It is 11.30 AM and I am about to do an assignment for my classes. After firing up Chrome, I have finally opened Wikipedia and Google Scholar. Suddenly, I receive a notification about a friend watching Game of Thrones. Fast forward to 5 PM and I have seen 15 YouTube videos, Chatted with 5 of my Facebook friends, stumbled upon 50 pages on Reddit and written 100 words of my assignment.
Are you also one of the lazy ass people (eg. me) who keep wondering on the internet instead of Working ? I have done some work for you.
Here are some of the best extensions available for Google Chrome that will force you to get back to work and stop you from wasting hours on doing -technically- nothing.
Go Fucking Work
As the name says Go Fucking Work is a Chrome Specific extension that will force you to stop dicking around on the internet and go back to do something productive.
Setting up may take some time, depending on how many sites you want to block. To use the extension, simply install the extension, and enter as many as sites that you get distracted from. After setting up the extension, you can enable the extension from Chrome toolbar.
Download The extension
Forest
Nothing better than Planting a tree and watching it grow. But what if it dies of you don’t stay focused and start wasting your time watching cat pic on Instagram?
Forest does not force you to go to work, instead, it tried to make you feel guilty for being a Lazy procrastinator.
Install extension, Plant a seed and then it will grow if you don’t waste your time. If you do waste it, the Tree will eventually die and you will loose all the Pride that you can get by planting a tree. There is also an Android App if you are interested in seeing your forest on your Phone.
Download Forest
Focusbook
Is the Facebook to blame for your sea level productivity ? Focusbook may come in handy. Focusbook stops you from using Facebook by asking you why are you using it. Once installed and enabled, the extension will ask you why are you using Facebook instead of working just like your Dad may. Just as you can’t do anything without answering your Dad, Focusbook won’t let you do anything unless you answer its (sometime embarrassing) questions.
The idea is great for procrastinators, It would have been great if developer makes it for other sites too.
Download focusbook
Strict Workflow
Strict Workflow is a great Google Chrome Extension for pomodoro users. In case you have no idea of what pomodoro is, it is a productivity method. In this, you work for 25 Min, after that you take break for 5 Min, Once you have completed 3-4 cycle, you can take a 25 Min Break.
Strict Workflow just stops you from wasting your time during the 25 Min productive time.
After the times in complete, you can get a break for 5 Mins.
Strict Workflow is better than Go Fucking Work in at least one way, it automatically blocks knows time wasting sites by default. It will help you in minimizing your setup time.
Stay Focused
Stay Focused is a lot different than other Chrome Extensions mentioned in the article.
Instead of simply blacklisting websites to force you to go to work, Stay Focused allows you to use any site for a limited amount of time. After the time allocated is exhausted, the site cant be accessed for that day.
Next day, the Quota is refreshed.
You can also plan your breaks. During that time, you can use any site you want.
Stay Focused should be your Extension of choice if you are looking for as much as customization as possible.
At the end, it all depends on you
No matter how great these extensions are to force you to go to work, there is always an option to disable them. Ultimately, it depends on you that how much work do you want to do.
Do you know about other Google Chrome Extensions that make you do work? How do you try to stay productive ? Share with others in the comments below.
Allow me to cheer you up.
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