Here at Operation ID, we like to stay focused and keep pushing ourselves further and further. However, the Internet is hella distracting; sites like Reddit, Facebook, and Hacker News, while fun and (sometimes ) informative, can cause you to squander away preciously productive/productively precious hours. It’s way too easy to check Facebook every 5 minutes, distracting you from real work you need to get done. Here’s a pragmatic, 5-minute guide to blocking yourself from distracting websites.

Enter SelfControl

SelfControl is a lightweight app for Mac OS X that will allow you to block yourself from any website for a certain length of time.

From the author’s site:

“Is email a distraction? SelfControl is an OS X application which blocks access to incoming and/or outgoing mail servers and websites for a predetermined period of time. For example, you could block access to your email, facebook, and twitter for 90 minutes, but still have access to the rest of the web. Once started, it can not be undone by the application, by deleting the application, or by restarting the computer – you must wait for the timer to run out.”

Without any doubt, this app has saved David and Rob’s productivity from spiraling into a black hole of no return.

Get set up in 3 minutes

Step 1: Download it: http://github.com/downloads/slambert/selfcontrol/SelfControl-1.3.zip
Step 2: Double click the “SelfControl-1.3.zip” file in your Downloads folder, and drag the SelfControl icon to your Applications folder.
Step 3: Open SelfControl.
Step 4: Click “Edit Blacklist,” add any sites to the blacklist that distract you from work.

Step 5: Set the timer for 30 minutes, click Start.
Step 6: Try to navigate to any of the sites you blocked.

While the timer is in effect, nothing, not even rebooting your computer, will get rid of the block. Kick-ass!

Super-awesome bonus step!

After blocking yourself, you’ll become acutely aware of just how much you try to distract yourself. Want to punish yourself even further? Rob wrote a quick script to make fun of yourself every time you try to visit a blocked site.

It’s real easy to install:

Step 1: Enable Web Sharing. Open System Preferences, click Sharing, and enable Web Sharing:

Step 2: Go to Applications and open Terminal.

Paste these commands in and press Enter:

cd /Library/WebServer/Documents
sudo rm -f index.html
sudo curl -O https://raw.github.com/ohwillie/lack_of_self_control/master/index.html

You’re done!