Busy Trap Blues
Beware the Busytrap, my son!
The jobs that fight, the plans that hatch!
Beware the crap that ‘must get done’The Facebook Twittersnatch!
I would have written this yesterday, apologies, but something came up.
Well OK, this is what happened. There I was, innocently minding my own e-mail, when up popped a message I absolutely had to check out.
I know this because the message said ‘You absolutely have to check this out!’ or hooks to that effect.
‘What the..?‘ I thought to myself. Hah! There’s no way they’re going to trick me, experienced e-mail veteran, survivor of a million cunning marketing campaigns, that I am. I’m not getting dragged into this one, not this time, not no way!
So anyway, I absolutely checked it out. And Lo! and Behold! they were right, by Jove! The latest, greatest New Thing to spend some of my abundant time on. A ‘revolutionary’ new way to present yourself on-line, no less. All your details in one place.
In their own words (you absolutely have to check this out): ‘Our new web site makes it easy for people to learn about you and find your content.’
Seriously though, you can get ‘detailed stats on who visited your page, what they clicked on’ and everything! What’s more, you can ‘create a free page in minutes with no coding required‘!
A must have! A no-brainer. An exceptional opportunity to grab my own little piece of virtual real estate and take my on-line presence to the next level.
Oh, and also a complete and utter, pure, unadulterated, mind-blowingly pointless waste of time.
Beware the Busytrap, my son!
The jobs that fight, the plans that hatch!
I did it anyway. You can check it out here in all its glory. Personally, I wouldn’t waste a second of your time on it. It’s a page with a big, slightly fuzzy photo of me and a couple of web links to sites you probably already know about if you’re reading this.
Pointless. As if I don’t have enough crap to occupy my days already, with trying to keep up a reasonably consistent output of vaguely interesting stuff on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn for about five or ten web sites I’m currently working on, I can’t even remember any more.
Not that the site in and of itself is a bad thing. I salute any creative, entrepreneurial endeavour. But dangerous. Oh-so-dangerous to get dragged into yet another blood-sucking time-drainer for extremely doubtful results.
And the net result of it all? This post is a day late. I have a new profile page about me on the net that no-one will visit. My inbox will fill up with regular messages telling me that no-one has visited my new profile page this week but hey, here’s a link to a helpful video on how to remedy the situation.
Strewth, how did I fall in the trap again? My name on yet another moronic mailing list. Yet another password I’ll have to desperately try and remember when I get around to cancelling my account during my next ‘pointless-posts’ junk mail purge.
Beware the crap that ‘must get done’
The Facebook Twittersnatch!
The moral of the story? Just.. say.. NO! the next time you are told you absolutely have to check out (and join – it’s free!) yet another latest, greatest New Thing.
The hidden cost? And oh yes, you’d better believe there is one. It’s what you could have done instead. It’s lost – forever – opportunities to create worthwhile content of your own. It’s increased mental clutter and complication in your life. It’s the stuff that really was important that got put off for another day, week, month, year or… forever.
Contrary to what about.me would have you believe, it’s not all about.them and their brand new, me.too attempt to extract funds from us at some point down the line (because obviously there’s a paid ‘upgrade’ option lurking to lure you).
No, it’s about.you, and more importantly your valuable creative possibility time.
The opportunity cost of blindly following yet another vitual dead end like this is an unfinished project remaining unfinished or a precious dream unrealised or unprogressed.
So think creatively and ask yourself at any given moment: is what I’m doing right now moving me closer to my No.1 goal? No.2 and No.3 goals are also ok. Filling in worthless web profiles isn’t. Thank you for taking the time to read this post – now carry on creating!
? I’m aware of the irony of taking sly shots at on-line marketers whilst doing exactly the same thing myself! My point is not to criticise genuine companies trying to provide genuine value on-line, like ‘about.me‘. It’s to warn against the sneaky time-stealers that stop us from reaching our creative potential. Enough said!
Notes
Sab Will writes about creativity in business and life.
As well as Creative Business Mind (this site!) he runs I Create Therefore I Am (general creativity), Mind Map Mad (mind mapping & visual problem solving) and Fun English Lessons (an on-line language learning site).
Sab is available for training in innovative thinking, creative problem solving, mind mapping and professional English language training. Please get in touch here to find out how increased creativity and innovation can help boost your business.
© 2015 Sab Will / Creative Business Mind