Guilty as charged.
Looking back on the year, I can see exactly where I’ve gone wrong: too much social, not enough content.
In simple terms (no, in bloody obvious terms…), I should have stuck to my advice and created useful content and stayed away from the bright lights and noise of social media. (It’s niggled me that I’ve nothing to show for all my time online save a small ebook.)
When I first entered the fray I looked at all the so-called Gurus and what struck me was the amount of content they produced. Specifically, how much they wrote. (Nowadays, people seem to think that all they have to do is produce a free download to entice you to sign up to their newsletter and that’s it — we all know that it’s a (very) unsubtle way of flogging us ‘their’ system.)
I don’t want this post to turn into a lament, and I’m sure as hell not looking for sympathy, but in sharing my experience, I hope others will not make the same mistake.
The thing is when I got into social media, I saw it as a business opportunity, and it still is, but it’s not my thing. No, all I want to do is write and speak. In that sense social media is a distraction.
It’s not just that I have to write more, but I can’t keep fooling myself to believe that running a blog, writing to Medium and doing everything else passes for anything other a snare for the Lizard brain — you cunning little devil.
You’re probably sick to death of my various proclamations and constant change of tack and, if I’m honest, so am I. It’s not that I’m looking for another faux label to affix but I have to know that I can turn all this heat into something that takes me out of the 1,500-word-post and towards something that brings to life… my life, which, in turn, might help a few people believe that it’s possible to step out of their shadow existence.
I’m expecting periods of social media hibernation, not just so that I can give myself more time to write but because I find that I lose so much momentum as soon as I open the tap. I also feel blessed that for the first time since I left legal practice I’ve enough paid work not to have to chase shadows.
I know I’ve made progress not least the fact that I’ve scaled back my adoption of so many platforms and have controlled my periods online. But I have to go much further. A blog post once a week, an occasional podcast and a few Tweets a day should be enough.
But of course the (content) proof will be in how much I ship. I know that I’ve everything I need in this regard including a new habits programme that will ensure I show up.
Before I leave you, ask yourself the question, is social media your thing? If not, should you instead be creating valuable content rather than trying to keep up with Joneses or is it the Kardashians these days?