Just Because Everyone Else Is Doing It…
I don’t know about you guys, but I am both my biggest champion and my own worst enemy.
On one hand, I’m capable of focusing, shutting out distractions, and doing the work. On the other hand, I can troll and scroll like the best of them. I have my routine of things I do when I first get to my desk in the morning (I give myself a little time to have my coffee, read a few things, check email, then jump in), then I get to work.
Sometimes that time is brief, other times it’s a total rabbit hole because I’ve stumbled across a new tool or strategy and I decide (er, distract myself), that I should jump in and try this thing NOW. Next thing I know two hours have passed and the thing I had to try is left in limbo, quietly calling to me throughout the day because I leave the tab open planning to ‘get back to it’.
Sound familiar?
The fascinating thing about this is that on those days when I don’t get distracted the things that seemed so important to try or jump into earlier don’t seem quite as exciting or important a few hours later.
hmm…
Fortunately, after years of experience with this (and having concrete evidence that I feel better when I don’t let myself go sideways or get distracted), I don’t overthink this either way. If I get distracted, I course correct and get back to work.
I also know enough that on days when I have to get things done I shut out the distractions.
I think the whole ‘FOMO’ thing has been around as long as humans have been in existence, we just have a new name for it now. I’m glad I’ve learned to slow my roll a bit when it comes to FOMO for my business.
Depending on what it is, I usually sit back and observe a little bit before jumping in.
A perfect example of this is live streaming. I knew I wanted to do it and would jump in, but I didn’t want to do it until I had some sort of plan for how I would show up and an idea for the value I could provide.
On the other hand, I jumped into podcasting in 2013 because I wanted to have more fun (a great example of ignorance is bliss). Podcasting had been around and was gaining momentum, but it wasn’t as big as it is today. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind.
Which is why I waited to start my Content Creators Facebook group.
I was ready.
I was committed to showing up consistently and growing a community.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”I was committed to showing up consistently and growing a community.” quote=”I was committed to showing up consistently and growing a community.” theme=”style6″]I had started another group years ago (Profiting with WordPress), but I didn’t really know what to do with it (this was actually my second group. I had started a group way back in 2008, but more on that in the podcast). I also knew deep down I didn’t want to stay in the ‘how to’ space for WordPress so I didn’t do much with the group other than post content or share articles.
So, just because everyone else is starting a Facebook Group it doesn’t mean you should too.
If you’re even thinking about starting a Facebook Group, you want to listen to this week’s podcast episode.
I looked back at the first year of growing Content Creators (I can’t believe it’s been a year already). It’s been an amazing journey and I can honestly say that it’s another one of the ‘best things I’ve done for my business’ (the other two are podcasting and email marketing).
There is so much value in taking stock of where you are, how far you’ve come, what you’ve learned, and how you want to move forward. This was both eye-opening and a little therapeutic for me.
Listen to “Growing a Facebook Group: 1 Year Later – KDS: 002″ Here