If you are like the majority of us, I’m sure you’ve spent time on social media. Whether it is for business productivity or for your personal life, you’ve likely encountered the people the online community refers to as trolls.
Like their fairytale counterparts, these people lie in wait for their unsuspecting social victims and enjoy causing problems or starting trouble on your posts. The easiest way to stop a social media troll in their tracks, is to block them.
While it is an easy click of a button to block trolls hindering productivity on social media, how we handle them in our real lives is a bit different. We encounter a number of people and obstacles throughout our daily lives, that make it hard for us to focus on what we are trying to accomplish.
We waste time incessantly checking email, contacting unproductive leads who aren’t likely to result in a sale and spending our time networking in the wrong fashion. All of these hindrances can be viewed as trolls. They interfere with where we are going, what we are trying to accomplish and distract us from reaching our goals.
Crossing the Troll Bridge to Productivity
If you’re tired of allowing trolls to deplete your energy and waste your time, there are some things you can do to keep them at bay and increase personal productivity by following the PLAN.
P – Prepare
When you create a plan for how you will spend your time, who you are going to spend time with and what you are going to do, you’ll be in control and much more productive.
L – Leverage
By leveraging the resources you have at your disposal, the relationships and the people that you know, you will be able to choose who is beneficial and who drains your energy and keeps you from achieving your goals. After seeing these distinctions, you’ll be prepared to make better decisions on who to spend your time with.
A – Assess
Take a close look at what is not working versus what is working. When you spend time repeating a process or following patterns that are not productive, you are wasting your time. And we all know, when you waste time, you’re wasting money. Focus on what is actually getting you closer to achieving your goals and spend your time on those important things.
N – No
This can be one of the hardest things to do, but you need to learn and accept that “NO” is a perfectly acceptable response. You do not need to justify your answer, just saying “NO” is enough. If you feel that a task, meeting, call, etc. is unproductive, or is a waste of your resources, choosing to say “NO” is perfectly acceptable.
Productivity Ever After
There’s no foolproof way to avoid dealing with trolls in your life; however, if you follow the PLAN, you’ll be better prepared to recognize what is beneficial to you and what is draining your resources and energy. It’s your life, learn how to make it productive and manage outside forces that only work to distract you and keep you from focusing on your goals.
Do you have any secrets for handling trolls online or offline? Comment and let’s discuss!
