I took a break from most of my social media for a few reasons. One is I wanted to take time to learn more about being an authorpreneur. I took several courses on how to format, how to create a cover, marketing, self-editing, and so on and so forth. Another reason is 2020 was crazy for many of us and I was simply burnt out.
There is A LOT of information out there and it can be overwhelming. One site or youtuber says do A and here comes another two or three saying do B or D. Then there is branding yourself and social media content creation. Not only do you have to create it, but you also have to constantly engage. You need a facebook group and Instagram account. Don't forget to market and create funnels and opt-ins. Oh, and email lists and websites. Don't forget Twitter. Did you create that freebie yet or get on Tik Tok?
It ended up feeling like I was doing everything BUT writing. I was frustrated and felt I wasn't accomplishing anything even though I was doing so many things.
So I took a pause from it all. I was perusing Pinterest when I came across this pin:
The first five things were like an "ahhhh" moment. Like, someone out there said it was okay NOT to do a bunch of things at one time even though everyone else is saying do 900 things at once and smile while you're going crazy.
So I stepped back and looked at what I was doing from an outside perspective. I made an outline with my end goal at the top and organized my time so that the things I get into are getting me closer to accomplishing my goals. As far as the goals go, I dialed them back so that I'm accomplishing one or two mini-goals a month instead of trying to accomplish them all at once. As the saying goes, "you gotta crawl before you walk."
Some folks are good at daily social media postings. I'm not. Plus, I have other things going on. I decided to commit to posting on Instagram and Facebook three times a week. Yeah, it probably doesn't do anything for me with the algorithm but so what? If people are looking for what I write they will find me easy enough.
And writing?
I am like a lot of creatives in that I have a lot of projects going on at the same time. Inspiration strikes when it will. What can I say? What I do now (instead of writing nine different stories at once) is focus on one and write several chapters. Then I might work on something else. All within a certain time frame and that's it. If anything else pops up, I jot it down in my notebook and move on. I've found that I have more time to relax and chill with my almost-adult kids and watch a few shows to get more inspiration.
What strategies are you using to get more done this year?
