I’m about to show my age but back when I was in high school, a cell phone looked like a military handset, if you ignored a phone call, you could always say that you weren’t home at the time and if you needed to do research, the local library was the best place to get it.
These days, we live in a world where getting information is as quick as a look up on a cell phone. Information is readily available but so are you, as in you have absolutely nowhere to really, truly disconnect.
Since when is more Better?
More social networks. More ways to build back links. More traffic mediums to explore. More “friends” and “followers”. More websites to follows. More things to keep up with. More site outposts to groom and build.
What you don’t realize is that in nearly every market and niche out there, most of us consume more than we produce. The entire thing is set up for most to fail. And it is all centered around the general idea that having more will improve your life or business.
The most ironic thing about this constant struggle for more is that more usually doesn’t improve your life and it may even impede the things that are important in your life. I could go as far as saying that 80% of what most of us do and deal with in our lives is bullshiznit.
I made a commitment a year or so ago, to cut most of the bullshit out of my life. Not disconnect, mind you, but to push what’s truly important up to the forefront and ignore the rest.
So, what’s bullshit?
For me, it’s the countless number of emails I get from companies that I don’t really care about, or cared about at one time but don’t anymore. I have cut out 95% of the email chatter from companies.
Result? My phone doesn’t constantly erupt or buzz with a notification. My world around my phone is much quieter now and looking at my emails is no longer a scroll fest.
It’s the huge Twitter, Google+, and Facebook streams that I found myself constantly digging into and trying to decipher. These days, I have a small group of people on a hidden list in these accounts that actually matter to me and that I truly connect with.
If I have time, I may scroll through the other lists but that is a big if.
My Klout score may suffer for it but hey…that’s bullshit too.
Oh, and I also turned off the notifications so they no longer “alert” me with breaking updates.
Result? I no longer feel inundated with mindless things that really should be labeled “entertainment” as opposed to “work”.
It’s the haters, pessimists and generally negative people in my life that want to bring me down to their level. There is no room for them and this includes online trolls as well as offline ones. (The online ones are easy – Just block their IP in your htaccess file and then blacklist their email so you don’t see their messages…better yet, redirect their ip to a website of your choice.)
Result? I am much happier.
It’s the complicated marketing models and get rich quick garbage that permeates the internet. I will tell you this much- Marketing and business isn’t that hard and doesn’t need a lot of gadgets to make it work. If you can simplify it down to it’s roots and learn as you go, you will be fine (provided you have a product that is valued in your market).
This doesn’t mean forgoing social media or eliminating technical search….what it means is understanding what is working for you and focusing on that rather than trying to divide your time across a wide range of tactics that the rest of the world tells you you need in order to succeed.
Result? By focusing on the elementary elements, I am able to cut my work load down and actually have the time to do other things that do matter.
If you think that I am only talking about the “marketing” aspects of business as bullshit, think again. It really doesn’t matter whether we are talking diet, fitness, origami skills or whatever….nearly 90% of the stuff that we focus on and give our time to is bullshit.
Turn On, Tune in, Drop Out
What are some things you have cut out of your life?
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I’m probably showing my even-older age by sharing how I had to search to know the band in this video was Cracker. Good tune! I’ve taken more of a “just ignore it” approach, I think, which is not as conscious/responsible as your approach. Still, I’m happy, so it’s working for me.
One “inquiring minds” thing you didn’t address: has your new approach affected your income one way or another? (Just curious, but I understand that might be hard to isolate with all the algo-update stuff…) I’m glad your happier!
Debi,
I was lucky as I kind of saw the writing on the wall in regards to search so I kind of stepped outside my comfort zone and started something else. In that regard, it was almost like starting from scratch so initially, I had some very lean months. But it continues to build month after month and it is nice to know that I am now ultimately responsible for my income (or lack of), not some algorithm. But then again, I moved to a more “services” genre and focused on a sub niche that began with a local tilt.
Ad mediums are ad mediums, so I think from a marketing perspective, you need to find something that works and then work it into the ground, testing and improving conversion rates over time. It’s work.
I’ve never believed in a true and totally passive income model though, which is different than many of the people who may read this blog.