This month I have taken up Brooke’s challenge (Slow Your Home) to go tech-lite. That means using the internet and being connected only as required, and looking to use your time in more creative and useful offline pursuits.
Here’s some tips from my experience so far.
1. Don’t become a slave to your phone
I mentioned that when I was in New York that I didn’t have internet access on my phone. It was a bit of a blessing because it made my phone pretty much useless. Which means I got used to not looking at it all the time. Instead of spreading your attention over the course of a day, pick your times and focus on the tasks at hand.
So here’s my tips:
- turn it off every now and then (you’ll be ok, nothing bad will happen!)
- let it go flat without hyperventilating (it’s quite liberating)
- don’t carry it around when you’re at home
2. Find something more interesting than Twitter
My trip to New York was a pretty good distraction! But then again, so was transforming our front yard last weekend. My last word on this – get out and enjoy life!
3. Don’t let Twitter manage you – manage it
OK, I get it, you’re not letting go of Twitter any time soon! So make sure you’re managing it. Twitter can be a constant stream of noise and distractions. One thing that finally started to sink in at BlogHer was that I need to use lists. You can create and use lists whether you us the native Twitter or any of the other apps like Hootsuite (my pick) or Tweetdeck. How do you use lists?
You could make a lists for:
- people in your niche for interesting content to read and share
- PR peeps to see what opportunities and brands they’re talking about
- Brands you work with or want to work with
- Bloggers you want stay in touch with, share their content and support them
- Tech people/blogs so you can keep up with the latest plugins and apps etc for your blog
4. Don’t fall for the immediacy of social media
Delay things to do in designated time, rather than think you have to do it right now. Here’s some ways you can do this:
- email a tweet to yourself (ask me in the comments if you don’t know how to do this)
- forward an email to Evernote to action later (check out how I use Evernote for blogging)
- Bookmark or clip a Facebook status to Evernote to share later
5. Don’t get sucked in to feeding the machine
Your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc will suck as much time as you’re willing to give it. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have to continuously feed the machine. This is something I’m just starting to realise and need to get smarter about. Think of it this way, constantly trying to pump out good content is hard. More than likely you’ll slip in a bit of junk (you know when you do it). Junk food makes our audiences lazy and picky. Keep ‘em lean and keen and only feed them the really good stuff. They’ll appreciate you for it and reward you for your hard work.
At least that’s what I hope ;)
You can check out Brooke’s latest update here. She’s slipped up this week, but what has she learned?
What are your tips for making the most of your time online?
Laney x
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One thing at a time. I find if I have too many tabs open I flick and switch and my mind’s not really on any one task. If I close everything down and just focus I use my time far more effectively…
Gggaahh, still haven’t used my Evernote account!
Kate @ Our Little Sins’s last post..day 84 | 100 Pantone postcards project
That’s a great tip Kate. It’s something I’ve been trying to do too. I find working on the iPad helps with this because you can only have one thing open at a time. I find I get more absorbed in what I’m doing.
I’m absolutely the same, Kate.
When I’m writing, I actually use a free program called OmmWriter. It closes down everything but the writing screen and pipes in some Zen music and/or typewriter noise. I can’t believe the difference it makes to what I can get done!
Brooke {Slow Your Home}’s last post..4 Common Happiness Traps – Are You Falling For Them?
I literally just wrote a post about not needing to be in contact all the time! I love this post! Definitely learning not to be dependent on social media and my phone. It really is quite liberating!
It is liberating! I’m loving it. It’s giving me more time to think about what I want to write about too!
Love this, Laney! It’s been an interesting week for me, in terms of the Tech Lite Challenge. Some days OK, some downright terrible. But I’m learning a lot about what triggers procrastination and what I can do to stop it before it becomes too much of a problem.
So glad we’re doing this!
PS. I totally agree about the liberation of letting your phone go flat. I often leave my phone at home (which is at odds with the rest of my uber-connected state) but it drives other people mad. I love it though!
Brooke {Slow Your Home}’s last post..The Power of Being Intentional: A Tech-Lite Update
I’m so tech-lite I’m behind in my comment replies! Yikes! Procrastination is a biggie. Yesterday I went to a cafe with one single purpose to achieve. It worked really well, other than having something to eat and warming myself by their fire, I actually achieved what I set out to do!
I have just discovered hootsuite which has freed up my day a lot. I schedule my posts each night for the next day now which saves time because I’m not getting distracted on fb for hours. I allocate an hour when Master LCBL has a nap during the day and then again at night when its quiet. I’ve linked facebook to twitter so I only need to post content once, and networked blogs takes care of the rest. I know I can get even more organised as I go along and learn more. But I have already found a big difference just with these small changes :)
Claudia’s last post..Wordless Wednesday – The Real Shire
Hi Claudia – sorry for my late reply, I seem to have missed a chunk of comments! Hootsuite is great, and for exactly the reason you state – it helps keep you off the computer ;) There are times though when you need to be on FB to interact and respond to people’s comments on your posts.
I really need this reminder today. Spend the afternoon mindlessly surfing, while avoiding the stuff I should have been doing. I’ll pay for that tomorrow!
Tam’s last post..Link up the lookers!
Surfing is fun and can be useful too, but perhaps not a whole afternoon ;) Let me guess? The clothes didn’t fold themselves??? ;)
Great post!! These are really helpful tips, especially for a relatively newbie like me who has just started to realise how time consuming this can be.
I think the smartest thing you wrote was about the junk food…. I see this a lot and they are always the first blogs I drop from my reading list x
Carly’s last post..And so the cycle begins…. insomnia and his friend anxiety
Yes, blogging can be time consuming if you let it! Writing junk food is a common trap we can fall into when we feel the need to fill a perceived gap. I’ve done it myself. I’m more conscious about what I write now and don’t feel the pressure to write every day.
Great tips Laney. I think it’s important to prioritise writing and do that first. When that’s done or i have allocated a certain amount of time to it, then I can do the social media thing. I really need to spend some time getting more familiar with Evernote. I have downloaded it, but haven’t got there yet…. amongst other things…
Welcome home! xx
Lee’s last post..Our July Birthday wrap up and MY FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY!!
Good advice Lee – content first! Too many times I’ve stuffed around on SM avoiding writing only to have to stay up late and finish a post. I can’t do that anymore – it gets very tired, very quickly! So glad you’ve got onto Evernote. Saw your comment of FB late last night ;)
Great tips pro blogger, esp for us newbies :-)))) xxDani
PS: glad you had a ball in NY
PPS: I’m doing an ab challenge if you’re keen? How’s your bro’s exercise program going?
Dani @ Fitness Food And Style’s last post..Day 2 – TT12 ab challenge
Hi Dani – glad you like the tips! Will be starting my brother’s exercise program soon! It would be quite the challenge to find my abs at the moment! (Winter belly)
I’ve been working on leaving the phone behind when I’m outside playing with the girls. My excuse for always having it with me was needing the camera, but we have a camera I can take instead.
Marita’s last post..So literal
Hi Marita – just catching up on my comments. I think I already mentioned what a good idea it was to take out the proper camera instead. I’m loving taking photos out and about and rediscovering my DSLR. The photos are so much better! How are you going with the whole tech-lite thing? Before you know it, you’ll be letting your phone go flat like me ;)
I totally forgot to take my phone when we left the house yesterday :)
Marita’s last post..“Strip naked from the waist up” he said.
Yay for you!