Tips to overcome boredom with yourself

I'm thinking I've been overdoing it or going overboard with the publicity surrounding my book. It's been day in, day out of announcing this about the book, or that about the book, and me, me, me, I, I, I, my book, my book, my book.

To top it off, I've entered a contest to be the new NatureMade Sam-e Complete Good Mood Blogger. To make it through this first round, I have to--it looks like now--pick up another 500+ votes just to make it to round two. It's been a lot of work to get the 200 or so votes I've already solicited and received. Message after personal message, I've been asking friends, family and colleagues to vote for me. It's been a constant stream for almost two weeks of me, me, me, more, more, more about me, me, me. Vote for me. Would you vote for me? Hey, do you think you could vote for me and RT my message on Twitter.

I finally reached my threshold of being able to talk about myself today, because I finally got, well, bored of hearing myself talk about my stuff.

I mean, I know I'm not done. The books still need to sell. The first round of the contest doesn't end till the end of October. There's still much more work to do. But, sheesh! I needed to take a break and put some emphasis on other people not myself.

If you're ever in such a bind--and anyone who isn't fearful of shameless self-promotion knows what I mean--here are a few tips for you. The next time you find yourself overindulging in talk about yourself, here's what you can do to put a halt to the self-aggrandizement:

_Just stop it. Go cold turkey and lay off the kudos. Like any addiction, it's best if you can avoid the "thing" altogether. Of course, you can't avoid yourself, but you can just stop talking about yourself and how great it is that you're doing this great thing, yada, yada, yada.

_Remember not to take yourself too seriously. Find the humor in what you've accomplished. Because, after all, you're not the first, nor will you be the last, to achieve this remarkable, or not so remarkable, success. Whatever it may be. Ultimately, it's just another notch on the belt. You'll have more to do when that's over, right?

_Immediately put your focus on someone else. If we're talking social media, start searching for other people's posts, blogs, and content and comment on it. If we're talking live interaction with others, refrain from telling your stories. Just listen to them for a change. Focus only on responding to their stories, without use of the word "I." Hey, I didn't say this was going to be easy.

_Read a book. As long as it's not your own, reading will get your mind off of you for a while. It'll transport your thought process elsewhere, and you'll forget for a bit that you're all that. In fact, if the book is a really good one, you might even start feeling a bit humbled. Go with that; it's a good thing.

_Or watch TV.

If worse comes to worse, and you still find yourself pitching your greatness...

_Avoid human contact.

Got any tips to add to this list? Write them down in the comment space below.