Let’s get right to the point today.
Clean up your social feeds
Social media is probably your biggest distraction from focusing on your goals. We’re all guilty of spending too much time scrolling through our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, <insert other> feeds. But what are you actually looking for?
Are you looking for a particular image of one of your friends just so you can hit the like, heart, or whatever icon of acknowledgment. I bet if you could see a list of everyone/image you liked you will find a common theme. How many more times do you have to click ‘like’ of a selfie of your friend that you see all.the.time?
While you’re scrolling through at high speeds, have you actually stopped to see what’s in your feed? I bet you’ll see a lot of complaining, negativity, toxicity, false information, or worse – posts that don’t have any context. What I mean by that is your friends who post statements such as, “Ugh, another one of those days”, or even, “Seriously?”. These posts are like empty calories, they serve no purpose to you – only to them. We’re not saying don’t be there for your friends, but you are fully aware of which friends like to just complain about nothing on social media. And they’re taking you away from your goals. There’s plenty of this out there. The constant complainers about how everything is terrible and this is wrong and that is wrong and on and on and on.
Many of these people aren’t even your close friends, simply people who you have acquired on your social media over the course of years of clicking ‘confirm’. You have to assess if these people are worth the time of having in your feeds. There are categories of ‘friends’. There are the people who are close with IRL, there are the fun people that you go clubbing with (but not much more), there are the ones that may be from another activity in your life (running group, book club, music fans, et al.). You have the power to take control of what you see in your feed.
Recently, I started a FB purge of people I know (and will hang out with) but constantly post inane stuff. I just can’t be bothered with seeing it, it invokes a reaction that I don’t enjoy. I almost want to post a response but, A) it’s not my place, and B) the amount of effort in getting into a debate over something so trivial is not worth my energy or time. I enjoy hanging out with them when we’re out in a group setting but don’t care for the daily negative posts. So what to do?
Simple. On each Facebook post, there’s an upside down triangle. Click it, select Hide post, then select Show fewer from <person’s name>. Or just select unfollow.
I also do this with my close friends that post a lot. Why? Because I’m already close with them and spend quality time with them, I don’t need to see every update about them, I get this information by having actual in-person conversations. Simple as that.
What does this do to your timeline? Try it out. Take 3 posts a day that you feel are negative or of no essence to you, click the show fewer from that person and see how your timeline changes over the next couple weeks. You’ll also notice new (old) people showing up in your feed that you may have forgotten about. This also works for all the other social platforms when you unfollow. It clears out space by removing noise and allows for positive information to shine through.
Repeal and Replace.
I’ll put money down that over 50% of the people you follow on Instagram you also follow on Facebook. Why? Because it’s easy to start off by following people you know, and in return, they’ll follow back, then it snowballs into quantity over quality. Also, those people are more likely to post the same thing to IG and FB – so why are you wasting time with the same stuff?
Let’s break the social platforms down
- Facebook – Friends, family, some business, pages and groups you’re interested in
- Instagram – Pretty pictures, inspirational and motivational quotes and images
- Twitter – News, motivation, and specific interests – summarized
- LinkedIn – Business only
Repeal – remove all the people, pages, businesses from all your social platforms that you don’t have use for anymore, are duplicates, or are creating noise in your life
Replace – spend some time researching and following accounts that are aligned with your goals
What will you find? That you no longer are subjected to negativity and you will be more inspired. Simple as that. I wanted more inspiration about fitness so I started following other people (amateur and professional) in that space. But, I didn’t really see them in my feed until I began unfollowing the clutter of noise. Now I wake up every morning to motivational posts that align with my goals.
Try it out and let me know how it works for you.
Takeaways:
- Remove Negative and toxic people from your timeline
- Accept people you only know you want in your life
- Follow/accept people in each platform that matches its purpose (eg, don’t accept every ‘friend’ on LinkedIn)
- Find inspirational accounts to follow
- What you follow has tremendous affect on your mindset
Do you have something to add? Share them in the comments below. Or shoot me an email. I’ll be sure to respond.
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