Why Avoiding Social Media Gives You More Writing Time

“I don’t have enough time to write.”

We’ve all said it. We’ve all felt the frustration of wanting more time to spend on our writing endeavors. But also the frustration of how to find that writing time. Your day is already full to the max, how can you possibly squeeze more writing time in?

You might feel it’s a hopeless cause, I’ve felt that before. But I’ve since learned the importance of prioritizing your time to fit in the things you want. It’s sounds super simple, but it takes more sacrifice then you might think.

You have to be willing to give up things to find time for other things. Sometimes those things you have to give up is something you really enjoy. It’s not always fun, but if writing is something you’re fully committed to, it will be well worth the loss.

You see, we all have the thing that distracts us most. For me, that thing is social media. It could be anything for you, I can’t name it. You have to evaluate what is zapping the most time out of your day to day life and decide how important it is to you.

I had to decide that social media is not worth the amount of time I was spending on it. Yes, I’m trying to grow a platform and, yes, I enjoy encouraging others in their writing journeys. But it was taking too much time out of my day that I could have and should have been spending on other areas. Now, I haven’t completely cut it out of my life. But I have severely limited myself to only getting on a couple times a week.

And you know what? It’s mind-blowing how much time I suddenly have to write! Sometimes you don’t realize how much time you’re spending on something until you give it up. Then, suddenly, you find yourself bored. Isn’t that great?

Because it’s in that boredom that we force ourselves to pick up a pencil and start to write. Or maybe you reach for a book instead. Or spend quality time in the great outdoors. Or any other thing that you haven’t had time for lately but suddenly do.

I’m using social media as an example in this post because it’s what I’m currently struggling with and it’s also a common distractor for a lot of people. But maybe that’s not the case for you. I want to challenge you to find your main distractor in your life and try to cut back on the time you’re spending at it or even cut it out entirely. Everybody has to do this in order to achieve their dreams. You are not alone.

It will be hard, I won’t deny that. I find myself constantly reaching for my phone when I have a free moment and I have to stop myself every time. But then, instead, I think what should I be doing instead? A lot of times I pick up a book–something I haven’t had a lot of time for in a while. Or I look at my to-do list and pick something on there to get done. I’m finding I can complete the tasks I write down a lot faster by simply cutting one thing out of my life.

And that, my friend, is when you see the rewards of this hard task. When you see everything you’ve accomplished at the end of the week and how many extra words you’ve fit in. It all becomes worth it. You’re being more productive instead of letting a single thing take away your life. Social media can do that all too easily.

Don’t let it.

Put away your phone and go write!

Your turn!

What is your main distractor? Do you struggle with social media taking too much of your time? How do you plan to take out your distractor and be more productive?

Blessings, Allyson