To Thine Own Self Be True

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Do you ever feel like you are in a competition to see how many plates you can keep spinning?

Why do we do that? Why have we never learned how to say NO? Why do we commit to so many different things in life?


I feel like I have reached a point that I have to consciously decide where and how I am going to spend my time. To myself (and my dreams and goals) I must be true.

For the last 18 - 24 months I have been dividing my time between being a father, being a husband, dabbling with social media, and starting / building a business.

For the last 18 - 24 months the majority of my time had gone into social media and my business. I was by and large neglecting the relationships with the people in life that meant the most to me (my wife and daughters). Obviously I have to keep my business up and running because that is what "puts bread on the table."

However, social media is not my industry, I will never be confused with one of the so-called social media gurus. It is unlikely I will have the number of blog subscribers that someone like Seth Godin has.  I use social media outlets to occasionally promote my business or to connect with friends and family. But with all the changes and new platforms that are coming at us with breakneck speed it seems like to stay of top of it and maintain it and create quality content is becoming a full-time JOB.

Besides, I started my own business because I was tired of having a job. And I have come to the realization that working 50-60-70 hours per week building my business and then putting in 10 or more hours per week playing with Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or whatever hot, new, platform is out there is not sustainable and quite honestly is no longer desirable.

I've only got so many hours each day that I can invest, spend, or waste. I can only apply those hours to a finite number of categories. Once time has been allocated, it can never be reclaimed or reallocated.

So I guess, I said all of that to say this:

In the days and weeks to come, I will be carefully analyzing a number of things and deciding which ones are important, which ones are necessary, and which ones need to be extracted from my life.

I will likely be un-subscribing from several blogs, un-following certain users on Twitter, un-Like-ing some pages and groups on Facebook and maybe even un-friending some people who are not actually friends as well as deleting an assortment of profiles and pages on other sites (my digital footprint is about the size of Texas right now I think).

This decision was not made in haste. I am not trying to be mean or rude. I just simply can't continue down the path I am on and accomplish what I have set out to accomplish.

If I have cut you out of my "sphere of influence" you have my permission to reciprocate and remove me from your list of contacts, followers, etc. You can even unsubscribe from this blog if you want to. I only want you to "follow" me or receive my content if you really WANT TO.

If I have chosen to keep you in my loop, know two things, first off, I am appreciative of our connection and I value our relationship. Secondly, I will make a concerted effort to strengthen our connection and go beyond just the superficial.

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