me, you don’t know what color the sky is right now. I know I’ve gone outside after work only to be astonished that it’s been raining and thundering all day long. There was practically a Biblical flood outside, and I had no clue. Take this blessed opportunity to get away from the computer, and get outside. Take a walk, stretch, look at nature, get some Vitamin D (that’s from sunlight … you remember what that is, right?). It’s good for you.
3. Crank out your smaller tasks. Have a to-do list that stretches longer than your forearm? Here’s a chance to give it that much-needed reduction. Now that you can’t do your main tasks, focus on the smaller ones. Knock them down like tin soldiers. Feel the satisfaction of crossing things off your list. When Internet comes back on, you can make a new, shorter list. One that doesn’t make you cringe.
USA Today, that bastion of hard news, is covering a new fad popular with the kids called “B-logging.” They talk about two “b-loggers,” Om Malley and Mike Orvington, who used to work at real jobs and now eat ice cream and write about computers.