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Information Overload...or Why I needed a Break from the Rain

By
Real Estate Agent with Leading Edge Properties

information overload

It has been weeks since I posted an entry to my blog.  I'm a bad bad blogger.  I haven't even done a lot of reading and commenting.  I'm a bad bad commenter.  

After becoming a member of Active Rain earlier this year, I left it alone and kind of forgot about it.  How I got turned onto it again is a quandry...did I get a newsletter in my email?  did I talk to another member at a Realtor function who reminded me of all I was missing?  was I bored one day and in surfing the web, stumble upon it again?  Who knows?

Whatever brought me back to the rain, I came back with a vengeance!  

For months I was on almost every single day.  I was commenting a lot, even getting my toes wet with blogging of my own.  I was meeting wonderful, funny, smart, sarcastic, sometimes bizarre people from all over the country and learning so much about the business of being a working Realtor, and also learning so much about topics I was really unfamiliar with.  Within weeks, I felt like I had become a much better professional...from just what I learned here in the Rain.

But then something happened.

I don't know what it was.  All the sudden, I didn't seem to have the energy to peruse all the great posts;  didn't have the brain power to delve into posts discussing even more stuff I don't know much about.  Worse yet, I felt extreme guilt about not playing in the Rain more often. 

It was all just too much:  SEO is important, so I joined twitter, linkedin, facebook, etc.  Then I had to figure out how to add the widgets to my page here.  If I add them here, I should add them to my website too.  Then if I can manage to do that, I actually should use them, shouldn't I?  And if I'm going that far, I really should see what else is out there in internet-world that I should be a part of.  AFTER ALL, I NEED TO HAVE MY NAME EVERYWHERE OR GOOGLE WON'T FIND ME!!!  Even though I'm diabetic, google-juice is something I must partake of to be successful.  (someone, I'm sure, will tell me where to get the low sugar version of the G-Juice)

To say that sometime in early November, I achieved "INFORMATION OVERLOAD" would be an understatement.  Its all very exciting, but this 45 year old brain is having a hard time processing.  I managed to get the hang of Postlets, can even insert them here in my blog.  But then what do I do?  How many tags to put on an individual post?  If I put it on Localism, can I put it in other places too?  If I write a blog that is nothing but a rant I need to let loose because some crazy thing has happened with one of my transactions, do I tag the post Members Only?  I have a very nice "my live signature" on my home page, but can't figure out how to make it appear at the end of my comments...

Don't even get me started on Twitter.  I think I might like it better if I had a phone that had a real keyboard...I'm an abominable texter, so maybe I should get a new cell phone.  Crap!  Then I'll have to figure out how to work another piece of gadgetry...and really, do I want to spend my precious little downtime constantly twittering?  I don't know.  It looks like fun, and I do love to talk, but when is enough, enough?

When I saw the picture at the top of this post, I thought, oh my, she is me.  A mountain of information within her fingertips, but where to start???  So in a sense, I've done what I think that woman is about to do.  Slide carefully out from under her desk and run screaming to the nearest day spa.  Take a walk in the park without a cell phone in my pocket.  Watch uninterrupted reruns of Law & Order for hours at a time...its comforting...you know how it ends, you don't really have to pay attention to it.

I feel like I'm ready to slowly wade back into the water here in Active Rain.  Some kind of realistic scheduling of time to be here and learn what I can.  That's my current plan anyway...

I know I've rambled on quite a long while here, and I haven't even gotten to talk about all the other stuff that takes up my brain space:  family, friends, church, my new granddaughter, the fact that I'm going to be president of our Home Owners Association in 2009, buyers, sellers, coworkers, etc...too much! 

The struggle to balance one's life is never easy.  I know I'm not the only member here who has experienced this...so a little guidance please?

Posted by

askleadingedge.com

Amy Salisbury, Realtor/Owner

                                 amy@askleadingedge.com     www.askleadingedge.com

 Leading Edge Properties

130 Augustine Avenue, Unit 54, Charles Town, West Virginia 25414 

304.724.9191

Striving to provide excellent customer satisfaction in all things real estate related in the beautiful Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, just an hour west of Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD.

Serving Jefferson County: Charles Town, Harpers Ferry, Shepherdstown.  Berkeley County: Martinsburg, Inwood, Bunker Hill, Falling Waters, Hedgesville, Gerrardstown.

Please feel free to email questions and comments!

Norma J. Elkins
Elite Realty Group - Morristown, TN
Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team

WOW!!! It may just be a thing that "WEST VIRGINIA" gals experience --- I am a former WV girl and I certainly feel overwhelmed at all of these different websites ---- and sometimes just have to take a break ---- good luck!

Dec 03, 2008 10:25 PM
Amy Salisbury
Leading Edge Properties - Charles Town, WV
West Virginia Realtor/Jefferson/Berkeley

Norma, I knew I couldn't be the only one!!!  Glad to know that even though you're not in "Almost Heaven" anymore, we still speak the same language...!

Dec 03, 2008 10:38 PM
Mary Strang
Viroqua, WI

Amy, IMO It is also some of the competition here too.  Since we deal with it at work, then with the AR points and rank, it gets to be annoying keeping that all up in the air too.

Dec 04, 2008 03:38 AM
Amy Salisbury
Leading Edge Properties - Charles Town, WV
West Virginia Realtor/Jefferson/Berkeley

Good point Mary, I've always wanted the "A+" in everything I do and AR is no different.  The realization that there is so much out there I should be doing and learning about real estate and building my business, on top of the points and rank positioning...well, I got really overwhelmed.  I don't consider myself terribly competitive, but if there's something out there that someone is doing well, I think I should be able to do it too.  It certainly can spiral out of control!  Thanks for commenting!

Dec 04, 2008 08:34 AM
TeamCHI - Complete Home Inspections, Inc.
Complete Home Inspections, Inc. - Brentwood, TN
Home Inspectons - Nashville, TN area - 615.661.029

Amy, Bad blogger, Bad blogger! Shame! Shame! - LOL Seriously though, I know the feeling well. It is extremely difficult to keep things in perspective. Balancing life between work, family and OH Yes, Active Rain is difficult. I have to limit myself to the wee hours of the morning and put a cap of about an hour to respond and an hour sometime during the day to write posts for the next day - usually on my laptop while sitting in the living room with the fam...

Dec 04, 2008 08:10 PM
Amy Salisbury
Leading Edge Properties - Charles Town, WV
West Virginia Realtor/Jefferson/Berkeley

Michael,

Your so right about prioritizing! Glad you found the way that works for you!  Lately for me, its been feast or famine...

Dec 04, 2008 09:19 PM
Mary Strang
Viroqua, WI

Amy, Another thought too, coming up with that gold star, featured post that all are sure to comment on is time consuming to write, I have yet to do it...

Dec 05, 2008 12:09 AM
Amy Salisbury
Leading Edge Properties - Charles Town, WV
West Virginia Realtor/Jefferson/Berkeley

Oh my gosh, Mary, I'm sure I'll never get a gold star!!!  There's way too much good competition with blog writers here...I'm happy when a handful of people take the time to read and comment on my blogs!

Dec 05, 2008 01:27 AM
Christine Donovan
Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA
Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

There's so much info on AR, and then they dend you to other places to learn even more.  It can be very overwhelming.

Dec 05, 2008 03:17 PM
C Tann-Starr
Tann Starr & Associates, Inc. - Palm Bay, FL

Amy, schedule a specific time to do one thing and then do that one thing only. Monday is Twitter, Tues AR, Wednesday Facebook, etc. You will stop feeling overwhelmed if you slow down and limit your time. Give yourself 30 minutes and get off. If you have down time, give yourself fifteen minutes and get off.

I work in 20 minute intervals so it sometimes seems like I am all over the place at once. I open multiple tabs and have all of my social media running at the same time. I tab through different screens and when my time is done I go do something else until it's time to log back in and check on what I missed. Do really small increments and you'll feel better.

Dec 05, 2008 03:47 PM
Amy Salisbury
Leading Edge Properties - Charles Town, WV
West Virginia Realtor/Jefferson/Berkeley

Christine - There have been actual times that I've started reading someone's post (usually Brad's, Rich's, Kim's or Jeremy's), then need to click through their posts to pick up some vital piece of info on widgets or customizing my blog, which leads me to even other different places to set up my personal widgets or customizer thingies...I've totally forgotten what I started doing in the first place!!!

Carolyn - Your plan seems to make a lot of sense.  A little bit of time devoted to each "project" so nothing is getting left out in the Rain (so to speak!!!) And by the way, you've encouraged me to get my camera out and start shooting!  We'll see if I find any eye candy for you!  Thanks!!!

Dec 05, 2008 06:59 PM