This week’s guest author is Cali Bird. She links to one of her posts below. I think the “I don’t” section at the link is especially good. Check it out.
I love Wordle, though I did curse it when I first discovered it as it disrupted my morning routine! But now it is part of my morning routine. I do it while I boil my eggs for breakfast. With all the turmoil in the world the last few months, I find it very grounding. I think the fact that there is only one word per day makes it a gift. A bit of fun and then it is done. Imagine if you could play game after game. Then it would be a problem.
Ugh, this is so convicting. I so need to do a better job of not getting sucked into the social media rabbit hole. And it's a double-edged sword. If you are a creative (even on the side), you're told that social media is where you should be spending your time. But how much of that time is actually productive?
Hi Sarah. There are a lot of creatives who don't do much social media. I think the secret is to plan what you want to post and schedule ahead of time with tools like Hootsuite or Edgar. Then it's down to discipline. Do the most important work first which is probably your actual creative stuff. Social media is something that can be done in a 15 minute slot towards the end of the day. There are also apps (and the name escapes me at the moment - might be Freedom or something like that) where you can ban specific sites on your computer at specific times. This might also help you not wander off when you should be in creative mode. It's an ongoing battle though. Do what you can to remove the temptations like turning off all notifications on your phone.
I took a lot of the social off of my phone while on vacation, but then put it back on when we go back. However, I'm trying to do better to just schedule what I want to go on social to communicate with people. That's also why I moved to Substack, so I could focus on creating and building real community and not freaking out about numbers on my social. There are some people I faithfully follow on social who have cultivated amazing communities, but I find that to be a special exception and not the general rule.
You are right about Substack. I think there's lovely engagement here. Numbers on social don't always translate to readers or $$$. You're right. It's the exception not the rule
So much this. I seem to have to relearn this every few months.
I think it’s every two weeks for me.
Stellar musical choice
Cali, how do you categorise Wordle? On the one hand, it keeps my brain nimble. On the other, it takes up an annoyingly large few minutes of my day.
I love Wordle, though I did curse it when I first discovered it as it disrupted my morning routine! But now it is part of my morning routine. I do it while I boil my eggs for breakfast. With all the turmoil in the world the last few months, I find it very grounding. I think the fact that there is only one word per day makes it a gift. A bit of fun and then it is done. Imagine if you could play game after game. Then it would be a problem.
Ugh, this is so convicting. I so need to do a better job of not getting sucked into the social media rabbit hole. And it's a double-edged sword. If you are a creative (even on the side), you're told that social media is where you should be spending your time. But how much of that time is actually productive?
Hi Sarah. There are a lot of creatives who don't do much social media. I think the secret is to plan what you want to post and schedule ahead of time with tools like Hootsuite or Edgar. Then it's down to discipline. Do the most important work first which is probably your actual creative stuff. Social media is something that can be done in a 15 minute slot towards the end of the day. There are also apps (and the name escapes me at the moment - might be Freedom or something like that) where you can ban specific sites on your computer at specific times. This might also help you not wander off when you should be in creative mode. It's an ongoing battle though. Do what you can to remove the temptations like turning off all notifications on your phone.
I took a lot of the social off of my phone while on vacation, but then put it back on when we go back. However, I'm trying to do better to just schedule what I want to go on social to communicate with people. That's also why I moved to Substack, so I could focus on creating and building real community and not freaking out about numbers on my social. There are some people I faithfully follow on social who have cultivated amazing communities, but I find that to be a special exception and not the general rule.
You are right about Substack. I think there's lovely engagement here. Numbers on social don't always translate to readers or $$$. You're right. It's the exception not the rule