It’s easy to find yourself pulled in many directions. In a multimedia/ social media world you can get swept up in the flood of news and information. Face it, politics, weather, justice, memes, family issues, etc are a part of our everyday and there’s no way to escape it all. With that being known what do you focus on?

Recently my girlfriend and I were discussing the DACA situation and it came up that she found herself unable to write for a couple of days because she was spending a good amount of time and energy on it. When she said this I thought about the art of Judo where you use your opponent’s energy to your advantage. You make the already spent energy do the work for you as opposed to expelling your own to little or no effect. The worldly energy of information overload will be there, but there are ways to manage them.

The Post and Go

Each morning I do a positive message on my Facebook and Instagram. This mostly happens right before I clock in to work. Ten minutes tops. This is a set aside moment in the day where I post something and leave it be until I can respond later, usually a fifteen minute break towards the afternoon. I used to be a FB junkie, refreshing my app to see who said what, but I had to evaluate if that was helping me in the long run. Short answer no. Long answer still no. The internet will be there later. Right now there is work to do.

I’m Fine With My Two Cents

You’ve seen them. Maybe you’ve posted a few. You know, the landmines. That thing or topic you’re passionate about where you can’t understand how everyone else doesn’t feel like you. There are those people who can skillfully continue to scroll past them, yet there are plenty of others who can’t and wind up spending the day trying to defend their stance. Does this help you? Is your writing getting completed? If you had all day to argue with strangers to no avail you could have put that same energy into your manuscript. Just say no to landmines.

My Phone Makes A Great Paperweight

On my phone I have one game. I know myself. The more games I have I would need to play them to completion or until I got the high score. Hours of productivity would come to nothing in the end. Instead invest in an app like Forest that can block out your notifications. What you don’t know can’t hurt you. And what you don’t see on your home screen can’t suck your life away.

Schedule. Schedule. Schedule.

Take an honest look at your day to see where you spend your time. Prioritize what you need out of your day and stick to it. It may seem tedious but scheduling your day can become a life saver, well at least a productivity saver in the grand scheme of things. You’ll also see where time can be better utilized to write, research topics in this ever changing world, and possibly  (gasp) when you can have fun and socialize.

Social Media Vacation

Whether it’s a week, two weeks, a month or longer, if you know you can’t resist the siren song of the internet remove yourself from it. There’s no shame in it. I know several people who make a habit of doing so every couple of months or so. Leave a little message saying your plans (seriously, don’t just vanish. That’s rude) and take some time off. The world won’t end tomorrow if you remove yourself for a bit.

These are a few ways in which I or people around me have gotten themselves back into the writing flow in the social media world. What ideas have I missed? Until next time have a writeous day!

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Matt Williams is an avid reader, a collector of many pens, an ever improving father of two, and an all-around fanboy. When he’s not wrestling with cats or a long commute you can find him hunkered down writing something imaginative. He’s working on publishing his first book Beyond Here, a middle grade story involving a coma and a singing flower with a bent stem sometime in 2016, along with a few projects with his other daughter.