Greetings from San Antonio [again!]. I just got back from a few days at South Padre Island [and the Mexican border] and started my just-over 1900 mile trek north to the great country of Canada over the next week. Here’s a picture of Bobz World – possibly the world’s biggest attraction of useless SPI tourist paraphernalia – but they did have a giant gorilla that I thought was worth sharing :).
I do a lot of work online. I usually work 8-9 hours/day [at least] doing online marketing for my day job, 5-10 hours/week consulting with friends and advising others and several hours a week writing here at BIT, and supporting others who are doing great work.
Once you start online work, there’s a temptation to do more of it. The more of it you do and the more success you taste the bigger the temptation grows and it becomes really tempting to just do more and more and more online.
- Write more posts.
- Tweet more posts.
- Comment on more blogs.
- Post more on facebook.
- Send another email.
- Write another ebook.
- [Insert your favorite traffic building activity here].
There’s always more to do and more you still haven’t finished up that you should be doing. If you’re not careful it can turn into a growing snowball of activity that keeps growing for no apparent reason. Pretty soon, instead of crafting the story, and the message of the projects you’re working on, you’re spending all your time and energy promoting them and no matter how much you do, there’s always so much left that you haven’t.
Sometimes you just need to just sit back, relax and breathe.
This week I’ve spent a lot of time unplugged. I’ve been spending some time seeing some old friends, meeting some new ones, spending lots [and lots] of time driving, chasing the sun and having lots of good conversations.
All of that happened offline.
If you follow me on twitter, you’ll notice my twitter stream has been fairly quiet this week with a few short flurries of activity.
- I haven’t had straight internet connections 24/7 like I do at my office
- I’ve been busy having non-work related fun [which, contrary to some popular belief, is actually…well…fun!].
Guess what? Things at the job took care of themselves and nobody hates me [yet]. Things here at BIT did went fine and and traffic actually went up. Who would have thought?
A lot of people will extrapolate this to mean that I’m saying your online presence doesn’t matter at all and that you should completely ignore it. That’s couldn’t be further from what I’m trying to say. Don’t worry, I’m not quitting facebook, shunning twitter or deleting my blog. That’s not revolutionary, that’s reactionism. I have met a lot of cool and interesting people through my blog, twitter and facebook [pst-if you’re reading this, you’re on of them!] and I have no intention of cutting any connection with any of you. That’s not what I’m saying that at all. Repeated-sentence-in-bolded-print-for-those-who-skipped-the-last-one– I’m not saying that at all. I honestly enjoy every last interaction I get to have with you guys and I’m thankful you guys take time out of your day to read BIT. Seriously.
However, what I am saying is that it is very easy to get caught up in the “just-do-more-online” activity time trap [ironically similar to the “just-work-more” time trap so many Tim Ferriss devotees are trying to escape].
Twitter doesn’t need your constant attention. You don’t need to be “FIRST” in the comments sections. You don’t need to like more pages on facebook.
None of that matters [as much as you think]. Whatever you do in life, your first objective should be to do something interesting and worthwhile.
- If you run a blog like BIT, you should probably try to live a better story.
- If you run a business, you should probably try to focus on creating a better product.
- If you provide a service, you should probably try to find a need and fill it as much as you can.
Take the time and build the story, marketing and message into what you do. Then do what you will with the rest and take the time to breathe every once in a while.
A Note Just For Bloggers:
If you’re not doing interesting things offline, you’ll struggle writing interesting things online. The more interesting things you do, the more people want to read about you. If you live an interesting story with your life, you won’t have a problem writing it down. So do something interesting…then write about it. Need help making your life interesting? This post by Fabian Kruse might help. You can also read my story about living life on the edges of reality.
Want to do more online? Try doing more offline first and then go write about it.
If I’ve been slow getting back to you, have no fear…I will be getting back to you and things should be getting back to normal next week :).
I find the people the have active lives offline provide better content, because they gain inspiration throughout the day from various encounters offline.
I think you guys are a great example of that 🙂
GREAT idea! okay, i’m off to try my new sketch book for doodling or perhaps journal…sometimes i wonder why i wait until so late at night (when i’m usually inspired and my daughter’s asleep). at least i’m doing the creative stuff! and i just joined the YWCA here so i’m excited to start walking toward more fitness goals! thanks for all your inspiring articles! glad ya had fun! 🙂
I’m usually the most creative when other people aren’t around. That usually means either really early in the morning or really late at night 🙂
Great reminder and motivation. Checking those links you posted at the end now…
Fabian’s link is really good :).
Hey Joel! I was thinking along these lines just this week. I’ve been so overwhelmed writing for two blogs, planning this sabbatical, working on my Project 365 and photography biz and trying to be a good husband and father that I realized something had to give. So I’m going with the things that are most important: spending more time with the family and planning the sabbatical. If this means I post less then that’s fine. I have my priorities and I’m sticking to them. Glad you are out on the road living life.
It’s good to remember why [and for who] you’re doing this all in the first place Matt :). Say hi to the family for me.
Another great reminder, and one whose sentiment I echo greatly.
Too many times us bloggers revert to preaching through our blogs. We evangelize, telling others how we know best.
What a lot of us fail to realize is that is not what makes our readers come back. If they wanted preaching, they would go to a church or self-help group. What readers love is to hear true life stories related by the people who lived them, and how those experiences helped changed their lives.
People like to learn by example, not by preaching. Okay, most people, not all.
Thanks for the post, great, resonating point and reminder to get out there and do the impossible.
Preaching can get boring. I’m a bigger fan of living what you want people to believe. :).
Thats the only concept I subscribe to. We have to Live what we are feeding others in order for people to believe the words we speak.
Agreed. If you aren’t out doing other impossible things, crossing off bucket list items, or doing something interesting, you are more than likely re-hashing information that can be found on hundreds of other blogs.
It’s all about the stories and information we provide in our blogs to keep readers coming back for more…
I’m a big fan of creating good stories :).
I get very caught up in the “do more online” trap, so much as to making a certain number of comments on other’s blogs a regular item on my daily to-do list! When I first started it felt like a video game of getting points for hitting blog landmarks. Tweet this. Like that. Comment here. Score guest post there. Level up to being a world-class, millionaire blogger one day…
It takes all the fun out of it, and I try to stop myself and go outside when I feel this taking over now. It’s not helpful for anyone!
I love the video game analogy. Unfortunately, blogging like most things has the “game” aspect to it. That’s part of why it’s fun. Achievement isn’t a bad thing, but when that’s all you focus on, it can get pretty tiring, pretty quick.
Your goal is for me to link to you every Friday, isn’t it? 🙂
I just went away for the weekend with no computer or PDA and I have turned off the data plan for my phone. I just don’t need it. I realized I am overwhelmed with the constant connectivity of working in the online realm. And somehow the world continued spinning, comments continued being posted, @ replies still happened. Anything that was major and important enough found it’s way of making itself known, more than just a Facebook update.
As you mention, no one wants to hear about the story of someone who lived a mundane life. Yet there’s a whole lot of people sharing just that online. Stand out from the crowd by living a life that doesn’t involve a keyboard surgically attached to your fingertips and see what people do then!
That is the goal :).
Fun fact – keyboard detachment surgery conveniently frees up your hands to do lots and lots of fun & useful things in real life!
Hi Joel!
First time reader for your blog – great stuff!
Thanks for the comment ‘Just for Bloggers’ at the end. I love that… an interesting life leads to interesting posts.
I’m just in the planning stages for my blog and that is a piece of advice I’m taping to my wall.
Cheers!
Thanks for stopping by Jessica!
Living an interesting life in general (in my opinion) is better than writing interesting posts. If you’re forced to choose between the two, choose an interesting life – it’s more fun to live it, than simply write about it 🙂