Writing Less to Write More

Has anyone noticed that I’ve written less recently?

Has anyone noticed that I’ve written more recently?

Grandad takes a bathDepending upon what you read you may have noticed different things.

I took a look at the amount of time I spent writing interrupt driven content on Twitter and Facebook and decided that it wasn’t the best use of my time.

I found that I was spending a significant amount of time checking for updates so I could respond to updates. All I was doing was feeding my ADT.

I decided that it was time for a bit of housekeeping. My aim was to replace quantity with quality. Rather than writing hundreds of 140 character interactions, I want to write more considered, longer interactions of a higher quality.

So I’ve taken a few simple steps:

  • I’ve removed the Facebook and Twitter apps from my BlackBerry.
  • I’ve hidden Tweetdeck on my laptop, so I have to go and consciously choose to start it.
  • I’m limiting myself to one session on Twitter and one on Facebook a day.
  • I’ve made a conscious effort to maintain a list blog topics to improve the quality of what I write there.
  • Facebook and Twitter are banned after 8:00pm
  • Although Google+ looks interesting I’ve resisted the urge to add to my list of interruptions.

The result is that I’ve written a lot more on my blog and managed to calm down my ADT quite a bit. A bit like a reformed smoker, I’ve started to notice how bad some people are. I’ve read a lot more. As well as being more productive on my blog I’ve been more productive in a number of other areas too. I’ve also been sleeping better and increased the amount of exercise I do.

Not surprisingly, the number of visitors on my blog has grown significantly too, but that’s not why I’m doing it.

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