We all know that the fastest way to grow a business is to focus like a ninja on the things that are going to have the biggest impact. Unfortunately those things are also usually the things that scare the pants off you and which you will do anything to avoid. Like actually writing a blog and sharing it. Or contacting someone for a sales conversation.
This is usually when you get a sudden and overwhelming urge to check Facebook.
It becomes essential to check that your perfect client hasn’t just posted an urgent request for help on social media that only you can answer. Or to tweet to someone you met last week and forgot to connect with. But deep down you know that you are just avoiding doing the thing that needs you to be brave. Sometimes your own willpower is not quite enough to keep you from being distracted by evil temptress that is social media and that’s where I have a couple of technological helpers to make sure that you don’t get distracted.
Here are 2 tools to stop social media procrastination
Rescue Time www.rescuetime.com 
This works brilliantly if you are the sort of person who would be horrified if you knew how much time you were wasting and that would motivate you to get on with the important stuff. You install it on your computer (Mac or PC) and it tracks the amount of time it spends on different programmes and tools then gives you a report each day of how well you spent your time. So a great insight for those who just need a bit of a kick up the pants. It as a great free version though the premium offers more functionality if you want to block certain sites.
Cold Turkey www.getcoldturkey.com 
This is another tool you install (also free) that you list the websites that you don’t want to be allowed on and then say how long to block you for. An hour, a day, you choose. Until the time is up then the site just displays as not available. Only available for PCs but there is an alternative called Self Control (http://selfcontrolapp.com/)for iOS though I can’t recommend as I haven’t used it personally. Make sure you leave your phone out of reach too if you think you might be tempted! I hope you find one or both of these tools useful. I promise they can really make a difference to your productivity but only if you actually use them. Check out my post on Why systems are like Zumba for more of that!