Social Media Detox?

edburns

I've been a procrastinator from early on. Up in the middle of the night in high school working on that final paper or project, fueled by 7-11 Super BigGulps and angsty early '90s music? Yep. That was me.When I moved into the professional world, I said I did my best work on deadline (at a newspaper, of course). I believed and lived it then, and still do now, as an entrepreneur. I can find a zillion things to do instead of my work, including social media.One thing we didn't have back in the dark ages of my high school and college days was social media. And boy oh boy, there's little that is as shiny and distracting as a constantly updating stream of tweets, posts, text messages ... the list goes on.While being your own boss has its perks — including the ability to work remotely from anywhere and not having to leave the house and/or wear makeup — it also means that often, your days can be relatively unstructured. Add in a buzzing phone and a robust Twitter stream and you've got the makings of an eight hour time suck and a to-do list that's still a mile long.Even as my business grows at a healthy clip, I have to admit: I've struggled mightily with productivity, delegation and time management.I started small, making daily to-do lists, buying three Day Designers, focusing on processes that were working or not, reading up on advice from experts, only checking email during certain times of the day, etc...In a recent fit of frustration, I resorted to turning off my phone (airplane mode), turning off alerts in Apple Messenger and NOT keeping a work email window open during certain times of the day.And it worked. Like a charm. I cleaned off my entire to-do list in a matter of a few hours.Then I ran across this clip of Ed Burns discussing productivity with the Huffington Post. (Aside: "The Brothers McMullen" is one of my favorite movies. If you haven't seen, you must, if for no other reason than Connie Britton.)I'm not sure I'm ready to delete apps, but the notion of a social media fast is growing increasingly appealing. Even if only for a few hours a day. It's almost comical that opting out of something considered non-essential just a few years ago creates productive space in our lives.Give it a try if you haven't already done so and let me know what you think.How do you manage/maximize productivity?