How Can I Stop Playing Solitaire and Write?

Part of the problem with habits is that they happen, well, habitually. That’s why they’re habits. We do them without thinking.

So the trick is to find a tool that keeps you from doing something automatically, to engage your brain so you have time to reflect and say, “No, I won’t indulge in this time-wasting activity.”

Internet Blockers: There are two types.

1. There are blockers that build a wall between you and the internet, like Freedom.

2. There are blockers you install on your browser (Chrome, Firefox, Brave, etc.) that blocks sites that you list.

3. There is also a third technique, but this only works if you are logged into a particular site (because you like keeping track of your games and rankings):

Log out.

This happened to me. I was playing one particular solitaire site a lot. I loved it there. Cool green background. Beautiful card backs. One particular game that I frequently won.

I used browser blockers, but it was easy for me to “forget” to turn it on. So I’d play.
Until I logged off.

Now, it still deals a hand of solitaire, but against a background I don’t like, with cards that aesthetically offend me, in a game I have no interest in playing.

You know what? I haven’t touched the game for a week. I see the ugly hand, click away, and get back to work.

(Sometimes, however, I waste time on something else, but this is still better than before).