I accomplished something in ten hours that would normally take me months.
I accomplished something in ten hours that would normally take me months.
It was 2008, and I was flying back to the Netherlands after a wonderful vacation in the United States.
At the time, I hadn't flown business class very often and discovered for the first time that there was a power outlet next to my seat.
At home, I had a big project ahead of me, for which I had set aside a few months: writing a new training course on 'dropshipping'.
I got to work and soon forgot that I was ten kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean.
Time flew by (literally) and I worked intently and undisturbed until we landed in Amsterdam ten hours later.
To my great surprise, I had worked out a complete table of contents for my course, no less than sixteen pages long, during the flight.
In the following week, I had already recorded the entire training course.
Where did this sudden boost in productivity come from?
At first, I thought: I need to fly more often. But the constant jet lag would cost me too much energy.
Why can't I model the conditions during that flight in my daily life?
I had been unreachable and had no access to the internet during the entire flight.
I resolved to turn off the internet every day at 7 p.m. and not go online again until the next morning. Just to see what it would do for me.
I decided to call my mother, whom I hadn't spoken to in a while.
I slept more deeply than I had in a long time and woke up feeling very rested and refreshed.
And that was mainly because I had to finish my work before 7 p.m., because after that I no longer had internet access. It gave me drive and focus.
Suddenly, every day was like the day before you go on vacation: you take care of everything that needs to be done, and somehow you usually manage to get it all done.
Hardcover.
The name Internet Fasting is loosely based on "intermittent fasting".
Internet Fasting is basically the same: you no longer need discipline. You have a fixed period during which you go online, and the rest of the time you don't even have to think about it.
Just like when you're on a plane and there's no Wi-Fi: you don't need any discipline at all to stay offline.
Chapter 7: How I do it
Chapter 11: The rituals of Internet Fasting
Chapter 15: How do I manage all that email?
Chapter 21: The power of extreme batching
Chapter 22: Quick wins
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During the day, I was extremely productive and got everything done that I wanted to get done.
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And every evening at seven o'clock, I closed my laptop, proud of what I had accomplished.
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I started reading and writing again.
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I went to bed earlier.
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I could be there for my friends again when they needed me.
Internet Fasting is intended for the top one percent who are looking for extreme productivity.
What strikes me, for example, when I take a long flight, is that I am often the only passenger sitting there to be productive.
But beware: this book is not for everyone.
For the "average" person, time is not the most valuable asset.
There is nothing wrong with that, of course.
Why couldn't this be possible anytime, anywhere?
That was the birth of Internet Fasting and I've been consistently "flying" ever since, figuratively speaking of course.