December 2 – Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
Though I am grateful for everything that social media has done for me these past couple of years, I must admit that some channels, namely, social networking sites (namely Facebook and Twitter) have proven in many instances to be distractions that keep me from my work, especially writing.
Instead of working on a blog post, or writing the next conference paper, I spend sometimes hours reading status updates on my Facebook news feed, or going through my Tweetdeck columns to check in on what everyone else is doing. And most of the time, there isn’t even anything so enthralling that I must continue to browse, but I just can’t help myself. I guess being in an age where social networking sites are becoming the norm can prove to be a curse as well as a blessing.
So maybe in 2011 I should limit my networking site usage. Unless I have to post something really important, or have completed all priority items on my list, then I should only spend a few minutes at a time browsing. I can even factor in break periods from work where I can surf Facebook and Twitter.
Probably sounds easier than it actually is, so we’ll see how it goes…