Ever lost track of time going down a Google or Wikipedia rabbit hole? Worse, forgotten what you were originally looking for? Or maybe just kept going long past when it was useful?

Hopefully these tips will help you avoid, “How did it turn into 2am?” moments.

These apply to Wikipedia, or any other search for information online. I'd like to help you prevent those horrible, sticky rabbit holes we sometimes go down.

1. Go in with intention

Set an intention so you don't veer off course, and you know when to quit. What do you want to come away with after the search? What do you hope you find?

Make your goal concrete and accomplishable. Write it down so you aren’t keeping it in your head while also trying to search and get out when it's time.

There’s a time and a place to do an exploratory search, but those are more dangerous than goal-directed searches. Maybe I’m having writers block on a Jedi Yoga and I just want to spend an hour to see what Wookieepedia has to offer. Or it’s my day off and I want some guilt- free curiosity time. That's awesome. Just make sure the open search is intentional and you won’t miss something important or feel bad later.

2. Setup limits

There’s a point of diminishing returns when you researching online.

“I’m going to stop when:” examples:

- After 30m are up
- Or when I've found 2 articles about the Bothan/Empire relations

Ideally set both a goal and a time limit.

When the time is over, close on up. Because of the way our brains creatively problem-solve in the background, even if you haven’t found your solution, you will likely come up with a better search term or realize that that’s not quite the solution you were looking for, anyway. A fresh start later will make a lot more progress than keeping at it now.

3. Set a Timer

Set a timer alert you when time is up or make you aware of the passing time to check your goal and see if you’re on track.

Depending deep you, personally, hyperfocus on a search, it might have to be a loud, annoying alarm all the way across the room. I might decide to set multiple alarms: one to check my progress with my written goal, and another to let me know the time is up.

Maybe also use a time-tracking timer?

It’s nice to know how long I spend searching, and to figure out my biggest time sucks so I can try to prevent them. Time is even harder to be aware of when we hyperfocus.

I have a time tracker in the menu of my computer-- I was able to pull out of one of my worst rabbit holes ever by seeing that it was, not only after 1am, but that I’d been at it for almost 4 hours. Yikes!

4. Build the “Later” habit

Don’t look something up the first time it occurs to you. There is not time enough in the world for all of my curiosities. If it’s really important, it will come up again. If it feels very important in the moment, write it down to do “later”. If you still care later, look it up. By saving it for later, it’s not just an impulsive rabbit hole.

Obviously, sometimes doing the search “now” is the right call. But it shouldn’t be our default-- especially when there’s somewhere we're supposed to be in 30 minutes.

Do Let your curiosity out to Run and play once in a while -- just make sure it’s at a good time. Make sure that you’re in control, not your curiosity. Curiosity is like a puppy- you want to take it for a walk, but you don’t want it to lead you off a cliff just because it’s excited about that cliff RIGHT NOW!

5. Choose a Time of day

Try to avoid internet searching at night or early in the morning. When we aren't fully awake, it's easier to get caught up in a rabbit hole. Our judgment and defenses are lower when we aren’t fully alert. Not to mention, we'll have even lower ability to resist distracting temptations tomorrow after we stay up too late tonight searching.

Personally, I prefer to search in the afternoon. My willpower for the day is still active, but I always feel less alert after searching. This way, there isn’t much of the day left to feel less alert. And I won’t throw off my whole day chasing digital squirrels if something goes wrong.

Screen Time / Downtime Block out apps and the web at night and early in the morning Few things are more annoying than trying to look something up on downtime PHONE: message keeps popping up after a second saying time limit reached.

6. Choose which device to use for your search

This sort of comes down to sitting down at a desktop versus walking and searching on your phone or tablet. Particularly if you have ADHD, movement is important for your brain. It's always nice to find work that you can do on the go.

Search while Walking Pros:

You get exercise! And with exercise comes improved cognitive functioning to guide your search
Environmental cues to quit You might get tired of walking, get cold, get hot, it might get dark...
It's harder to do something indefinitely while you're on the move.

Search while Walking Cons:

All my stuff is on my computer You might not have access to the files or the next step that you want to do with that information you search for. Now there’s some random “filing” task that may never get done if you don't do your search on the computer.
Defaulting to your phone for searching Could accidentally be building the habit of searching form your phone and inadvertent times.
Poor peripheral vision Please don't run into things or get hurt by walking around with your phone in your face.

These might sound like a lot, but when it’s a habit, it will take you less than a minute. And could save you a lot of time in the long run.

Ramblings

Avoid internet rabbit holes: No Unprotected Googling