And here comes Internet Week with all its attendant happenings, conferences, panels and of course, parties. My good friend Michelle at SpaWeek took the opportunity of Internet Week to figure out now how to do more internety things, but in fact, how to do less. It’s something I think, and write!, about a lot as my life and my business become more and more entwined with all things social and online. Because working in social media, much like banking (my previous gig) is pretty much a 24-hour job.
Work doesn’t end at 6pm in social media. We go out, we tweet, we checkin, we respond to emails. We run out of bars and clubs to take important calls. Mostly we stare into our phones, alighted by those pretty glowing screens, and annoy our friends and family to no end. The frenetic pace of social media lends itself to easy burnout.
#SIGNOFF?
When do we get the time to sign off? People ask me all the time where I get my energy, how I am able to do so many things at once. Now of course, I have my secrets, but I think in the interest of being humble (a guy can try right?) I will first say, that I can’t do everything, I don’t perform magic, and I am most certainly not everywhere all at once. Most of the time I am home writing and thinking about my clients and my business and the world of technology.
One of my secrets, which OK, isn’t THAT much of a secret, is Yoga. I do a lot of Yoga, and for the past year, Yoga has become my sustenance, both physically and mentally. I usually sneak in Yoga during the day. It’s a welcome break from hours of sitting, of writing, of phone calls and client meetings. But to many people, taking a break in the middle of the day just sounds downright unproductive. I mean, why stop working and then come back to it, when you can just work straight through the day and do Yoga or hit the gym after. Or why not before work?
Those are really good questions but I have even better answers. Thinking about my own productivity and about how we, as a culture, have decided upon what is best for productivity, it seems pretty clear to me that we’ve sacrificed our own well being and happiness for some abstract measurement of production. Sure, working 10 straight hours, or 16 for that matter, seems really productive. But when you ask a human being to work for that amount of time without a break, and lunch and coffee breaks most definitely do not count, then you really aren’t taking into consideration most of the factors that lead us to be happy. No one I know, and no one I want to know, can be productive at a steady sustainable pace for 10 hours. Force someone to work that way and most of the time they’ll be cruising the internet and making long phone calls. They’ll be wasting your money.
Personally, I work best when I have a big break in the day. I love the flow of working for a few hours and then taking a break. It clears my mind. I have to switch gears. And frankly, I am not so good at switching gears. I need a prompt. And most of the time that prompt is Bikram Yoga, a 90 minute, intense physical and emotional experience that challenges both my body and my brain. And afterwards, I am clear, I am energized, I’ve got the cobwebs and the detritus of life out. And I can come back to work, or meet with a client, knowing everything is OK. I’ve done what I needed to, and now I can do even better work for another stretch of time. The bottom line is I serve my clients better with Yoga in my life. End of story.
Gassing Up
I’ve learned so much about myself doing Bikram Yoga. I’ve learned what I can and cannot put up with. I’ve learned how to center my mind and free it of independent thoughts. Because Bikram Yoga has a 20 second resting posture, known as Savasana or corpse pose, where you literally do nothing. It is your resting point, your gas station to refill your energy before getting up and doing another challenging posture. But in those 20 seconds, those precious 20 seconds, you have to catch your breath, the only way to do so is empty your mind. And focus on one thing. You can’t worry about the email you sent, or the call you forgot to send. You can’t worry about the money your owed, or the blog you wanted to write.
Because if you do worry about that stuff, you can’t refill your energy quotient. Which you definitely need for the next set of postures. And if you don’t relax, you are basically screwed until the next Savasana. And then you get to try it allllll over again.
So, anyway, why am I telling you this? Because I want the social media world to be healthy and hearty. I want my friends and colleagues, my readers and tweeters to know that you’ve absolutely got to find ways to disconnect. To restore some peace into your life. It is THAT important. Do it during the day. Find the way, find the time.
And if you need even a bit more help, you can come watch me and many others talk about how they sign off and SpaWeek’s Internet Week Event. Here is who I am speaking with, pretty fancy company if you ask me. And if you can’t attend, you can watch us here http://www.spaweekblog.com/2010/06/04/the-signoff-movement live streamed for your viewing pleasure
Brett Petersel (@brett) Business Development and Events at Mashable
Topic: Mashable Unplugged! #SIGNOFF advice from the most plugged in of them all.
Julia Roy (@juliaroy) Senior Manager of New Media, Coach Inc., Digital Influencer
Topic: The Rules of Disengagement, by Julia Roy
Zachary Adam Cohen (@zacharycohen) Social Media Consultant, Blogger, Local Foods Advocate, Yogi
Topic: Tweet. Eat. Yoga. Repeat. Learn Zach’s most successful moves—online and on the yoga mat.
Keri Glassman (@keriglassman) Author of The O2 Diet, owner of Nutritious Life, Women’s Health Magazine & CBS Early Show contributor.
Topic: How to Be Healthy, Thin And Beautiful (and not just in your avatar)
Oz Sultan (@ozsultan) Social Media Specialist at Irisnation, world’s largest private agency.
Topic: Ayurveda and Unani: Growing up with Ancient Cold Remedies in a 2.0 World
Andrea Syrtash (@andreasyrtash) Dating and relationship expert, author of ‘He’s Just Not Your Type (And That’s a Good Thing)’
Topic: Your love life—Online and Off.
PJ Gach (@bettybuzz) Senior Style & Beauty Editor at Betty Confidential
Topic: Offline Excellence, as told by a member of the team that won Min’s 2010 Best of the WebEditorial Excellence Award
Damien Basile (@db) Communications Strategist and Entrepreneur, Simplifier
Topic: Running without a Cell, and Other Brilliant Ways to Separate Work and Life
Image Courtesy of lululemon athletica on Flickr
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