Time-Bound

So I'm a teacher. We set goals and stuff for the progress of our students. I'm a huge goal-setter. I've blogged about setting goals for your blog, your audience, etc.

Today, we're going to add something to that goal. A time limit.

In teaching, all of our goals are time-bound (it's what the T stands for in S.M.A.R.T. goals). So you should have a time limit on your goals as well -- real-life or writing.

For example, I made a goal to get published. I set a time limit of 5 years. Now I'm not saying that if you've been trying longer than 5 years, you should quit. But you should set a limit and work toward it. Readjust if necessary.

The same goes for blogging and social networking. Set a time frame, and then let go of the guilt.

Let me repeat that: Set a time frame and then let go of the guilt.

For me, I've decided that it's nigh to impossible that I can get to everyone's blog every time they post. It just isn't happening. So what have I done? Spiraled into summering, not reading anything. Then what happens?

Guilt.

So, here's my solution to that. If you're struggling with this, please join me.

I'm setting a time limit. I will devote 1 or 2 hours a day (depending on my schedule) to social networking. This includes reading blogs, commenting on facebook status, and updating twitter.

That's it. Once my time is up, I'm done.

And I refuse to feel guilty about it. If I miss you one day, I'll try to get you the next.

So who's with me? If you feel like you'll never get it done, you're right. You won't. But set a goal to do as much as you can for that one hour. And then let the guilt go.

Are you ready? How much time will you devote to social networking this summer? And how will you push that guilt away? I definitely need some tips for that.