Managing My Hyper-Connectivity

Like most of you, I’d consider myself a technology addict. As Charlie recently noticed, I blog a lot yet somehow find myself immersed in social media a good bit too. Keeping up is a challenge, and I’ll admit that finding balance is a constant challenge. As I wrote today on ReadWriteWeb, technology really is both a blessing and a curse. I love it, but sometimes it steals me away from the other things (and people) I love, too. I’m always having to check and re-check my boundaries and making sure I haven’t become so immersed in the online world that I forget to live in the real one, too.  

In addition to my work in public eye, such as with ReadWriteWeb and Microsoft (a blogger, not an employee for the ongoing record), I always find myself with at least one side project too. Lately, this has involved being a webmaster of sorts for two other websites needing regular updates and reviewing book proposals for a publishing company. I’ve also just been informed…err…asked…by a family member to create yet another site, too. It’s not big deal, but I sometimes wonder how much longer I can keep it all up.

And why do I do all this? I guess I forget I’m just one person.

Unlike social media kings, Louis Gray and Robert Scoble, I don’t have superpowers. I struggle with information overload just as I know many of you do too. Managing multiple commitments and deadlines is hard on me…and I’m not one who likes to be tied down with obligations, either. In fact, I’m usually surrounded by people who plan things for me because I’d rather “wing it.” 

How do those guys do it? Louis Gray mastered something called continuous parallel attention. I never got the hang of that, but he did teach me something important: batching my activities into a workflow of sorts. When I stick to my schedule, it can work. When I goof off in FriendFeed for too long, I’m screwed. In fact, sometimes have so little “free” time that anything expected of me that goes beyond my established routine sort of puts me into a panic. That’s not healthy and it has to stop. Something may have to give soon.

In the meantime, I maintain a semblance of a normal life by setting some personal boundaries.

Here are 5 ways I’m keeping sane:

1) Unplug on weekends – Lately, I’ve been going offline on weekends. I’m generally unavailable all day Saturday and part of Sunday, too. I go do things that don’t involve the net. For example, this weekend I met friends from my old job for drinks, went to the San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival (which is less horrible than it seems – it’s mostly a craft fair and picnic), watched a movie with the husband (Sweeny Todd – oh, the blood!), caught up on the TV I missed, went out to dinner, and generally relaxed.

2) Set Boundaries – Now that I’m going to the gym, I have a definite, finite end to my workday. I have to wrap things up at a decent hour and leave the house. Although the primariy reason I’m doing this is to get healthy, the side affect of disconnecting for a couple of hours is an added benefit.

3) Batch Activities – Instead of being in FriendFeed and Twitter off and on all day long, I pop in a couple of times per day and interact. This may mean that I miss a few things here and there or arrive late to others, but at the end of the day, being the first to participate in the silly hate meme (or whatever) isn’t paying my bills. I love FriendFeed and Twitter, but I can’t put them at the top of my priority list.

4) Work More Early In The Week – For some reason, I’ve found I’m more productive earlier in the week. I decided to take advantage of that productivity and work ahead by cranking out more content then when I’m motivated than trying to do so later on in the week when I’m starting to burn out.

5) Stay Out Of The Inbox – Not entirely, of course – that’s not possible. But when I used to have the Gmail Notifier installed, I constantly checked my email. As new messages arrived, I popped into Gmail to see what they were about. A major time-suck! Now, I go into my email throughout the day as it fits into my schedule…not every 5 minutes.

I hope these tips help you better manage your time online and if you have any to share with me, feel free to comment and let me know.