What would Sisyphus do?

Sisyphus had a big task – a monumental task – of pushing a rock up a hill only to see it roll back down over and over again. A modern day Sisyphean task is more complicated because it has been expanded to meet the demands of the new world order. It’s now a “task list” and has deliverables and metrics and it is required to be bigger, delivered faster and on a global scale.

What’s a modern Sisyphus to do?

Credit: Misha Gordin

Sisyphus had a task that was supposed to last an eternity. Your tasks don’t need to last quite as long – even though they may feel like it at times. One of the challenges we all face is figuring out what to do. Or more specifically, what to do NEXT.

Deciding on what’s next is complicated by the massive stream of information that flows across our desktops everyday.

I submit that using Social Networking tools like Twitter and Facebook can help whittle the information glut. I know – you are now wondering WHAT THE F%#$ is he thinking? But hear me out --- yes, there is a lot of content in the TwitterStream, on Facebook, and of course via searching for anything you can think of. My use of Twitter has allowed me to be more focused and find better, more specific information.

In fact,  the latest trick I picked up recently is the use of Hashtags. By using hashtags I can search for the specific content I am looking for very quickly and with great efficiency. You can use hashtags too – it’s really easy.

Using the “#” (the pound sign – which is also known as the “hash” sign in the UK and other parts of the world).  A hashtag allows the author to “tag” their content for quick parsing and searching. Which means a reader / searcher can use the same hashtags to search for specific content.

Hashtags Use them Early Use them Often Just use Them

Note: This is new to me. So, please keep an eye out for another post from me on Hashtags as I get better at it and as I get comments from you. Maybe Alltop will become an alternate medium for hashtags – I don’t know yet. Research is ongoing.

My request to you - There might be other meta-data mechanisms out there and I would love to hear about them – please comment below, DM me on Twitter or send me e-mail if you have ideas and recommendations.

So, in the meantime - Pick your Rocks, Pick your Hills, and Pick your Information you want to search by using hashtags. I hope with a little focus and a few hashtags you can make your modern day Sisyphean task more manageable.