Healthy Envy
You envy intentional people and you should. People who live their lives with intention know what they want and achieve it because they follow a process.
1. Stop letting distractions distract
2. Write down your dreams/goals
3. Write down steps to reach them
4. Stop often to check your progress on reaching your dreams/goals
5. (Rinse and repeat)
Out of control
Facebook is out of control and it’s mostly my fault. Facebook is distracting because it creeps into my mind several times a day. Facebook can be a place for social interaction and for a highly social person like me Facebook is a drug. Facebook is also becoming very, very noisy. Their recent changes encourage more sharing on the network of course. More sharing via Facebook with 1000+ friends means more information than I could ever hope to consume so I feel compelled to check it even more. Checking Facebook creates feelings of envy and superiority, distracts me from my work flow and creates the illusion of deepening relationships. Facebook is a buffet of relationships but all it serves is hor d’oeuvres. Facebook has very little of substance. It serves up sugary snacks and it’s rotting my brain as well as my social structure.
Who are my friends?
I have thousands of friends. I went to high school with hundreds of people and did ministry with hundreds more. They were all at one time my friends. That was then and this is now. If Facebook is a place for your relationships of significance to grow (and for most of us it isn’t) then you need to prune. I’m pruning. Yesterday I deleted 1/3 of my Facebook friends. I’m only up to the letter J. My prediction is that I’ll have less than 250 friends by the time I’m done. I’m sorry if I “unfriend” you but it’s not because I don’t like you, it’s because I don’t have the capacity to interact with you. Every successful person I know had goals and boundaries in place to help them reach those goals. Deleting Facebook friends in just one way I’m trying to have better boundaries.
Enjoy your lunch
In a classic comic strip Charlie Brown complained about his lunch to his friend Linus until Linus asked him “Charlie Brown, who makes your lunch?” Charlie Brown replied, “I do.”
If you want to enjoy your life, your Facebook page, your family, your work and your church then make a better lunch. You can’t complain about what you make for yourself and if you do then you should be mad at yourself because it’s your fault.
What do you need to do to get control of your social media presence?
This post inspired by:
Seth Godin, Mitch Joel and Daniel Gulati. Click on their names to read the articles they wrote about this topic.
I will not be unfriending this hot chick.
