Let’s face it, between work, family, friends, and everything else that occupies—or threatens to occupy—our attention, we live busy lives.

Do you often find yourself professing that you don’t have enough time during the day to get done what needs to be done, whether it’s work or family obligations. It can be quite frustrating at times. Have you felt this way?

At the end of 2016, Facebook released their Year in Review app which allows you to post a set of pictures to your timeline that are representative of your year. It’s one of my favorite things Facebook does. I look forward to it every year. I watched the video of my pictures and then scrolled to see the details below.

I couldn’t believe my eyes!

I knew I had spent some time on Facebook here and there. Sometimes I scrolled through my Facebook feed, occasionally posting something myself, and maybe watching a viral video. I mean, who didn’t see some of the videos that went viral in 2016 like Candace Payne’s video? You might know her as “Chewbaca Mom.” Were you like me, wondering what Pokemon Go was and why it was EVERYWHERE on Facebook?

THE TRUTH

The truth is, I had been on Facebook more than I had realized.

I had one friend that seemed to only spend a “reasonable amount of time on Facebook” that had reacted to 11,657 posts in 2016—that’s almost 32 per day!

If you spent just 30 seconds pondering a post and reacting to it, then that is a whopping 58 hours reacting to people’s Facebook posts. That’s a week and a half of your time!

Even if each reaction took 10 seconds, on average, that means 19 total hours were spent reacting to people’s Facebook posts.

What could we have been doing with that 19 or 58 hours last year? That equates to as much as 10 minutes per day—plenty of time to schedule another party, let 5-6 customers hear your voice and know that you really value them and their business, or you could have read a book to your child, talked with your husband, or perhaps even read God’s word!

WHAT FACEBOOK DIDN’T TELL ME

I want to you try something else on for size. Facebook didn’t tell me how many videos I had watched and it didn’t tell me how many status updates I made. It also didn’t tell how much time was spent scrolling to find something to react to.

So, I can say for sure that 10 minutes per day is probably not an accurate number. It’s probably more like 30 minutes per day —which amounts to over 180 hours during the year!

WHAT DOES THE MATH LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

Let’s be honest, I am sure you spend more than an hour, and I know many of you spend 4, 6, 8, 10 or even more hours a DAY (yes a day) under the pretense of you are looking for business and that is your main platform for business. At 1 hour a day, that’s 365 hours. That equates to over 2 weeks.

For those of you that are on for 4 hours a day that is 8 weeks…

I can’t go on. This is too upsetting.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?

What these horrifying statistics told me was as clear as a smack to the face! It told me that I was spending WAY TOO MUCH TIME ON FACEBOOK! ARE YOU?

The truth of the matter is… we all have time.

One saying my mom always said was, “We all have the same 24 hours in a day. How are you going to spend yours? On your priorities. Look at your where you spend your time. It is telling us what you value.”

We all have time, we just might need to spend it better!

Have you been listening to that voice in your head that has been telling you that you don’t have time to talk to your customers, do proper host coaching, get new bookings, train your new team member, or prospect for one?

Perhaps you have been saying that you don’t have time to listen to a training that could change the way you book your shows or increase your sales or even help you organize and put systems together for your business.

Have you been agreeing with the voice that has been saying that you don’t have time to go on a date or make your husband’s favorite meal? What about spending time reading a book to your child or simply reading the Bible and praying?

As you look over the last year, did you find it easier to just scroll Facebook, unplug and bury yourself in other people’s profile or stalk an old friend from high school?

DON’T BE DECEIVED

It’s a lot easier to bury your thoughts in something that doesn’t really matter, right? Don’t be deceived.

Your dream isn’t waiting for you there. It might seem like a great short-term fix, but if you add up the hours, weeks, months and years, you might be embarrassed or even ashamed of the time you have spent on Facebook, seeking approval, validation, or the company of strangers and not having spent that time with your family or truly building your business.

How much time do you spend every day on social media? What does that add up to every week, every month, and over the course of a year? What really is your return on your investment for the time you have spent?

MOVING FORWARD

So, moving forward, what will your commitment be to make sure that God, your family, and your business get your time and attention first and foremost?

If you want a quick and easy way to start your week of right, with God and a focus on your business, join me for the Christian Direct Seller Bible Study & Prayer call every Monday morning at 8:30 am central time.

I hope to hear your voice on the call on Monday, and be sure to invite your team and direct sales friends to do the same!!