Guest blog from Judy Carter
Just when I was feeling so up on all forms of electronic communication, Lois Creamer, social media expert, asked me, “Are you attending the Tweet Chat tonight? You know, the hashtag-speakerchat-tweetchat.”
(Yeah, try saying that three times fast!)
“What’s that?” I asked.
“O…M…G Judy! You haven’t been to a TweetChat???”
Right then and there I felt utter exhaustion overcoming me. I pride myself in keeping up. I’ve emailed, faxed, FB-ed, tweeted, Skyped, Google Circled, IM-ed, SMS-ed, VM-ed, Vibered, Voxed, Airbnb-ed, Words with Friended, and I’m even a member of the Psychic Network. But apparently, that’s not enough. There is something that I’ve been missing in my life.
I felt overwhelmed — like I couldn’t take a big enough breath for the oxygen this one more thing would need.
I took my dogs and walked out of my house. I ran into my neighbor, author and improv teacher, Andy Goldberg and his dog Barney. We talked about our frustrations, our work, our relationships, and our projects – and how there just isn’t enough time for all the things we wish we could do.
We walked, we talked, we got some exercise, and I felt better. BUT — I had to say goodbye — because I didn’t want to miss my first Tweet Chat.
After spending an hour watching people yak away with 140 characters or less, I realized that the highlight of my day was my conversation with Andy. There’s nothing better than one-on-one talking, walking, and watching my dogs send and receive their “pee-mail”.
We spend so much time trying to communicate with other people that it’s easy to forget that it works a lot better in person. That applies to what you do in your career, too.
Get out of the house — and make something happen.