I read two interesting articles today that got me thinking. I came across the first article, In a World of Online News, Burnout Starts Younger, when it was retweeted by my friend Vadim Lavrusik (of Mashable). The second article that really got me thinking was from the Advanced Riskology blog, created and ran by Tyler Tervooren, and it is called One Productivity Myth You Can Ignore. First I want to discuss a bit about the two above mentioned people, and finally, the articles I came across because of them.

I'll keep this brief. I stumbled across Vadim through twitter over a year ago, and have been following him ever since. He is an excellent source of information, particularly focusing on journalism and social media. I highly recommend his twitter feed (which I linked above) to anyone looking to stay up-to-date on journalism and social media. Period. I have just recently begun to follow Tyler, but his blog is an incredibly fresh perspective on business and life in general. He constantly pushes one to think creatively, and challenge one's self, which are both sorely needed in our modern society. They are both brilliant, and interestingly enough, have taken surprisingly different routes to get where they are today.They are two sides on the coin of brilliance, though I won't get into a semantic argument about who gets to be 'heads,' and who gets to be 'tails.' 

The first article, concerning the burnout of young professionals in the online news world, was quite eye-opening. I think anybody who is heavily involved in the world of online news has been feeling some degree of 'burn-out' for awhile now. Even though I am not as involved as someone like Vadim (who is quite a workhorse), I too feel the effects of this burn-out occasionally. A lot of people still believe the work day is typically 9-5, but anyone involved in online news, and even social media, understands the opposite is true. Journalism, according to my J-School profs of old, and pretty much any journalist who is worth their salt, has never been a 9 to 5 job. You can't just shut off your journalizing. The same can be said of one's social media presence.

At this stage of social media, and online journalism, maintaining that connection to the social world is one's bread and butter. If breaking news happens, many people EXPECT it instantly. And maybe they should, because after all, that's our job as journalists. It would be ridiculous to blame the burn-out on the news, or our jobs, in and of themselves. We are the ones who are not disconnecting, or unplugging from the Matrix when the shift is over.

There is a movement to reduce our dependency on being connected AT ALL TIMES to the social media/e-mail machine. I read an interesting article on Advanced Riskology that discussed exactly that. It linked to Everett Bogue's Minimalist Business, which argues for a much simpler, and less materialistic, conformist lifestyle in order to achieve happiness. I think he's on to something.

This brings me to the second article that I mentioned above. Tyler's article discusses the common myth that the 'early bird gets the worm.' (Sorry for the cliché Tyler, you'll have to forgive me). He argues that rising early is often a successful strategy, employed by successful people. But, it isn't for everybody. He argues that a person should listen to their body, and adopt a more natural sleep cycle according to one's own needs and feelings. There's absolutely no reason to always wake up early if it is out of tune with the way your body wants to be ran. Tyler, to his credit, is an early riser, which means he isn't some lazy 20something who feels everyone should stay up late and sleep in late, and never be productive with their day. In fact, he is quite successful (refer to his website, which is linked above, for more.)

What I want everyone to take out of this blog is simple. It is important to disconnect from the social media world. It is also important to make your own rules, more or less, in terms of how you live your life. If you're not happy, something needs to change, or you risk burning yourself out. Life is meant to be enjoyed; it isn't a race.