How taking a step back from social media can help you progress
Having to work is a fact of life and the majority of us are doing it with the help of computers and other digital equipment, allowing us to work from anywhere, staying connected and up to date with any changes or situations that may occur.
However, as handy as this is, fatigue can set in when we’re trying to keep up to date with many different sites and streams or have easily hit a rut in how you’re using social media through overuse.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or you’re finding yourself blankly staring at the screen, unsure as to what to write, then taking a step back can help you become more effective and productive in the long run. If you’re feeling like this, here are some things worth considering:
1) The internet changes quickly but not immediately
Not a tip per say but perhaps the most important point made here. The internet may be a rapidly changing beast but rapidly doesn’t mean instantaneous meaning you don’t have to be online all the time.
Think about social media along the same lines as a watching a 24 hour news station. While there’s a chance that you’ll get a new news update immediately, the reality is that such updates tend to be very slow, leaving the reporter to repeating the same updates regularly until then. The real purpose of 24 hour news stations is that you can catch the news at a time that suits you and you could say that social media follows a similar train of thought.
If you’re addicted to the internet and find it difficult to wean yourself off, ask yourself this: is there a difference if you reply to your friend tweet ten minutes later rather than ten seconds? The answer is no. Quite simply, don’t let the internet dictate your schedule. It’s very useful but it will still be there if you just so happen to leave it for an hour or two.
The exception to the rule is if you’re a company and you deal with queries and complaints through social media. Then it’s not a bad idea to divide such duties between two or three people so that someone will be able to give a quick and sufficient response at times throughout the day.
2) Dedicate time away from your computer
Tying in with the last point, if your job requires you to work on a computer for most of the day, then you’re going to feel somewhat jaded from sitting in the same spot and staring at a monitor for a prolonged period.
You owe it to yourself to dedicate some time away from your computer and spending an hour doing an alternative activity to refresh your mind. Go for a walk, meet up with friends, play sports, exercise; anything that takes you away from the screen. If you’re feeling that way at work then take small 5-10 minute breaks every now and again to move about and stretch out
That way, when you come back to your computer, you’ll be more refreshed and your eyes will feel better from not straining them by looking at a screen continuously. Also tweets and status updates tend to be more interesting when they’re about things that can’t be experienced when you’re online.
3) Take things one step at a time
If you’re building up your twitter profile and are trying to come up with tweets or status updates that will make people want to follow you from the get go, then you’ll only be disappointed. Such a process doesn’t happen overnight and instead it’s those who are consistently tweeting or updating their profile are the ones that have been using social media for a while.
If you were running a marathon, you would spend weeks or months training to prepare for it instead of just turning up on the day. Social media is the same except there’s no deadline meaning you can take things at your own pace. There’s no rush nor is anyone telling you what you should do, just tweet what you want to say and soon enough, people will begin to respond to you and vice versa.
If you’re feel somewhat aimless, then set achievable and reasonable targets – for example if you had just started twitter, then aim to publish at least one tweet and one reply every day – and then build from that. By making it a habit, you’ll quickly get better at it before it until it becomes second nature for you.
4) Put things down on paper
Sure you can write a to-do list on MS word or a similar word processor but that’s missing the point. If you’re having problems deciding what you need to do or processing your thoughts, then take out a notepad and pen and write down everything you need to do that day or week.
Not only does it break up what jobs or tasks you need to do into more manageable chunks making you more productive but you’ll feel more inclined to complete them as it’s there in physical form, adding more value to you psychologically then it would on-screen.
Also using your pen to strike out something on your list is perhaps one of the most satisfying feelings you can get.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
How taking a step back from social media can help you progress - via simplyzesty.com
via simplyzesty.com
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