Reflecting on My Facebook Free Lent

Happy Easter! The season of Lent is usually associated with sacrifice. However, it is also a period to retreat, reflect, pray (and/or meditate) and give alms. After which, there is a period of rebirth and growth.

On Giving Up Facebook for Lent

Some people give up sweets for Lent. Others give up swearing. I've done both. This year, the glaring vice I could see was my "Facebook Login & Refresh My Notifications Repeatedly" Addiction. It didn't matter whether I turned off most notifications in my Facebook settings. Nor did it matter that I uninstalled the app on my mobile devices. I used to log in — a lot. It certainly didn't help matters that I have personal and business contacts on Facebook and belong to international Facebook groups (TL: The groups never sleep).

So I gave up Facebook for Lent — cold turkey — on Ash Wednesday. There was no big announcement on my Wall. Perhaps I should have posted one, but at the time, I didn't see the point.  My immediate family and close friends knew in advance, and I had faith that I wouldn't be the only one to remember that there are other means to keep in touch with each other during my "Facebook Fast" beyond a Facebook Wall.

Halfway through Lent, I started to hear from a handful of friends who noticed I wasn't posting to Facebook. It gave us a wonderful chance to catch up: one-on-one — just like old times.

How I Gave Up Facebook for Lent

One thing I did was instill a Lenten Lapse Penalty. This was something I did the year I gave up swearing for Lent. For each lapse, I dropped a toonie into the Lent Jar. After Easter, I donated the money to charity.

However, I knew a toonie was too low of a penalty for this bad habit of mine. I set the penalty at $25 per login, with the monies going to charity after Lent.

I must clarify that it was the main Facebook site that I gave up for Lent. Since I'm self-employed, I had to keep the Facebook Messenger and Facebook Pages apps active for business.

There were a handful of times that I did have to login to the main site as there are certain page settings that can only be changed on the site. After discussing it with friends, we agreed that so long as I only logged in to do that one thing (or two), it was alright. The main thing is that I had to log in and out without getting sucked in by the notifications, Ticker Board, or News Feed to call it a "Lenten Success."

So, what did I do during my little Facebook Fast? Highlights include decluttering, plowing through my To Do List, taking fresh air breaks, praying, reading, and chatting with family and friends via phone, text, email, face-to-face communication — and a lot of thinking.

Facebook Free and Reflecting on Everything

It was hard at first. Later, I felt quite liberated. As the echoes of Facebook News Feed Chatter faded from my consciousness, I could hear myself think. Not only that, I could start to sense what God (or the universe, if you will) was trying to say to me.

My part-time job has waves of busy-ness and periods of quiet. Sometimes, my coworkers and I can chat quietly but often, I have time on my hands to think.

During these tranquil moments, I took inventory, thinking about where I am physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially, and socially. I reflected upon what needed to change. New ideas popped into my head, plans started to formulate, and approaches shifted.

On Regrowth and Coming Full Circle

Most of my social media interactions pre-Lent were on Facebook. I used to keep up with news via Facebook. Without it, I tuned into the radio more. I also wound up spending some time  cultivating my other social media accounts, such as Twitter and LinkedIn. As Lent progressed, I developed an actual social media posting and networking schedule.

One fringe benefit to my part-time job is that I move around more than I do teaching. There are a lot of stairs, so as the weeks turned into months, I noticed little things: like how my pants started to fit better and my energy level increased. More importantly, that my immune system is improving.

Old doorways reopened. Who would have thought that I would be doing the same things I did when I began my career, just with a few changes?

A few accompanying and recording gigs came my way, followed by my return to arts administration. Instead of being a full-time employee, I work as a freelance administrator and marketing specialist in martial arts and the fine arts.

Once these opportunities opened up, it became much easier to keep Facebook free. I was just too busy (still am). Then I got hooked on another app to help me organize my life: Trello.

The thrill I used to get from seeing an updated FB notification has been replaced by the thrill of moving a task on a funky looking card into my "Achievement Unlocked" column.

I knew I turned a corner when I had to log in to adjust settings on one of the Facebook pages I manage. When I looked at the red "33" on the Facebook notifications icon, I felt...nothing.

A friend asked me, "Was it hard?" Certainly. I stuck it out till the very end, though. I'll still make a donation since technically, I still had to log in (and because it's just the right thing to do).

All in all, it was a great experience. I highly recommend going Facebook free for an extended period of time. I gained a new perspective on things, from debt reduction to health, right down to how I'm going to approach my Facebook use going forward. I embarked on new endeavours and revisited old paths. Change is good.

As I type this, part of me is dreads logging in to face the growing number of notifications. Perhaps I'll hold off on logging into Facebook for a little while longer.

On Freedom Overdose and Overwork

Recently, I needed to do an emergency file back-up before one of my hard drives crashed. I had a lot of time to think about where I'm at while waiting for the files to be transferred. In fact, I wound up with a lot of time between file transfers. The conclusion: I haven't been managing my time very well. In Twitter speak, that would be: #entrepreneurshipfail .As much as it pains me to admit it, I hadn't cleaned my laundry room in years. It was cathartic to clear out garbage and reorganize the room so that it actually worked. That weekend, three closets and my bedroom received the same treatment. How did things get so bad? The way I see it, I put a higher priority on running my business than caring for my home. More specifically, I spent more time on the "fun", "cool" aspects of being your own boss. That meant that I have been binging on fun times, without any real sense of balance.

After reading through How to Beat the Self-Employment Blues, I was able to put labels to what I've been doing: freedom overdose and overwork. My workdays and weeks have been stretched out, simply because I could. Just like the author of the article said, “Wow, I can go to Starbucks anytime I want”. I can log into Facebook anytime I want, because I can (well, except when I'm teaching).

There has been no real sense of urgency. No limitations. In short, I made my workdays longer than they needed to be - because I could.

I shudder to think about how much time I have wasted.

While forcing myself to declutter my home, I accepted that the status quo must end. Now.  In addition to running my music studio, I am marketing a new practice aid called Maestro's Music Tricks. I'm also picking up more presentation gigs, helping not-so-tech-savvy music teachers incorporate technology into their lessons and studio operations. More work means I need to be very careful with my time and energy.

And hey, I want a normal social life too.

In order to have all that, this cycle of freedom overdose and overwork needs to stop. So, what's the answer? I only have to look at my students and recall my school days for the answer: I need a timetable. Not just any, because I've had several in the past. I need one that works.

I haven't figured it all out yet, but I can share with you what I've learned so far with regards to managing my time:

• Keep your daily To Do List managable

• Structure your day in a way that works with your body clock

• Turn off all mobile devices when winding down for the night.

• Use a countdown timer

• Stop procrastinating

Fellow entrepreneurs, do you have any suggestions on how to effectively manage your time and keep a healthy work-life balance? Inquiring minds want to know.

Why I don't do New Year's resolutions anymore

This Friday has been nicknamed “Fail Friday”. The Independent released survey results which indicated that January 24 is the day that most people are expected to break their New Year’s resolutions. Citing past results, author Adam Withnall states that “the average length of time a person can expect to keep to their promise is around three and a half weeks, or 24 days.”

A few years ago, I stopped making New Year’s resolutions. I didn't see the point of making any if they were only going to be broken. Instead, I have been doing goal setting for the year.

It’s much easier than making a resolution. It’s not a big deal if I take a break on learning a piece for a spell, just so long as I meet my goal by my milestone.

It is also more realistic to meet a goal than try to keep a resolution. If my week winds up being too busy from work, it’s perfectly OK for me to skip learning a new kanji for a couple of days, seeing as I set a goal to learn and master one a week.

Although I haven’t completely written out my goals for 2014, I know that I’ll have up to three goals in the following areas: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social and financial. Usually, I start with my professional development goals as they seem to be the easiest for me to articulate.

Along the way, I have learned to just start by setting a couple of goals in each area. Having over 10 goals in each aspect of my life wound up being unmanageable.

I know I’m a little behind the 8-ball on this. However, so long as I have all my goals written out by the end of January, I’ll be happy. This leads me to another reason why I don’t do resolutions anymore. Setting goals and achieving them is less stressful than trying not to break a resolution.

My piano students have heard a lot about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals in school at in music. For those unfamiliar with the acronym, S.M.A.R.T. stands for:

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Achievable

R - Realistic

T - Time Sensitive (or “Timely”)

There are several variations on what the acronym stands for. You can read about them in Duncan Haughey’s article, “SMART Goals” .

Here are some articles on how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals:

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Goal Setting Worksheet for SMART Goals: Step by Step

Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals and Objectives

Trying to Tame the Paper Monster

Summer is speeding to a close. I am quite happy to say that my summer decluttering project is nearly finished as well. I've decided to try using baskets to manage my papers for the week:

I've tried Bring Forward Files however, "out of sight, out of mind" happens all too easily. I've also tried weekly hanging folders. I broke a set of hanging folders because I stuffed it too much.

That brings us to the baskets. They're not that big, so I need to be vigilant to prevent spillage. They do hold more than a file folder, so that's good.

Let me translate and explain the labeling (they're in Japanese):

1. きょう ("Kyou"): Today

2. あした ("Ashita"): Tomorrow

3. こんしゅう ("Konshuu"): This Week

4. しはらって ("Shiharatte"): Pay

5. よんで ("Yonde"): Read

I've tried enough systems to know that my active trays need to be as lean as possible. Keeping it simple is really the only thing I remember out of my copy of Donna Smallin's book,  The One Minute Organizer.

Three is a  good number The remaining two trays contain items that need to be dealt with within the month.

Fingers crossed that this paper management system works!

Lesson Planning - A Work in Progress

The big decluttering project continues. It's taken years to amass all this paper and stuff so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it will take a while to clean up my mess. It seems though, that no sooner do I get my office tidied up that it becomes a bigger mess as soon as I tackle a new section in my office. Case in point:

Amidst the chaos however, plans are beginning to emerge. As I file handouts and documents from the previous teaching year, ideas for new handouts and teaching strategies are percolating in my mind.

However, I don't want to break the flow of my clean up (I refuse to start another teaching year with a messy office); so, I have three medium-sized coloured sheets, labelled: "Lesson Strategies/Planning", "Handouts to Make" and "To Do" on top of one of the binders in the lower LH corner.My tin of Crayola® markers are also close by.

So far, I've jotted down things like, "How to make technique more fun," "Strategies for helping the Keyboard Geography/Hand-Eye Coordination Challenged Students" and a long list of optional activities.

For the time being, I just grab the appropriate sheet and jot down a phrase. Once I get that tower beside my desk emptied out, then I can hunker down and transform the ideas into something tangible. I imagine that by the time I reach that point, I'll have more than three sheets of ideas. At least, it will be easier to focus as by then, I'll have a less cluttered workspace.