I have a kitsch cookie jar called Gus. He has a bright cheery kitsch face, and is dressed in a shiny blue patrollman’s uniform. He is short and squat, an American style cop. The lid of the jar is his head and policeman’s cap, which is hinged to his body. If you raise his head to look inside or take a cookie, he says loudly:’ STOP! Move Away from the Cookie Jar!’ He’s wonderful.

Gus also inspired today’s blog entry. It’s been a long time since I posted, but a good time. Let me tell you why.

Like all of you, I work – sometimes too much. I’m passionate about my work so working hard has always been a pleasure for me, but last year I realised that the load had moved into overload, and I needed to act fast. One of the first things I did was to look at the time I was spending on electronic communications and social media, and the results were amazing. Email – astronomical time expenditure. Looking at peoples’ entries on social media – far too much time. Not only that, but I realised that the reports coming out of the US and Australia about social media causing a lot of depression were true. I mean, let’s be honest. If you’re down on a certain day, do you tell the world? My experience is that the vast majority of posts on blogs or social media platforms are upbeat, full of the good things people are doing or achieving. For those who are simply tired, or for others who may be struggling with difficult issues in their lives, this can be downright depressing.

So, here’s what I did. First of all, I went through my Linked In contacts with a scalpel. I decided to eradicate all contacts who were just there because I thought they should be rather than because I WANTED them to be. That was an eye opener. Gone are the overachievers who were posting wondrous feats several times a day. Now, I no longer get irritated by people who work for major institutions all day in ‘important’ positions and who spend so much of their employers’ time posting their latest personal achievements on their sites!! They’re out!

I also stopped blogging for several months (you may have noticed) and activity on other sites also dwindled. For me, the right decision at the right time. We do not have to keep up with other people all the time. We all have our own personal time-frames for our development and activities. We don’t need to match others. One of the more difficult aspects of social media platforms is that there is a constant avalanche of activity surging into our lives: not just ours, but ‘theirs’ as well. In order to survive the avalanche, we need to decide just how much ‘stuff’ we can swallow and digest at any one time, and regulate our activities on electronic platforms accordingly.

I now strictly regulate the times when I look at my email. This has been a huge time saver. And finally, more recently, I have hired an office administrator who is an excellent addition to the Speaking Solutions team. I can now go to the hairdresser in the middle of a work afternoon without having to work late at night to compensate!

So, if you are even approaching overload, STOP! Look at the time you are spending on electronic communication platforms, and think about redesigning that time to work better for you personally. That will help you to avoid the Overload Blues.