--- title: "Social Media Roundup: Get the Hard Part Out of the Way" id: "13554" type: "post" slug: "social-media-roundup-get-the-hard-part-out-of-the-way" published_at: "2012-09-27T21:31:53+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-17T17:13:38+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/09/27/social-media-roundup-get-the-hard-part-out-of-the-way/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/09/27/social-media-roundup-get-the-hard-part-out-of-the-way.md" excerpt: "Also: What one consultant says Mitt Romney is doing wrong — and you can do right." taxonomy_category: - "Meetings / Events" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Leadership" - "online events" - "productivity" - "Social Media" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "C-Level" - "Executive Team" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Social Media Roundup: Get the Hard Part Out of the Way Are distractions keeping you from getting focused? According to one author, not letting the most challenging thing on your plate linger — among other things — will help keep you sane. That and more in today’s roundup: ### Do the Hardest Thing First > Eliminate Distractions does it, h/t [@chatterbachs (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/ChatterBachs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > > [http://t.co/mkIFY8a6 (opens in a new tab)](http://t.co/mkIFY8a6) > > — Deirdre Reid, CAE (@DeirdreReid) [September 27, 2012 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/DeirdreReid/status/251327118108143616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) **According to author and strategist** Geoff Livingston, if you want to be focused, you have to cut out the distractions. [He has a nice list of things (opens in a new tab)](http://geofflivingston.com/2012/09/21/eliminating-distractions/) that he’s done over the past couple of years to keep distractions to a minimum — he won’t spend endless amounts of time on social media anymore, and he skips out on drama. Our favorite item on his list, though? This one: “Whatever my most difficult and/or necessary task of the day is — the one thing gnawing at my brain — I handle it first.” How do you handle your big challenges? (ht [@deirdrereid (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/deirdrereid/status/251327118108143616) ) ### More of the Same? > what ails political rallies? [http://t.co/e7kOqpL4 (opens in a new tab)](http://t.co/e7kOqpL4) > it’s all about the experience. [#asae (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/hashtag/asae?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > [#eventprofs (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/hashtag/eventprofs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > [#mpi (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/hashtag/mpi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > [#pcma (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/hashtag/pcma?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > it’ll all be over soon… > > — John Nawn (@event_strategy) [September 27, 2012 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/event_strategy/status/251316911579742210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) **Politics aside,** Republican consultant and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos may be sparking some flames when he suggests that Mitt Romney’s political events are boring, but [there’s a translatable point in here (opens in a new tab)](http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/27/opinion/castellanos-romney-rallies/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7) for associations. We swear! “Every time I turn on my TV,” he said recently, “it’s the same political rally with Paul Ryan and the same crowd around him, state after state after state, and it looks like a political beauty pageant. And it looks like politics, not like governing.” He suggests that Romney change things up to reach different audiences. How do you ensure that you’re not “preaching to the choir” with one-note events, like Castellanos suggests Romney has? (ht [@perfectmeeting (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/perfectmeeting/status/251316911579742210) ) What cool stuff have you seen online today? Shoot us a comment. (Photodisc) [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. 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