Watching TV With The Sound Off…

When I was a little girl my grandfather would sit and watch TV with the sound off. He would watch French movies, but he didn’t speak French so he’d turn off the sound and watch.

This seemed crazy to me. But ‘Poppy’ (as I called him) said you could tell a lot just from the body language of the actors. He suggested I try it.

Then as I watched I became fascinated with creating my own story. No longer was it limited to a story I might have found boring and even over my head. Now Poppy and I were watching the same thing but we each were putting our own spin on it, our own ideas and preferences. We were experiencing two completely different shows at exactly the same time. We were now directors telling the story in a way that fit what we wanted.

What does this have to do with online business?

Have you noticed there’s a LOT more noise these days? Back in the day (gee I sound old now) when Poppy was turning the sound off French movies the internet was something we might have seen in some sci-fi movie. It was not reality yet for the common household. I had no idea I’d have so many things battling for my attention and that I’d have to tune out much noise just to get anything done.

Today I closed my Facebook account

Why? There was way too much noise in there. I have virtually ‘turned off the volume’ on one social media site because the noise was completely distracting.

Yes, I know there are ways to manage it all, ways to avoid spending all day on there and ways to make social media work but for me, for now I just need to turn the volume off completely.

I did decide to keep Twitter. That’s like playing to me. It’s like ICQ or MSN from ‘back in the internet olden days’. Remember ICQ – that ‘uh-oh!’ noise when someone messaged you? LOL

I’ll probably open up Facebook again at some point but for now I’m feeling very happy about my decision.

Here’s my point with this post. Don’t keep the volume on just because ‘it’s the thing to do’. Think like Poppy, get creative and give yourself time to use your own imagination.

I’m not sayin you should cancel your Facebook account. Maybe that’s working well for you. What I’m saying is cut out the noise – wherever it is. On the internet it’s harder than ever because information is flying at us from all corners.

I’m tired of all these social media experts, etc, making it sound like you MUST be on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, YouTube, Flickr, and on and on and on. I say do what you want to do. Watch TV with the sound off – be you and don’t follow the crowd.

If you can do it and concentrate on tasks that give you great Return on Investment (of both TIME and MONEY) then you might just have time to learn a little French if you feel so inclined