Hack Your Productivity, Focus and Internet Speed in 5 Minutes
by Nathan Rohler
If you're putting up with ads while using the Internet for work, you're essentially stopping to watch commercials during your work day. Ads aren't just annoying:
- Online ads distract you from your mission and get you off onto rabbit trails
- Online ads prevent you from maintaining pristine mental focus while researching, reading articles, etc
- Online ads significantly increase the loading time of many pages
In other words, ads are a productivity killer. So, why are you still putting up with them?
Block Those Buggers
I could wax on and on about how great ad blocking is, but that would defeat the purpose of this article – boosting your productivity. The little miracle-worker plugin I'm going to share simply removes the ads from pages before you see them. It is extremely effective, and its approach means it rarely (if ever) blocks legitimate content. Once you've experienced it, you won't know how you ever got along wading through dozens of annoying and distracting ads.
Side benefit: If you're using Gmail, you won't see all of those creepy ads that make you feel like somebody's reading your emails over your shoulder.
Step 1: Get Chrome or Firefox
Sorry, Internet Explorer users. Ad blocking is a pretty good reason to use Chrome or Firefox for at least most of your browsing.
Step 2: Install the Free AdBlock Plus Plugin
The gold standard for ad blocking is the free Adblock Plus plugin. On the Adblock Plus page, simply click the Install button, then click Allow when asked if you want to add the browser plugin. If you run into any issues or want to dig into advanced features such as custom blocking rules, check out the documentation.
Step 3: Invest that Freed-up Time Elsewhere
You'll be stunned at how much faster pages load, how much less distracted you are online, and how much nicer a place the Internet now seems.
What I want to know is, how are you planning on using this newfound time? Exercising a few minutes every day? More time with the kids? Simply getting more done so you can pursue your entrepreneurial dream faster? Let me know in the comments!
– Nathan
P.S. Will blocking ads kill the Internet? While some editorialists believe ad blocking will kill the Internet by cutting off vital revenue sources to content producers, I don't buy that viewpoint. If you want to monetize your site but your visitors are using ad blockers, it doesn't mean you're out of luck. It just means you'll have to do more than slap up some annoying, semi-relevant ads. Advertising should be about connecting people who need stuff with those who offer it – not distracting them until they say "uncle." I'm not alone in this view – consider this great rebuttle (which includes some real-life examples) to the article I mentioned a moment ago. In case you haven't noticed, we have a strict no-ad policy here on DWUser.com. We believe your time has value and that we can connect you with valuable tools without annoying you.