3020: [Part 2] Does Anyone Actually Want This In Their Daily Routine? by Anthony Ongaro of Break the Twitch on Intentional Living and Productivity

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 3020 Does Anyone Actually Want This In Their Daily Routine, Part 2 by Anthony Ongaro of BreaktheTwitch.com and I'm Justin Malik

[00:00:12] Welcome back or welcome for the first time if you're new here. This is where I read to you like a big ongoing audiobook from many different authors but today being a continuation from yesterday so I'd recommend listening to yesterday's episode first

[00:00:25] but if you're all caught up let's get right to part 2 and continue optimizing your life Does Anyone Actually Want This In Their Daily Routine, Part 2 by Anthony Ongaro of BreaktheTwitch.com If you're in your early 30s and you spend about two hours on social media every single day

[00:00:48] then you will have spent six waking years of your life on social media that's generally more time than anyone spends eating, grooming, exercising or socializing on any given day I realize that many people work on social media in various marketing roles all day long

[00:01:06] but even when looking at time spent outside of those types of jobs we do need to ask ourselves if we really want to spend in total years of our lives doing this

[00:01:17] Based on my own experience and the experiences other people share when I ask what an ideal day might look like there's been a consistent and interesting result I almost never see anyone write check social media as a part of a day they could design completely to their liking

[00:01:34] Instead, they detail things like spending time with friends, family, traveling, reading more, going on hikes, cooking, creating or napping No one mentions social media as part of their ideal day For me, this solidly falls into the category of my favorite Annie Dillard quote

[00:01:55] How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives end quote Each of these moments combine over the years to effectively become what we spend our lives doing

[00:02:06] which is made evident by how the two hours per day end up equaling six years in a lifetime Well wait Anthony, you're a blogger and YouTuber, isn't social media critical?

[00:02:18] One of the first things friends tend to ask me when I tell them I've considered removing my personal profiles from social media is this But doesn't your livelihood depend on social media? You're a blogger and a YouTuber

[00:02:31] That's true and for a long time I felt that my work depended highly on an active social media presence But from my experience of substantially increased productivity during the various social media detoxes I've done My thinking has drastically shifted My definition of work has changed

[00:02:50] After reading books like Deep Work which makes a convincing argument that creators and knowledge workers shouldn't be spending their time trying to figure out what to tweet I can't help but think that my job here isn't to actively engage on social media

[00:03:04] My job here at Break the Twitch is to share the most helpful, impactful and life-changing information possible In my opinion that is the best way that I can help you minimize distractions in your own life and do more of what matters to you every single day

[00:03:20] That means doing the deep work and diving into what it means to live intentionally, how we can break the twitch in different areas of our lives And in the end live better for ourselves and others

[00:03:32] I simply cannot do my best work as I experienced while writing my book when I myself am distracted Spending fractured time throughout the day trying to keep up with social media Even within the context of our production company clients, the same is true

[00:03:49] My job is to make the most creative, effective and interesting videos to solve the needs of organizations and entrepreneurs My ability to do that at the peak of my abilities diminishes when I'm aimlessly browsing and keeping up with social media

[00:04:05] The further I dive into creative work, the more I think social media is a distractor not only for me but likely for most of us And given this information you'd think that I'd choose to not use social media anymore to step away completely

[00:04:21] Seems like it would be the right thing to do right? Instead, I'd tell myself I could integrate social media in a balanced way back in my life after each social media detox Then over the following months the habit slowly creeps back

[00:04:36] And then the in-between moments of life start filling with picture posts, likes and feed scrolling So why have I always kept coming back? There's probably some fear involved, that's for sure I've been on Facebook since I was a freshman in college and I'm now 32 years old

[00:04:53] I've basically used it for all of my adult life In addition to that, there's a small part of me that wonders how it may affect my work here After all, two of my biggest refers of traffic to this site are Facebook and Pinterest

[00:05:08] A small part of me also fears not being found through my personal social media accounts As a recent example, I made an amazing connection through Instagram with my high school friend Molly

[00:05:19] Who is doing some pretty incredible things right now while I was in Anchorage, Alaska on a film shoot She saw that I was in Alaska from an Instagram post and reached out We met up for coffee during my 10 hour layover there and it was great to catch up

[00:05:33] I fear missing out on connections like this if I minimize my social media presence Social media is simply a tool, but is it doing the right job? When I look at the different social media networks, I see them as tools

[00:05:49] While designed to be addicting, social media is only a tool just like a hammer If you don't have any nails to pound, perhaps the hammer stays away in its drawer I'm grateful for the connections that I've made through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other networks

[00:06:05] I've never managed to get a job through LinkedIn, but I found my last full-time job on Twitter Either way, I'm beginning to view active participation on social media networks as less of something to be managed And more of something to be minimized or potentially removed

[00:06:21] If it's distracting you from doing more of what matters, well how could we not? You just listened to part 2 of the post titled Does Anyone Actually Want This in Their Daily Routine? By Anthony Anguero of BreakTheTowitch.com Thank you to Anthony

[00:06:42] Two hours a day on social media is a lot There's no way I personally spend that much time on it But even if it's one hour a day and you're in your early 30s That would still be three waking years of your life on there

[00:06:56] It's crazy to think about If it's not your job and you do spend hours a day on it I wouldn't feel bad, but instead again like we talked about yesterday Maybe a sabbatical or detox could be worth looking into

[00:07:09] I briefly mentioned that Diana from our Optimal Finance Daily podcast did something like this It's called the Hoffman process and they have a few locations You go there in person and turn in your cell phone so you're completely disconnected Then they're supposed to help you become conscious of

[00:07:28] And disconnected from negative patterns of thought and behavior on emotional, intellectual And physical levels to make positive changes in your life It's an interesting idea, you can learn more at HoffmanInstitute.org That's not a sponsor, just something Diana from Optimal Finance Daily found and wanted to try

[00:07:46] So maybe something to look into If you have trouble controlling yourself and you're still checking the phone Even when you really didn't want to That could be a good way to force it, temporarily at least But in either case, thank you to Anthony for this article

[00:08:00] Thank you for being here on this journey with me And for subscribing or following and sharing this show with others That really does help a ton I've heard how some listeners found this show from other people

[00:08:12] Word of mouth goes a long way and we really could use the help Now's a great time to spread the love and positivity And with that, have a great rest of your day And I'll see you tomorrow Where your Optimal Life awaits