Get that sweeping brush out and start cleaning your nest.
I recently had a strong urge to clean up my social media feeds, or to ‘curate my timeline‘. Sometimes I can get quite sucked into certain topics, when I am fully committed to learn everything about something. I am a curious being. This could be to with my business, but also politics, health issues or how to be a better mother (yes, always trying!). But what you then get, is not only a lot of the same types of posts – and information – coming past, but also the algorithm kicking in, giving you even more of what you are clearly lapping up right now. This can have quite a negative impact on how you feel. How can you best improve this?
If you decide to follow a lot of competitors or peer business groups, you’ll likely get inspired to start off with…but you may lose hope and feel frustrated after a while, when they announce another amazing launch or win. Not only that, because of your choice of following, you’ll receive a lot of fighting for your attention from sponsored posts, trying to sell you stuff. All shouting at you and making you feel that something is missing from your life. Not particularly great for our mental health or your entrepreneurial mojo.
What you watch, read and think becomes your reality. Your feed becomes your food. Nourish yourself.
There is generally a lot of turmoil on the timeline, don’t you agree? Not just member groups and business accounts, but also actively posting friends with strong opinions that are not always aligned with yours. Judgement, projection, aggressive comments, fear-mongering, finger-pointing and just a lot of depressing news. My feed made me feel anxious lately, and I decided to do something about it. Because it is simply a matter of what you focus on. If your feed is full of negative and scary news, then…how will you go on with your day after reading this first thing in the morning?
Look at your timeline; who are you following?
Do their posts lift you up, or drag you down? Do they give you hope, or make you scared? Do they make you angry or help you preserve your inner peace? It is important to curate your timeline and make sure that what you are digesting daily (because we do spend a lot of time on social media) feeds your soul, not brings you more stress.
Who you follow will enter your head in one way or another. Every article, opinion, video or photo they share, has the possibility to make you feel good or make you feel awful. You choose. This applies to any subject matter, whether business and marketing, politics, health or relationships. And sometimes it is not a bad thing at all to sweep clean your friends list either.
If people do not communicate with you on Facebook at all, but do clutter your timeline with their negativity, fear or opinions you don’t share, you are free to unfriend, unfollow or mute them. Make space for friends who add something to your life, not drain you.
Why fill your feed with information that makes you live in fear? Fear of failure, fear of sickness, fear of disaster? How many posts make you smile each day, and how many make you lose hope? This does not mean shutting your eyes for what is going on in the world, and it is good to be aware of current affairs and support good causes. But it does mean that you make a conscious decision about what you focus on in your daily life. Love and light, or fear and doubt?
Now we are entering the final quarter of 2021, I felt it was important to share this with you. Because no doubt, we have all been bombarded with posts on our timeline from friends, groups or pages we follow, that have had some kind of impact on us, and shaped our view on things. If that is all positive, great! But from my own experience I know that all the divided opinions and polarisation lately, has distracted me from being connected to my true self, and what makes me happy in my life and work. I became worried, angry and sad. And it does not matter on what side you stand on things, but it does matter how you are practicing self-care and preserve your energy. And self-care is also what information you choose to take in.
Have a look through your social media accounts today: what is no longer serving you?
What makes you feel anxious or doubt yourself? Who bores you? Don’t you like what some friends post right now, but don’t want to unfriend them? You can click ‘unfollow’. It is a simple way to protect yourself from negativity and posts that make you angry. Do the same with pages and groups. Leave them, or if you still want to have access in the future, just switch off notifications or unfollow their news.
On the other hand, also think about the things that do make you happy and inspired; find some new accounts to follow and freshen up your feed. Topics you are currently interested in, and that make you feel energised. Creative accounts, food, health, nature, motivational speakers you love listening to, writers, poets, musicians.
Curate your own beautiful mix of news and posts you want to receive, so logging into social media becomes a joy again.
The more tuned in you are to what you love and what inspires you in your life and the running of business, the more aligned you become with your values. And the more aligned you are with your values, the sharper you’ll become in communicating these in your message and offer. This in turn will then attract more ‘dream’ clients, who want to work with you because of you and what you stand for.
So curate your timeline. Create your own reality. Manifest what is important to you. Look after your mind in these stormy times. What you focus on will grow, so choose wisely.
PS: Do you want to speak to me, or book a free strategy call? Book here