You CAN Social Network Without Sacrificing Your Priorities

Raise your hand if you’re a blogger that always has a post up every day, lunch on the table at noon, your to-do list is always checked off, your make-up is on, and you KNOW what’s for dinner. If your hand is in the air, you are the only one (be sure to write a book because we all want your secret). For the rest of us out here in the real world, we’re just trying to balance our real-selves and cyber-selves without dropping any plates (be they virtual or actual).

Sometimes decisions get made FOR US on how time must be spent. People get sick. People get busy. Life happens and blogging is put aside. That’s not really the type of priority management I’m talking about. That’s God calling the shots – re-prioritizing FOR you. What I want to discuss today is your daily routine and how you manage the wearing of your many hats (wife, mom, teacher, blogger, etc.). If you are in tune to your limitations, you’ll find yourself falling down on the online job now and then – and that’s OK. Hopefully you won’t find yourself falling down on being wife or mom, though.

Despite your desire to stay plugged in to your social network, sometimes real life needs you more. For all of you homeschool and stay-at-home mom types out there who are hoping to run a business blog, or even a busy personal blog and get everything done that moms do… this article is for you! We all need to work at making sure that we’re not missing out on what’s most important – even if the online world has to do a little waiting now and then.

You CAN Social Network Without Sacrificing Your Priorities

If you aren’t already on Twitter or Facebook, you are one of the few. Seems the whole world – including Martha Stewart and your favorite politician – is tweeting and facebooking away about anything and everything.Twitter, Facebook and Blogging provide us all with different insights in to our collective and individual worlds. They provide us with a way to connect, share, and learn. Can’t live without them… and it turns out that if you want to get things done throughout your day, you really can’t live WITH them, either. [Quadruple that statement if you have a newborn in the house.]

If you are one of the ‘last people to find out about anything’, don’t be afraid to ask questions. This brief description below on the most popular networking methods is not a manual by any means. You aren’t the only mom out there who isn’t plugged in, either. In fact, if you aren’t plugged in, you probably don’t need this article and I doubt you are having much trouble with your priorities in the first place. It’s the rest of us connection-starved social-network geeks who have to watch out for ‘idolatry’ in our online time. However, for those of you who are curious as to what the fuss is about, below are some of the benefits that connecting online can offer:

The benefits of Twitter…

Twitter is instant messaging on steroids. Whereas blogging is the MEAT of the web, Twitter is the candy. Fast, convenient, 140 characters. You can find out a lot of things about people that blogs might not afford you by listening to the ramblings of their day-to-day chatter. Some might call chirping ‘brain dribble’, but you’ld be surprised at how interesting Tweets can be – and how difficult a complete message might be to condense in to the allotted text limits. Important links, instant answers to questions, breaking news, contests, chats and content searches that provide you with what is happening online in real time: you can’t beat those benefits.

The benefits of Facebook…

Move over MySpace. Now you can hook up with old and new friends alike on Facebook without worrying about tacky backdrops, awful blinking ads and cheesy glitter graphics. Find those long lost classmates without paying for the steep cost of “Classmates.com”. Keep up with all your recent online friends. Share your blog posts and other links of interest with people that follow you. Facebook also allows you to upload photos from your cell phone, from Flickr, and from your computer to share with your family and friends. You can even connect your Twitter account and your Netflix account to Facebook (you might just save someone from watching a really bad movie). It truly is a hub that keeps all your internet presence in one place. Creating pages for your website/business also gives you a way to connect to your reader base so that they can get updates from you through email. It allows you to put a faces with names – to learn more about those who follow you.

The benefits of blogging…

Blogs are so individual and unique that it is hard to generalize their benefits. Each blogger uses a different writing style and has varying purposes and goals for their online presence. My blog is a scrapbook, a journal, a record of homeschool accomplishments, a photographic review of all of our field trips, a place to connect with other homeschooling moms, a platform for me to share my interests and passions with the online community and world at large. Of all the things I do online, blogging is the most rewarding and the most time-consuming. It requires more thought and effort to post on a blog than it does to tweet or keep up on Facebook. [However, with a nursing baby and an iPhone, the easier networking gets done much more often!]

Even with all of the benefits of networking, setting limits to online time is necessary. No one has to tell you that your husband, kids and home are more important than the web. Online time (even PAID online time – for work or just play) should always take second place to your ‘real life’ commitments. Virtual chatter can be overwhelming if you allow it to drown out your priorities. Even email can slice a drastic amount of your time-pie out if you don’t watch it.

Giving up the internet isn’t really an option [or not one that most people would consider]. The pros outweigh the cons – and that is especially true with a homeschooling family that needs to be connected with others through the net (co-ops, political groups, libraries, resources for education, etc). With moderation, there’s a way to enjoy social networking without failing at keeping your major daily goals met.

How can you maximize your online time and yet not neglect your priorities?

1. Time yourself.

Keep a realistic goal in mind of how long you have for desk-work, computer work, and other time-suckers. If you start timing yourself you will realize just how much you are capable of getting done (or not) in a given amount of time. Beeping watches and kitchen timers are great tools. Think of your time at the computer as an appointment and keep yourself from getting glued to the desk chair. Consistently timing your online work-flow will make you more aware of how you work and help you streamline activities to do them as quickly as possible.

2. Limit yourself.

We all know that making the bed comes after sleeping in it. Some things in our day are more important than email, Twitter, blogging, and Facebook. Make a mental note of the most important things you need to get done TODAY before you sit down with your coffee to read blogs or check email. Figure out how much time you have to spare and force yourself to place the computer AFTER your priorities and stick to a pre-determined timeframe. If it is a school day, set a rule that you can only check email, Facebook, Twitter and blog comments before school/at lunch/after school/after dinner. If you have pressing virtual deadlines and have to be online, give yourself a few timed intervals in-between priorities. You can also use a reward system: reward yourself after each checked-off item on your list with five minutes of quick internet fix.

3. Keep a computer to-do list.

Keeping a list of things you need to get done at your computer can help you not get sidetracked with mindless, wasted screen time. If you know exactly what HAS to get done at the computer that day, you might not spend so much time following rabbit trails online. Instead of playing Scrabble on Facebook, why not reconcile the checkbook, tame the email box, and print your worksheets or schedule for the kids? Paying the bills online before they are late can save you money in real-time. Social networking may be rewarding, but your real life shouldn’t suffer because of it. A great way to keep an online list is to use a large, flat desk calendar. Write down your blogging assignments, bills, appointments, and any other computer-related information that needs attention on the date that it needs to be completed. This can save you from even having to turn the computer on at all if you can quickly glance at your month and have things on paper.

So now that I’ve given you a few ideas on keeping the computer in it’s place… I need to go implement them for myself. Ironically, writing this article is coming before my own pile of ‘more important things to do’. Isn’t it sad that giving advice is so much easier than following it yourself?!

Now I’m off to start crossing off the to-do list. Here’s hoping that we all can keep the computer addictions tamed!

Love in Him,