Seth Godin is the kind of marketing guru who is so well-known in the business world that his name usually appears as "marketing guru Seth Godin." He writes here about modern forms of procrastination, all of which take the form of busy-nes with various forms of social media. (To be clear, mis-using social media instead of using it/them with a purpose, a plan, a goal.)
Busy does not equal important. Measured does not mean mattered.
I would never point a finger at someone else. As I learned on the playground, three fingers are pointing right back at me. In this case, finger-pointing is too mild. I have a target on my forehead.
I know better, but I often still check email first thing in the morning instead of doing my important work before checking. Partly that's due to 9/11 (the world can change in an instant) and partly even saying that is a massive rationalization on my part. If I deal with whatever is my inbox, it's time and energy. If I don't deal with it, I worry about it, and that's...time and energy. When I don't look, nothing happens. I get to it a little later and the world is A-OK. I know this.
Then the blogtour: family members, friends, strangers, who cares, click click click.
I know better, but when I move from project to project during a day, I "check in" at Facebook. Before I know it, an hour's gone.
I know better, but when I really should be going into that creative space at my computer, or doing something hard, like phoning a lawyer to say "what the heck?" about a project, I hop up to address to-dos for an organization I'm involved in or some other un-urgent project. Because correcting a typo on a website feels vital when the alternatives are hard, though meaningful.
I know better than to read random blogs about getting organized and making time for doing the really important things--instead of just DOING the important things already. Or throwing things away, step 1 in getting organized.
On the other hand, see all I'm learning from these online sources?
But I know better.
It's true that there's a time and space for learning, and learning is something I value. But I'm not exercising appropriate discipline around either the learning or the important work. So I'm going to do that now.
Hey, I bet someone has posted ten tips for discipline...never mind.
