My head is going to explode.  Seriously, I’m not kidding, this is no joke.  If one more social networking site pops up, I will be done for.  It was nice knowing you.  I sure will miss you.  Adios.  Goodbye... 

I spent an hour or so today cruising through Google+.  I find it merely ok.  Maybe I am too much of a Facebook girl.  Maybe it is because I still have a MySpace account.  Maybe it is because I love Tweetdeck and already have too many columns set up to monitor.  Maybe it is because I manage five groups on LinkedIn.  Maybe it is because I still have six email accounts.  Maybe it is because even though I like FB Places better, I still enjoy Foursquare occasionally and Gowalla rarely.   Maybe it is because I have been part of some very successful GroupMe "groups."  Maybe it is because I still log in to Plaxo and Fastpitch every once in a while.  Maybe it is because I already have too many apps on my mobile device that I rarely use.  And Scoville, Naymz, Xing, and BranchOut always want me back…

Maybe I feel like the multiple tracks that run through my head and over my heart carry too many trains that I will never be able to catch and seem to be going in a thousand different directions, requiring a thousand different logins.  And I am the girl who said she would never automate her status updates, tweets, places, or “what’s new?”  But how can I possibly do all this and still do my real job?   How can I play hard enough on the new field to get good at the new game if I don’t have the time or the energy to do so? 

Does anyone remember Bo Jackson?  The Bo Knows campaign?  Bo Jackson was a great football player, but he was also a great baseball player.  Apparently, he played many other sports too, but he did those two really well.   He played professional baseball for five seasons and pro football for three.  A serious hip injury ended his football career, and he was able to play baseball a couple more seasons, after surgery and much rehab.  He even tried a stint as a semi-pro basketball player before returning to baseball in 1993. Maybe Bo Jackson accomplished all he was supposed to, maybe he achieved his ultimate greatness, but what if he had selected to only play baseball?  We, of course, will never know.  But we can wonder and take from his story a lesson.  You can't do everything for very long before something gives.

I am wary of jumping on too many showboats.  I am leery of multi-tasking anymore.  I used to be great at it – not really, I just thought and said that I was.  One more roll of the rolling pin just might be too much, I think my spleen will pop out of my ear should I fully embrace Google+.  Can I be spread much thinner?  Can you?  Embracing one means diminished use of another, it must.  I have spent years building my LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter networks.  Am I just going to ignore them and eventually discard them like I did all of my VHS movies?  How soon will DVDs and Blu-Ray be outdated?  Don’t you just want to scream?

Some days, I feel like I don’t know diddley…

by rayannethorn