Social Media Burnout — It Happens to the Best of Us!

You know that feeling. Instead of smiling at your lit up iPhone you angrily hit close after close after close on the multiple pop-up notifications; you wish that flashing light on your damn Blackberry would just die already; and you’re looking at your workspace in disgust asking why you actually need two monitors and an iPad, I mean really?

We set ourselves up for this — we pick up the phone before we rub our eyes open in the morning, we never let the little light flash for more than 30 seconds, we have alerts turned on for EVERYTHING, we reply to emails on the go even to say I’m on the go I’ll reply later — we only have ourselves to blame!

I can’t tell you to stop it, I’m 1000 percent guilty of all of the above! But there are times when I have to take a step back and implement these fives rules to refresh before I get back in the game:

• DO NOT touch your phone before you get out of bed, shower and eat breakfast — We learned this at SOBCon and it’s tough, real tough!
• Turn OFF your notifications for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Words with Friends, local deals, CNN Breaking News, The New York Times, etc — at least after a set time in the evening, that way when the laptop gets shutdown you can actually take your mind away from your online world and live in the moment
• DON’T check email while walking to the busstop, sitting on the metro, at a red light, walking down the street — just don’t
• If you have kids then respect your time with them, leave the phone OFF the playground (Disclaimer: None here, but I honor this when on the play-mat with my niece)
• And REMEMBER, you are a talented business person because you also read and stay up-to-date on your industry trends. Never forget the power of a good book, offline and without iPad pop-up notifications!