Why I Quit Social Media (and kept LinkedIn)

"I'm going to QUIT [personal] social media." Everyone talks about it at one point or another. But few seem to carry through with it. Friends told me, "You can block 'this' and restrict 'that'. You can remove the app from your phone..." before quitting altogether. - That's more of a hassle. Quit already and stop trying to appease addiction.

What we want is for everything to be convenient for us. Or we have gotten used to "humble bragging" and haven't noticed it yet. How many "selfies" do you post? In USA culture that tells me how much we think of ourselves. Not because we post a Selfie, but how many times and why?

The excuse I hear the most is, "I would but then I wouldn't be able to stay in touch with friends and family all over the world". That's a valid excuse. Although, how many will seek out friends and family outside of Facebook or Instagram? We have a cellphone number, What's App account, and/or Messenger app that we could keep in contact with. But that's more personal, and direct, and it takes being intentional. Most of us are not ready for that commitment. It takes work.

For some of us, our personal Facebook and/or Instagram is also our "side hustle" or our business. And of course, that requires more self-promotion. I get that.

I have been off of my personal Facebook and Instagram for about 2 months or so now. I haven't missed it. I thought I would but the longer I stay off the less I want to go back. My wife is still connected so family and friends still see highlights of what we're doing.

Here are some of the benefits. These are a few things that came to mind immediately!

• Increased time in reading books
• Increased time paying attention to real people and real conversations. Being engaged.
• More family time.
• Making more of an effort to call and talk to people one on one. (friends and family, lunches, coffee meet-ups)
• Being interested and participating in things that make a difference in my circle of influence.

From time to time I will check back into my accounts and see how "social culture" has progressed. Like most of you, I have a lot of pictures and content out there. BUT things that are dear to me are already safe and secure before they ever reach a social media platform.

I don't include LinkedIn as 'personal social media' per se because I hope the content stays more business and professionally minded going forward. Not buying into rants, fake news, family vacations, and what "Timmy" had for lunch.

My plan going forward is to post more on my website. What happens when Facebook/Meta or Instagram changes how they do things? Or TikTok gets shut down? My stuff will still be safe. I plan on utilizing my own website https://tyronebcookin.com. Answering comments and posting stuff relevant to us. I've already been told "Good Luck!" getting people to come to you! It's alright. At least if they do I know they're my people, my niche, or at least 'haters' that take the time. SMILE

Oh, and Twitter? I deleted that ongoing dumpster fire years ago.

* If you have a PERSONAL blog or website, list it in the comments so I can come to see what you're working on.

PPA = Effective Business Meetings

This is not a comprehensive list or theory on having business meetings. It's a quick decisive tool to help you decide if your doing the right thing by having one, or being part of one(if you have a choice).

Power, Plan, Action = Effective Business Meetings

I have been to many "business" meetings in my lifetime where nothing much gets done. Basically one of three things are missing:

• Power - before we waste a lot of time on having a meeting does anybody have the POWER to DO anything about what we are discussing? No? Meeting canceled. -PLAN and ACTION to implement but no one has the POWER to approve it.
• Plan - If there is no PLAN, or we come to a PLAN and no one has the POWER to implement it or make it happen(ACTION), why are we meeting?- POWER and ACTION to implement but no PLAN.
• Action - if the end result of any meeting requires no ACTION -or- If no ACTION can be applied to a PLAN, cancel it. We are wasting time. [Think budget-money, man-power, materials...] - POWER and PLAN but no one can implement the ACTION to make it work.

It breaks down to having the proper people available in a meeting. A PLAN meeting can be called to get everything ready for when the "budget, manpower, materials..." are available. But to often you have to schedule more meetings to revisit, modify, and update the PLAN.

Of course if this is brainstorming or one of those "collaborative mind trusts" to get some ideas on the table...by all means, call it. But don't call too many...It's like "Crying Wolf" people quit listening.

Keep people engaged, don't waste time, get things done.