By Judith Briles
Every Friday, I do online coaching called Author Friendly Friday. It’s all done via a conference call at 7 AM and at Noon in my Mountain Time zone. Authors have questions, I’ve got answers. The time of social media is always on every call—one of them was about the energy and time that goes into social media. I so get it. And yes, it can be a royal time suck.
Last month, one of my regulars shared that she uses an “old fashioned” egg timer to control the time she spends on Facebook. I loved the idea.
Many of you are on Facebook. It’s easy to hop on quickly … and then an hour, sometimes two, disappears. A few minutes turns into lost hours with almost mindlessness, clicking, liking, adding a few comments and just plain old curiosity—what else is “someone” doing or saying. I get it, most of us have been caught up in it. Right?
In the spirit of shortness (most of my posts here run 700 – 1200 words), I’m going to celebrate keeping it to a few minutes with this suggestion:
If you don’t, you won’t get things done. Seriously. JUST STOP!
From The Book Shepherd® to you, try this:
- Be very PICKY … decide who you will reach out to or network per day. Suggestion—no more than five. If more, you fall in and you won’t be out soon.
- Create your own SCHEDULE—such as ONLY TWICE each DAY will you check.
- Use a TIMER … suggest no more than 15 to 20 minutes MAX. Get an egg timer—it’s visual and in your face.
- TURN OFF all your notifications. You don’t really need to be pinged throughout the day—do you?
- REPEAT … this is called a new habit. In my book, Snappy Sassy Salty-Wise Words for Authors & Writers, page 104: Wake up. Kick ass. Repeat. Don’t you love it? reminds me to get to the point and not waste time.
Yup, stop the social media insanity. It is important to all of us for influencing, marketing, and yes, staying connected. But it shouldn’t be taking over your life. My two-bits in 387 words.
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Thanks for sharing blog ideas. I really appreciate it.
Its all depends on how much time you spends on social media. If you hardly spends half an hour on your social media accounts than its not time sucking. But if you are giving 3-4 hours per day on social media platforms then it is consuming your precious time which can spend on more producing & actual things.
Lovely suggestions and just on time for me! Focus is the Key and EGG TIMER is THE weapon!
Morning AK –it’s the egg timer to the rescue. Judith
I totally agree I use my phone timer but a great idea to turn off notifications and I am doing it right now…Thank you :)
Ha! Carol. Being an a ping-alert-fill in the blank diet brings sanity back into our lives. Judith
You’re absolutely right. Social media is the new television. I used to start my day with an hour or more of breakfast television before the penny dropped that all I needed to do was spend five minutes on a news website to catch up with the world. Then I rationed my evening television to one hour (sometimes a whole movie if I’ve been good) – and it has to be quality television that informs or inspires. I long since gave up on the mindless drivel of game shows and reality TV. On social media I have become ruthless. I only follow people who really have interesting and important things to say. The days of following someone on the strength of one funny cat picture are gone. And I comment less too, even if I have to bite my lip sometimes. Because of all this I have far more time in my life for writing!
We are doing this in our household as well Craig. Evening viewing should be a treat vs an OMG experience. Better fircthe mind and body. Judith
I think it helps to differentiate between work and play. If I were working in an office and part of my job required some FaceBook time, it would be ALL about business. When I get home, I can do my personal, social networking.
The reason for this is that many people WANT to do some of that personal networking. Someone important (a family member, perhaps) contacts you and you cannot ignore it. But this is WORK time. Put it off till later.
I hope this helps.
Al-I think many go on, thinking it is “work time” and get lured into other areas–losing track of how much time they spend. Thanks for your comments. Judith