Can Social Networking Fit into Your Busy Week?

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

In the old days, social networking happened only face-to-face, or through letters delivered via snail mail.

While face-to-face will always be the most effective and enjoyable form of social interaction (and I’m still a big fan of the hand-written personal note) the fact is that almost everyone these days has moved their social “headquarters” online (or is in the process of doing so).

Give Your Relationships a Strength-Training Workout!

How can we keep our relationships healthy and thriving in an increasingly chaotic world?

In this digital area, with its smartphones, tablets, laptops, and online social channels, it seems whatever free time we might have had before, could now disappear altogether!

But really, I’m exaggerating for comedic effect. The truth is: there is enough time for everything.

In modern life, scheduling has become both an art, and a science.

“social channels have replaced the town square”

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Online social networking can — unquestionably — enrich your life, both personally and professionally, if you do it the smart way.

How Do You Start Your Mornings Online?

How do you spend your mornings online? It’s a question that I ask professional groups when I’m giving a presentation. Here’s how they often answer:
 

• ~ almost everyone raises their hand to answer that they logged-on to Facebook that same morning.

 

• ~ a few people raise their hand to indicate they have already been on Google+ that day (and I notice this number keeps growing, by the way).

 

• ~ everyone answers that they have already checked their email messages and text messages.

How we communicate with one another is changing. So much reading, writing, talking and viewing is in “short form” now (for example, the majority of my videos on this site are under 1 or 2 minutes each). Concision and brevity are becoming prized skills. People appreciate it when others are crisp, entertaining, and to-the-point in their communications.

How I save time for relationships — even with my busy schedule — is by using a personal productivity system. I think everyone should use one (the trick is finding a system that is a particularly good fit for your unique needs). It’s not uncommon for me to have three checklists going at the same time. One for daily professional activities, one for daily personal activities, and one for “one-offs” (action items that need to be done one time only, not daily habits). That might seem complicated, but actually: it’s the opposite of complicated. It’s simplifying (a good productivity system is as simple as possible, and frees up your mental RAM — random access memory)!

This video reveals how I manage to squeeze more into a day:

 

The Online Culture Is Reshaping Our Daily Lives

As a culture, our morning habits have changed dramatically. A hundred years ago, nearly everyone woke to check the weather outside, first-thing. Most of us were farmers back then, and the whether outside was the factor in determining our success and productivity for the day. Wow. A lot of change in 100 years.

Our modern culture is also much more transitory now. It used to be standard for 3 generations of families to live within blocks of each other. Now, however, many families move from state to state (and even, in some cases, country to country) for the next new and better job.

Socially, this means that social channels have replaced the “town square.”

Professionally, it’s now essential to have a dynamic digital presence. Certainly, social media has become imperative for business owners, consultants, and entrepreneurs of any sort.

But it’s also becoming true for employees of any kind — including those in civil service — in order to keep your professional reputation marketable and relevant. The way we do business is changing!

What do you think? Are Facebook and Twitter time-sponges, or time-savers? What about Google+? And lately there’s been a lot of buzz about Pinterest — do you think you could add a fourth social channel into your already busy daily routine!?