Sometimes… you just gotta say “OK” and move on to how life is supposed to be. A little more connected to reality.
Amazed by the vast ability to explore and wander around the entire world without leaving the comfort of your own home? Sure you are! We all are. Some of us more so than others – brass tacks lead us to the conclusion that we could all use a few pointers on increasing life-productivity. Yes, this probably means at the cost of being as connected as you might like. It’ll be worth it.
Warren Buffett is a well known financial genius who spent every waking moment (and I would hazard to guess even the non-waking moments) brainstorming ways to increase his score in the financial game. According to “The Snowball“, by Alice Schroeder, Mr. Buffett couldn’t stand to waste any time with things that were not aligned with his goals of amassing greater and greater wealth.
However, he was criticized for only bringing in roughly 12% growth on Berkshire Hathaway toward the later part of the 2000’s as opposed to the usual 27% in his hay-days. Granted, his life changed quite a bit toward this time-frame… but something struck me as particularly interesting. He didn’t spend most of his free-time trying to figure out new ways to achieve. In fact, he spent a lot more time playing Bridge, Online Bridge, and Helicopter on his computer.
How much further could he have gone without these distractions? Heck, if the most financially successful man in the UNIVERSE can fall prey to these distractions… surely we all have at least something to learn.
One (or more) Guideposts to Rule the Web!
Without further adieu, here are the things that must be noticed, realized, and committed to your life to increase your Social Media (and life!) productivity.
- No Phone Games – that’s right… no more games on the phone. Sorry, there is no way to justify them. You can ALWAYS be doing something more productive and sometimes even more fun! I mean really – wouldn’t you rather be reading the latest book on self-advancement than knocking another stupid bird through some blocks?
- No Facebook Games – nobody likes them. Take a poll amongst your friends – you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that this is fact… or that you’ve already been blocked because of your constant invites / updates. Get on Facebook, say your quick “Hi’s!”, and get off Facebook. Do it once a day at MAX for no more than 15 minutes. Let your plants die, let your Mafia fritter away – they’re all just cruel twists of Game Theory to manipulate you into bouncing your mouse button for hours on end to make someone ELSE money..
- No Games on Your Work Computer – no not just the one at your office (which probably shouldn’t have them either!). I mean the main computer you use to get stuff done. If you must play games, then leave it to the gaming consoles, the bowling alley, or the baseball field. You will be doing yourself a GREAT service to keep your tools separated. Computer to compute – Playstation to play..
- Keep Your Goals in Mind at All Times – this means your ultimate “gotta do this before I die” goals as well as your “gotta do this at Wal-Mart” goals. When you are constantly focused on what you want to get done, you will find ways to get it done and stop wandering around aimlessly for mindless entertainment. You must focus. Always ask yourself, “What 1 step can I be doing NOW to work toward my goal?” You don’t have to build Rome today… just take the trash out. You’ll be one step closer..
- Turn Off Notifications – unless it is your full-time-job to be a Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter (or MySpace… lol) star, you really, absolutely, for-sure do NOT need to know about every, single, little, meaningless update for all of these services. Every break in your day to address one of these things is a break in your ability to get things done. I used to love receiving these types of things until I got one of those comments that just “have to be addressed”… and proceeded to spend an hour or so letting it bug me. What a horrible way to start a day! Just log in once a day / every other day and address them at that time..
- Check Email Infrequently – make it a one, MAYBE two, time daily event. Lunch and late-evening. That’s it. You, and those contacting you really will survive. If it was an emergency, then they need to learn to CALL you. Don’t become a slave to your email… and doing them as they come is just as bad as constant notifications. Only poll your servers once or twice a day..
- Record Your Thoughts – I can’t say this enough… if you don’t record (say a Voice Recorder App for your phone?) or jot down your ideas, they will be gone forever. Also, it’s kind of like missing a workout session – the less you practice responding to and recording these streams of ideas, the less they will be as clear, frequent, and meaningful. Treat them as loving gift-whispers. Don’t let them go to waste..
- Always Have Something to Read – be it podcasts, audiobooks, eBooks, or paper books… ALWAYS have something, that is in line with your ultimate goals, to sink your mental teeth into. Don’t waste time in a line thinking about how wasteful and useless this is… if you had a podcast going on, then I am sure you would see the value in having this extra time to multi-task..
- Trolls Don’t Deserve Your Energy – so don’t give it to them. Get good at evaluating feedback. Is it useful? Valid? Vague? Unjustified? Valid deserves a response, vague requires clarification, and unjustified needs to be ignored. Get good at turning a blind eye to the wasteful trolls. All they do is sap – don’t be a sap..
- Sifting Sessions – set aside a meager 15 minutes toward the end of the day to go through your recordings, notes, pictures, and to-dos for the day. Take care, organize, or in some other simple way address what you can as a nice cap to the end of a good day. Most actions can be handled by the 4D’s: (1) doing it right away, (2) delegating it, (3) date activating it (planning for later), or (4) deleting it. Pick one – follow through..
- Texting Blackout – set aside 1-2 hours a day where you just will not… and I mean TOTALLY NOT… have anything to do with texts. Turn off the phone, disable messaging temporarily, put your phone in the dryer… whatever. Let those who feel they *NEED* to text you non-stop know that you will be having regular text blackouts and that they will have to work around them. They’ll understand. Use this block of time to regain your life and get stuff done. Feels good, huh?
Smell That? Time-Management and Freedom
If you only choose to adopt one or two of these things, or who knows… you might even surprise yourself and commit to all of them! …then you will quickly come to realize that there are chunks of your life that could be devoted to your ultimate goals and passions.
15 minutes a day spent on a block bird smashing game comes to a little over 90 hours a year. (that’s 2 non-stop trips around the world!) How much money do you make per hour? Do the math… see how much that time is costing you. Now apply this type of thinking to the other distractions. Wasting life can be VERY expensive, eh?
We need more Michelangelo’s, Dante’s, Lincoln’s, and Einstein’s folks. We’ll never find them (or form them!!!) if we’re too busy wondering how many people commented on our latest status update.