I was reminded recently of the problems many writers have with time management, especially prioritising and streamlining their work.
There is a perceived conflict of interest, between having to build a social media platform and still having the time to write.
One writer who contacted me recently, put it this way:"I spend so much time building my author platform, which so many tell me I must, that writing becomes secondary tomy platform.
" I have to thank this writer for highlighting what has become a really important barrier to success for many writers.
It is a real issue that affects all but the most disciplined of writers.
Not only that, but it is a problem that needs to be resolved! The Shiny Object Syndrome The reason why it is an issue is that in order to build a social platform, you DO need to spend time on social networks.
If your contributions on social platforms are to be valuable, worthwhile and will likely build some kind of following, (which is why you are there in the first place), it cannot be avoided.
Let's face it.
Anything worthwhile needs your attention and takes time and effort.
Sometimes it takes hard work! If you are to add value to others, (which is what social networking is all about), and forge worthwhile relationships and trust with your followers, you need to immerse yourself in the social networking platforms of your choice.
But herein lies the rub: the danger is that in familiarizing yourself with the network and its players, you are regularly tempted to meander down dangerous, time consuming paths leading to the "next shiny object"! This is a relatively new phenomenon in the online world of social media marketing, which marketers often call the "shiny object syndrome.
" Take Twitter, by way of example.
The situation is that some (by no means all), of the tweets that come your way, are intriguing and captivate your interest.
So, what do you do? You follow the link, which more often than not takes you to another and then another, etc, etc.
And whilst some of this investigative reading and researching is essential, much of it is not in line with your current goals and you end up losing hours and hours of valuable time immersed in the ether; time, which could be more meaningfully employed with you writing! The Solution The solution to the problem is not an easy one, because it takes great discipline and focus.
The best writers possess these skills naturally, perhaps, but for most of us it's a labour of love, which we must constantly work on.
Here are FOUR quick tips to help us towards ameliorating the problem, if not solving it completely.

1. Streamline your processes.
   Create a system, by which you schedule times for social media marketing and time for your writing.
   If you looked at any other job, which requires outcomes or involves key performance indicators, you would see that they are mostly linked to productivity.
   So, in order to be a successful writer in today's fast lane world, you need to be productive.
   In order to be productive, you have to have control of your time.
   In simple terms, you have to treat writing like a job.
   First decide how many hours you will work and for how many days a week.
   (Don't forget to factor in "down time" to smell the roses, rest and rejuvenate and care for your family and loved ones.
   ) Allocate your working time for: administration (communication tasks like attending to email, paying bills, etc); reading and research; marketing (i.
   e.
   social media platform building); actually writing (in whatever your chosen niche may be); and any other important functions you feel you need to identify in order to be productive.
   
2. Discern and Discard- Before you "click" your mouse next time, start asking yourself if this is the best place for you to be going right now? You are obviously attracted by something initially, but when you do click on the link, decide if this will be time consuming and is something you need to investigate later, not now.
   (I keep a journal next to my computer to write down a list of the things that caught my attention and that I want to investigate further, but will come back to the list at a pre-allocated time.
   Maybe it becomes part of the "research" activities.
   ) Cancel email subscriptions that you don't find useful.
   Decide only to keep those regular newsletters that add value to your knowledge or you skills as a writer, and discard the "uninspiring".
   As writers, we are all on a journey, and some have progressed more than others.
   Inevitably, I find that sometimes I will have subscribed to newsletters which regurgitate information I have already known or read and regularly lack inspiration, lack valuable information, are repetitive, or are simply not enjoyable to read.
   (For some, my own newsletters may alas be in this category, but hopefully only a few:-) The same can be done for Twitter accounts, for example.
   Despite the fact that they say that you need to build followers, and some people follow thousands of others, I personally believe in the old adage of quality vs.
   quantity.
   One hundred targeted followers, who are actually interested in my passion for writing, are worth far more to me than a thousand followers who have no interest at all.
   For those whom you follow, the same policy applies in reverse.
   If you have to read drivel, or uninspired tweets on subjects of no interest to you at all, why should you follow these accounts for the sake of it? Cull your list and replace the culled ones with more relevant twitter authors, who will deliver quality info or with whom you can socialize and share the joys of writing and the world of books.
   
3. Leverage Your Writing - This is a very valuable lesson I learnt as an expert author for Ezine Articles.
   There are tutorials on their website that I found to be very useful and informative.
   I have since heard several other reputable professional bloggers reiterate this very point.
   One of the principles that successful and prolific article writers use to drive traffic to their site, and one which saves them time, whilst increasing productivity, is to re-imagine their content.
   The actual content of this article for example, will be placed on my blog, reworked to be turned into a podcast, included in an eBook and used as a springboard for a video interview.
   With just one initial article, as long as it includes meaty, valuable points you can gift your readers, can produce for you five different published products to be marketed in different places and all driving traffic to your site.
   Further to this, you can use software to automate sharing your blog content with other social media sites with a click of a button, say for example to send the link to Twitter and Facebook.
   So, in this way your efforts spent on building your social media platform, can be less time consuming, much more productive and in some cases, automated.
   
4. Collaborate - Closely aligned to leveraging your efforts online, and therefore not mutually exclusive, is the concept of collaboration.
   I must admit, the younger generations (I am a Baby Boomer) are expert at this skill, but I had to make the physical effort on this one, as it hadn't been in my repertoire as a writer in the 80s & 90s, where all my writing was a result of individual efforts.
   In those days I was not involved in many collaborative projects.
   Now I realize the power of collaboration, especially today.
   Inviting writers to do guest posts, organizing innovative interviews and offering and accepting mentoring roles is not only time saving, but productive and most of all, highly rewarding.
   After all, writers are readers and we all appreciate and take pleasure in the talent of other writers! I have had the pleasure of working with some wonderful writers in many creative projects.
   I can highly recommend this strategy.
   

This topic will be of interest to all writers, who struggle with this twitterized world we live in, and who have to deal with these behemoths (like the shiny object syndrome), that encroach on our journey as writers.
This article is only a beginning though, first thoughts really.
It is by no means a panacea for the problems posed.
I would be most interested in others' ideas and suggestions to help us live more productive and enjoyable writing lives.