Weapons of Mass Distraction
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16 ways to be more productive in life and on social media
Social media is synonymous with procrastination, distraction and is the very medium through which you get sucked into the vortex of cute animal photos, GIFS and videos. 5-minute breaks often turn into 50-minute catastrophes and you end up feeling like s***e. No wonder the social media channels are often described as ‘Weapons of Mass Distraction’. Does this sound familiar to you? Don’t worry because you are not alone and here a few (16 to be precise) techniques, tips and tricks that will help you find your way back to your actual work on social channels.
This one we have all heard many times before. It is an oldie but a goodie. De-clutter and tidy up. Clean workspace leads to a clean headspace.
Start your day with setting the intention of getting things done. Sounds obvious but it helps. Creative visualisation in the morning before you start can be very helpful. Don’t be intimidated by this. A little practice and persistence goes a long way. Here’s what you can try. Visualise your perfect day at work. See yourself slaying those Facebook adverts, Instagram posts, tweets and videos. Picture yourself as superman/superwoman at work. Get creative with your intentions and visualisations. This definitely works!
Start with the toughest task at hand. A lot of people leave the toughest tasks till the very end of their day and then invariably end up staying at work till much later. Try and finish what is the most annoying, the most difficult task at hand first thing so you can face the challenge head on with a fresh mind, body and intention.
Don’t get caught up in your emails. Chances are that if you start replying to your emails, you will end up wasting a lot of precious time from your day. Like mentioned in the previous point, tackle the most difficult tasks first. Once you have made a head start with your work in the morning, allocate specific time during the day to your emails and stick to that.
Don’t have the will to put your phone on airplane mode? Turn off any distracting sounds such as email, SMS, Whatsapp and other alerts. These are major distractions and can wait.
Don’t get over ambitious with your To Do Lists. Stick to 4-5 major things to accomplish during the day. And do them wonderfully well. A big to do list might be good to look at but brings about nothing but overwhelm.
Try the Pomodoro Technique. It is where you work on a task at hand for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break. The reason behind this is that taking frequent breaks keeps your mind fresh and focused and you have something to look forward to at the end of your task. Find out more about Pomodoro Technique here.
Take breaks from Social Media. But don’t start watching YouTube or looking at Instagram pictures. Take breaks from your screens- breathe, step out, stretch, and move. This is great for refreshing, energizing and refueling the mind.
Don’t have a gazillion windows/tabs open at once. This is nothing but a recipe for disaster. And this also brings me to the next point which is don’t try and be a multi-tasker.
Don’t multitask. Finish what you have at hand first and then move onto your next assignment. Various studies have shown that multi tasking does not make you more productive. You are better off finishing one task at a time with full focus & energies on it.
There are countless social media channels out there and being on each and every one of them impossible and impractical. Don’t get overwhelmed, you just need to identify what channels are best suited for your business and then stick to those channels and put great quality content on those channels. If you would like us to do a blog post on how to choose the right social media channels for YOUR business, then be sure to leave us a comment down below and we will get working on that.
Plan, schedule, automate and dashboard it. Plan your content in advance and then schedule it. There are various apps and softwares that you can invest in to help you manage all your social media platforms from one point of control and effectively. Hootsuite, IFTTT & Buffer are just a few that you could try.
Repurpose your content. You don’t have to spend hours trying to create fresh content every single day. It is totally acceptable and necessary to repurpose your content. Sharing and re-sharing your content at periodic intervals helps reach more and more people over a period of time and it also saves a lot of time that you can then spend on other areas of your business.
Sharing is Caring. Despite all your plans & scheduling, there will be days that you will be struggling. Make your life easy by sharing other people’s content. Social media is all about building relationships and belonging to the community. There is no better way to get to know other key players & influencers.
Plan, Plan & Plan. Try and work at least 3 months in advance. Plan your photos, posts, articles and videos i.e. content around the calendar keeping important events, festivals, holidays, your dates etc in consideration. Then schedule them in. Voila. That’s the way to do it.
Get everyone involved. If you are a business managing your own social media, invite in your office staff to participate. This will make sure you have plenty of content going and it also helps curb monotony in your content. It’s all about team effort after all, isn’t it?
Which tip resonated the most with you? If you found this article useful, don’t forget to share it with your friends and family. They might be looking out for ways to increase their productivity too.