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The day started well enough with big intentions and grandiose plans of conquering my ever-growing To Do List. I woke feeling rested, ready to take on the world and even do crazy things like pay bills and change the TP roll. My business was also sorely in need of some attention and emails, and clients requests were piling up like cordwood.
“Today is the day,” I murmured to myself. “I will get caught up on somethings today!” {Insert Super Mom stance will cape blowing valiantly in the wind}
But shortly after breakfast, my well-laid plans were starting coming off the rails, and I blame it all on social media.
After I scuttled my beloved Medium-sized Humans off to school, I settled into my home office to tackle the pre-determined Must-Dos on my list. The house was quiet, and I was ready to do some damage to my list…then, it happened. Silly me, I should have closed my Facebook browser.
As if sensing my arrival, the Facebook notifications starting popping up on my computer like popcorn. Fans Friends were pinging me right and left. One shared a victory of a job interview (of course I needed to congratulate her and ask for details. It would be impolite not to do so). The other was an acquaintance asking if I’d like to do a joint venture with her involving her latest online course; How to Ignore Friends and Manipulate People. I had no desire to be part of such madness…but asked her for the scoop anyway.
Then another bestie chimed in saying she’d just scored some of the elusive and cherished Fidget Spinners at a local store. Knowing Fortnite Fidget Spinners for kids are as hard to find as a unicorn and as addictive as YouTube, I pressed her for details. It wasn’t long before my careful by-the-minute To Do List Eliminator Plan was shot to heck. After wasting a precious hour typing frantically replies on the topic of jobs, JV and fidget toys I got wise and closed down Facebook.
Ahhhh, that’s better.
Now on to task #1 for client #1. Then I heard it…another notorious “ping” noise. It was Skype…I had forgotten to change my status to Do Not Disturb and seemingly half the world needed my attention.
The first one was from Skype itself wishing me a Happy Spring…really? Spam much? The next one was a past client who was sending images fast and furious with titles that would make a grown woman blush. I quickly shot him an email that he’d been hacked and even researched some best practices on how to handle the situation for him.
The next Skype ping was from Client #1…yes, the one for which I was supposed to be “getting work done.” Undoubtedly she was inquiring on how much I’d had accomplished on her Honkin’ Big Project (none), so I opted to ignore that one for now.
Shaking off the dread that my day was slipping by quickly I headed to my Inbox for some inspiration and relief. After answering a few unrelated emails, I discovered a great shareable article, which in turn lead me to an article about content that I felt I needed to read, but also reminded me that I hadn’t posted any “content” on the blog in a few days. The thought of caring for my turf, in turn, reminded me I had nothing planned for supper so maybe I should nip over to Pinterest and get some inspiration?
Wait, what was I initially doing again? Doh!
To make matters worse, the clock on the wall was letting me know it was time to reclaim my Medium-sized Humans from school. Like a Niffler drawn to shiny jewelry, the online world had once again sucked me in and my day was quickly piddled away. Bummed, I took comfort in…actually…there was nothing to take comfort in. Gah! Other than spending a quiet evening with my beloved cherubs trying not to fret about my unproductive day and the fact I had accomplished nada.
If there was a lesson embedded in my circus-of-a-day, it was that I had no one to blame but myself. Some distractions are bound to happen, but most can be turned off, powered down, muted, or disconnected. The good news was, the next day was a chance to dust my ego off, but on my Big Kid Pants, and do better because I now knew better.
Life is an awesome teacher like that.
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