That's how much I reduced the noise on Twitter last night before bed. I had to tap unfollow - and then confirm for over 1,400 people.
That's the how. Here's the why.
It's easy to follow. A single tap, no confirm. I see somebody doing or saying something interesting and I follow. I see other friends liking their stuff, I follow. I enjoy the process of weaving the web of human connection. It leads to a lot of following in hopes of finding that dopamine hit of human novelty.
But, not everybody is on Twitter. Plenty of really interesting friends are not. Abe's on Twitter but he's not as conversational there as he is on the phone. He's also not investing his attention capital there so what he does post feels light. He's one example.
It takes a lot of time to keep up with 1400 "friends". There are 1440 minutes in the day. And though you don't see content from everybody daily, imagine if you just took one minute each week from each friend. You just invested a whole day on Twitter. A whole day? Yes. Not 8 hours -- 24 hours. That's a lot of time.
Meanwhile, you see people like Andrew - who are shipping. You see Pieter Levels shipping and earning at the above $1M / year mark.
It's time to step up the focus and enjoy the sound of the noise in my own head. Until I have a product with proven traction and the corresponding message which will be my drum to beat - I can safely spend less of my limited energy on Twitter.
That's the how. Here's the why.
It's easy to follow. A single tap, no confirm. I see somebody doing or saying something interesting and I follow. I see other friends liking their stuff, I follow. I enjoy the process of weaving the web of human connection. It leads to a lot of following in hopes of finding that dopamine hit of human novelty.
But, not everybody is on Twitter. Plenty of really interesting friends are not. Abe's on Twitter but he's not as conversational there as he is on the phone. He's also not investing his attention capital there so what he does post feels light. He's one example.
It takes a lot of time to keep up with 1400 "friends". There are 1440 minutes in the day. And though you don't see content from everybody daily, imagine if you just took one minute each week from each friend. You just invested a whole day on Twitter. A whole day? Yes. Not 8 hours -- 24 hours. That's a lot of time.
Meanwhile, you see people like Andrew - who are shipping. You see Pieter Levels shipping and earning at the above $1M / year mark.
It's time to step up the focus and enjoy the sound of the noise in my own head. Until I have a product with proven traction and the corresponding message which will be my drum to beat - I can safely spend less of my limited energy on Twitter.
-thumb.jpg)