Managing social media: choose some, lose some
Managing social media requires me to keep my podcast, How To Be Old, at top priority. Are podcasts social media? Not really. I mean that I mustn’t let social media distract me from podcasting. Technology is my friend and foe as I try to keep two hands on the steering wheel.
The rise and fall of autonomy: bonus podcast episode
Today I’ve posted a bonus episode for my podcast. “Bonus” means extra, outside the regular episodes. They’ll be short, and often focus on a single chapter of The Sturdy Centenarian. This time it’s chapter 5, about autonomy. You know: being independent, the right to make and execute your own decisions. Even little children try to exert control on their lives even if all hell breaks loose as a result. And as you become an old person, things start slipping out of your control. What to do? At 95, Doris Carnevali develops a strategy.
Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts. The recording is also on this website.
Where did WordPress Reader go?
For years I’ve been happily reading your blogs in WordPress Reader, using my iPad at breakfast. (I know!) There it was, on both the Jetpack and WP apps, a link to a page crammed full of your wonderful blogs, with comments from your readers, and links to other posts by you and others. It was beautiful and it probably still is, somewhere out there…
I’ve searched for answers in the usual places. Maybe this is a purely personal fault, affecting me because of my particular platform. The window where it should be now seems too small to show the bottom menu. Maybe you can explain this or better still, solve it. If so, please tell me. (The only solution I have stumbled across sends me on a long trajectory to WP Admin on the web: I’m not going there.) I’d hate to lose touch with our excellent blogging community.
Playing around with Instagram
Now and then I pop a daily doodle on to Instagram or even a reel (a 1-minute video). That’s fun and very very quick. The reels could easily develop a life of their own, and Ursula the cat, ever the wannabe influencer, has begun to muscle in.
Urgent, important or not?
Now, the podcast Learning How To Be Old is my primary creative passion at present. For my continuing education I listen to a terrific podcast called Podcraft: Honing the art of podcasting. Colin Gray, the Scottish host, provides exactly what I need: a fund of canny knowledge based on years of experience, common sense and encouragement, delivered in a glorious voice. The last episode was on Preventing Podfade and warned against spreading yourself too thin. Hello! That’s me, this year. See above.
So I drew an urgent/important chart for myself, and saw why my brain was getting messy. Managing social media is getting out of control.
My priority is the podcast. I have to deliver regular episodes and I have to get better and better at the job. Other urgent and important tasks have deadlines: I’m launching a new book on Sunday, meeting a research team tomorrow, and speaking at a conference next week. No mucking around with those jobs.
Everything else is either not urgent or not particularly important. Remember that, Rachel!
Do you have similar challenges? Do you face a chaotic tangle of tasks to be done, and tackle them at random? Do you feel hassled or guilty about some of your time managing social media? It’s not a good feeling. So what do you do? I’d like to know.
What do I do to keep social media creep and resulting guilty feelings under control? If I haven’t followed a link 48 hours after receiving it I must be too busy to read all that interesting stuff and delete the updates and discussions. I don’t know what I’m missing so it really doesn’t matter.
Makes sense. I need to cultivate my JOMO. Joy of missing out.
Good tip 🙂
It feels like setting boundaries for me. I set a time limit for how long I’m online. Otherwise it’s so easy to find an hour (or much more) has gone by and cut into personal or in-person activities I use to enjoy before social media became a thing!
Seems you are doing what you need to do. SM can sneak up on you.
I know you know this, so this is merely a reminder to help you on your way to demessifying your brain: ToDos are not the same as Goals. ToDos are action steps towards completion of tasks – sometimes towards a goal, often just for everyday living. That said, prioritizing the podcast as #1 helps in organizing those Goals/ToDos…and putting them in proper perspective.
Staying on task, I find it helps to use other desirable activities as ‘rewards’ for doing my main chosen priority. Generically speaking: for x amount of time I spend on #1 priority, I can then accrue y amount of minutes towards dedicated time for a certain other desirable activity focus. It also serves as a creative break that enables me to return to priroity #1 with fresh eyes and an eager spirit.
Literally for myself as a solid example: ‘It’s all about the Music’ is my #1 priority. I have certain specific goals/projects related to that. Different sets of ToDos and deadlines for each. For each hour of practice, rehearsal, composing, gigging, recording etc I accrue 15 minutes (it varies) towards working on what I call my ‘Ankara Reward’ (Working on my new quilt project using African Ankara Fabrics).
This is just a springboard to give you a general idea of what works for me right now in my life. It does change and evolve over time – as I know you understand!
Go for it!
This is interesting, Laura. It struck me as I drew the matrix that there was no space there for priorities, the work you value most. That’s in a different dimension from deadlines, crises and to-dos. I get grounded by my current “what’s on my plate” – a big drawing of current projects that gives space and shape to their proportionate value as well as urgency and importance. Now I am going to think about earning rewards towards my own fun work … And what that is. I’m prepared to be surprised 🙂
I like that visual of ‘what’s on my plate’ as you described…that adds alot to the mix of figuring these things out – thanks for that tidbit, Rachel.
And, yes, be prepared to be surprised!!!!
Life gets more confusing as you age, in my opinion. I dreamt of retirement as a time of inner peace, with time to spend, writing, painting and dreaming. How was I to know that the complete opposite would happen. I am blessed, with 5 grandkids (under 5yrs). But combine helping with them and a passion for working with search dogs, gardening and attempting to find readers for my kids and adult books, along with writing them and inner peace remains a dream. I do agree that a priority list is a must do, and without it nothing would happen.
I think you’ve summed up perfectly the dilemma of so many retirees. Finding shape and satisfaction in the way we spend our time can get pretty confusing. My wise sister ( one of them) told me, when I gained a grandchild, ” Right from the start, say no to some requests for child -minding. Make it clear you also have a life.” We love them and want to help, but… May your dream come true, inner peace and all.
As to where is the reader?…they really sneaked that one in didn’t they! Look for the eyeglasses. There you will find great joy!
I’ve looked and looked. With all my eyeglasses…
Try the ones supplied by WordPress!