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.
Photo: BigStockPhoto. Amazon link contains affiliate code.
