Q. How do you have time to update so many blogs / social media etc.?

I've had a number of people ask me this. I don't really do anything special, and I'm in more awe of working parents who manage to do their creative work as well as social media. So my answer is basically:

1. We have no children.

2. We don't have cable tv.

3. I prioritize my time.

My basic advice for those who are finding it a challenge keeping up with social media:

Figure out WHY you want to use social media. What are your goals? Who is your target audience?

THEN prioritize and start slowly. Don't try to do everything (Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc.) at once.

Be efficient. Again, figure out what you want to get out of social media and then strategize accordingly.

General advice on finding more time:

Learn how to say no, even if it means disappointing people. For them, it's "just one quick favor" but they don't realize that if you say yes to all the requests for one quick favor, you'd be spending all your time doing these.

Learn how to say no, even if it means having to give up fun stuff. I find it especially hard to say no to favors or projects that I know would be fun. You don't have to give these up completely, of course! Just be picky about which ones you take on, so you can fully enjoy them and not regret saying yes later on.

Be aware of how you spend your time. I challenge you to log your daily activities for a week...EVERYTHING you do. Or if that's too much, for just a few days. Believe me, you'll learn a lot. What I found: When there's a task/job that I don't want to do, I'll do other littlestuff first. Doing all the littlestuff convinces my brain that I'm being productive and then suddenly BAM, hours have gone by and I realize that I have far less time to do the Important Task/Job than I had planned.

If you're a writer, do check out my Writer's Guide To Twitter.

Last updated on April 14, 2015 by Debbie Ohi