Dying to Blog: Finding Balance in Cyberspace

Couch potatoes have moved to the Office Chair. Sitting in front of your computer for hours at a time isn’t good for you. We’ve lost our way. We aren’t leaving the fronts of our screens (or our iPhone screens, iPad screens, Blackberry Screens… you name it) for very long. Exercise is suffering. Our arteries are just as clogged as if we sat on the couch watching TV all day. Same inactivity, different medium.

And blogging for the sake of blogging to beat other bloggers to the punch apparently can kill you. Even though this article comes from 2008, it’s still relevant. In fact, it’s probably worse now. I’ve met tech guys from Bangalore who talk of working on their computers for two and three days straight with a few 20 minute desk naps thrown in.

Some of my colleagues believe they must kill themselves with a turbo-travel schedule @ hundreds of thousands of miles a year to reach all their fans. Book publishers believe they must flood the market daily on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with the competition. We are always reaching for that brass ring, for that carrot on the end of the stick;  we believe happiness will come for us and the world, if only we can get our thoughts into the world – through direct contact or cyberspace.

The worst chair potatoes are high profile bloggers and tweeters.

I think it’s wonderful that some people get paid to blog. Some actually have something to say and are worth reading. I enjoy the Tweeters who send out wonderful posts about new research, great quotes, links about life and living in a high tech world.

Right now, I blog and tweet because its kind of fun. I always have opinions on things and don’t mind having an outlet to spout them off. The only person who “pays” me at this point would be the owner of my company. Oh wait, that’s ME! And I have to admit, I put some things on Twitter and on my blog because I need to find them later and I can access both accounts from the internet. Just a lazy filing system, really.

I’ve never committed, nor do I have any intention to commit, to blogging or tweeting daily. IMHO if there are people who are dying to read treasured words from my fingertips every single day… well, it’s time to get a bigger life. Sorry. Don’t mean to insult anyone. But come on. The sun is shining. The desert is alive with amazing blooms. The water beckons. The birds are mating. Shouldn’t we all be doing something to enjoy all that?

I spend many days researching, writing a new book, writing speeches, coaching speakers, editing my first two books for reprint, giving the speeches I’ve researched and written, and occasionally, writing in my blog. If I don’t have anything to say, I don’t write in my blog. No need to add to cyberclutter. Hope that’s OK with you.

NO ONE is reading ALL the blogs. REALLY. I PROMISE!

One thing we must always remember: there is always tomorrow. There is always later this afternoon. Someone beats you to the punch today, you beat them to the punch tomorrow. Perspective IS everything. NO ONE is reading ALL the blogs. REALLY. I PROMISE! No one person could possibly read them all. And even those people with RSS feeds to your blogs…? THEY aren’t reading them daily. They might go back in a week and catch up. Or a year. They might be on Google Alerts and read a whole month’s worth at one time. Then it doesn’t really matter who scooped whom.

Now – about those hits we are all so worried about. I see my numbers, and I get a healthy number of hits. I even have lots of subscribers. Way cool. Thanks for reading this! I also have a healthy skepticism about the “real” numbers. I see my spam filter, and I know that I’ve had several thousand ‘trackback spam’ … so I subtract that from my numbers. You should, too.

It doesn’t matter if I have millions of subscribers and hits. It matters if someone is better off because they read one of my posts. Someone feels better about themselves or their lot in life because a paragraph of mine struck a nerve. Someone is motivated to some kind of action, or thinks differently about life because they read a word or two that made them rethink a position.

My mission in life is to leave the planet healthier because I was here for a bit. If thousands of those hits are just webcockroaches stealing our precious cybertime and cyberspace, then I’m not doing a good enough job of reaching those who need a little inspiration.

Feel free to post a note and tell me how I can do that better.

And then, go rollerskating. Take your kid to the park. Or do what I do. My Chihuahuas won’t let me stay at the computer for very long without a burst of “Chase the Chihuahua!” They come get me and I go play with them in the yard for awhile. I always come back to the desk refreshed and ready for Round 2 or 3 or 8. And, if I’m lucky, one of them will sit on my desk and write for me for awhile.

Xena at her desk

Cheers,

Beth

Beth Terry, CSP, is a Professional Speaker, Author, and Corporate Trainer on Creating Resilience in the Workplace, Work Life Balance, Managing Stress & Overwhelm,

©2010, Beth Terry Seminars, Inc. All US and International Rights Reserved.