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One Way to Beat Bad Online Habits and Be More Productive This app can give your willpower the muscle it needs to keep you focused and on track for success.

By Jason Fell

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In this always-connected digital world, many of us find ourselves unintentionally creating bad habits. Do you check Facebook and Twitter numerous times throughout the day? Do you open your email often for no reason?

This is called digital procrastination, behavior science expert James Clear says. Digital procrastination can be a productivity killer.

While some of us think we have the willpower to avoid bad online habits, going it alone can be tough since each distration drains your willpower. "Willpower is like a muscle," Clear explains. "Every time you use a little bit of it -- to resist going to Facebook or BuzzFeed or whatever it is -- you're flexing that muscle. By the end of the day...your willpower fades.

"This is why you find yourself binge eating at 9 p.m. or making some crazy online shopping purchase at 10 p.m.," he continues. "You're like, 'Why do I do this now? I know this is a bad choice.' It's because your willpower has been drained throughout the day."

One tool to help beat these bad digital habits and save your willpower is called Freedom. It essentially blocks social-media sites and any other site you want to block over any given period of time. "It takes the decision making out of your hands," Clear says.

For more, check out the short video above.

Related: The Surprising Strategy One Man Used to Eliminate Procrastination

Jason Fell

VP, Native Content

Jason Fell is the VP of Native Content, managing the Entrepreneur Partner Studio, which creates dynamic and compelling content for our partners. He previously served as Entrepreneur.com's managing editor and as the technology editor prior to that.

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