It had gotten to the point where I was unable to complete a thought or a task. This was so unlike me that I wondered if perhaps there was something physically wrong. Communications poured into my life. Emails on my desktop, laptop, Ipod and cellphone. SMS and voice messages. Phone calls, events, social media and news reports. Before I knew it, my day was done and all I had managed was to keep up with comms. I was getting tense and despite my attempts at giving every project my upmost attention, my day was becoming a patchwork of triage.

This started after my programer, Rob Frawley, set me up with Google everything. The system is pretty awesome and is configured so that all incoming communications funnel into one main holding area server side. Because I have a couple of computers and am on the road a lot, I needed access to my email, voicemail and social media conduits on the fly. Rob hooked me up and things worked great. I had lots of notifiers and alerts. Between my computers and my shiny new Samsung Vibrant, I didn’t miss a call or piece of correspondence. But after a month of relentless hourly alerts, I realized that what I had forgotten was that I was in charge. Not Google. Not Facebook. Not Twitter.

The fact is that my beloved gadgets are simply that. They are tools. And just as if we were to use a hammer all day, every day … our thumb might one day get smashed. I’m a huge advocate of social media and I believe it is a game changer on many levels, not only professionally but personally. Information moves fast and if you are in business, you need to use tools such as smartphones, a variety of applications, and a mixture of marketing media to be informed and to get your message into the world. Yesterday, as I attended the Shoreline Business Conference, I listened as one business expert after the another explained the value of social media, marketing, communications and the Internet. While the value of technology seems pretty obvious to me, I also know that the business person who uses social media needs not only a routine to manage the on-slot of information, but also there comes a point where you simply have to go off the grid.

I listened as entrepreneurs asked, “I’m in business and already work 14 hours a day. When on earth I am going to find time to go on Facebook?” Good question, but there’s a app for that. With Tweetdeck or Hootsuite, you can structure a routine and a system for updating all social media accounts with the single click of the mouse. These programs will allow you to configure all your networking accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin) so that you enter text once and manage it across all accounts. But you need more than an application like Tweetdeck to keep you sane. You need your brain too.

With the volume of social media accounts I handle, for myself and my clients, structure and routine is paramount. As you use Facebook and Twitter, you will begin to notice the optimum times of day that your updates will count most. For example, you might not want to kick off your important tweets during the playoffs. TV night during Mad Men… also a bad time to update important news. But if you dedicate 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night, you’ll find that Internet networking will start to work for you. You will begin to build a presence and make connections. As you start to develop relationships and begin “liking” pages you might find yourself drawn into social media for all things professional and personal. Be forewarned, using social media is fun.

Here’s where the brain part comes in. I believe there are times, when you must shut everything down including your cellphone and email, and focus on business at hand. No incoming distractions. I, for one, am a stickler for addressing phone calls and email responses promptly. By this I mean, I always attempt to fire back replies to email within minutes or hours. Here is where I got into trouble. All those stupid notifiers pinged and alerted me an average of 8 times a day. In order to shut down the noise, the first thing I did to fine tune my new routine was to quit all notifiers in my menu bar, on my Ipod and on my cell. Google will hold all my emails, voice mails and sms until I’M READY FOR THEM. While a quick response is certainly important, upon occasion, the world will not come to an end if your response comes at the end of the day. In fact, by creating this routine, your clients and contacts will come to appreciate the consistency of your responses at scheduled intervals.

I’d like to even take this notion outside of business. The demands on our time are incredible. I know many people who love what they do and work 7 days a week often remaining in the office until after midnight. Being able to be with family and friends is what we call life (thanks to Rich Holland for providing me with this reminder). You should be able to watch a movie with the kids without an email notifier alerting you of some incoming correspondence. Have Sunday dinner without interruption. We need to create bonds with three dimensional people, our world, and our homes. It’s what keeps us honest, refreshed and reminds us of our priorities. Life is what makes us creative people.

So yes, build your website. Make social media a part of your marketing arsenal and respond to emails and phone calls promptly. But make yourself a routine, create a system and take some time to enjoy life. Most importantly, remember . . . technology is not in charge. You are.