Today we need to talk about something that has nothing to do with strategy or blogging tips and everything to do with keeping you feeling motivated and productive and energized to grow your blog.
You probably already know that being active and visible online is an important part of building an audience and expanding your reach. It allows your people to get to know you better and it makes it easier for you to learn from them too, which leads to better content, products, and services.
But being active and social and going live on a daily basis requires a MASSIVE amount of energy.
And if you’re introverted like me, it can make some workdays feel extra stressful.
As much as staying visible and going live has helped grow my blog and business, it’s been a challenge to learn how to distribute my energy so I don’t crash mid-day when I need to be working.
Being an introvert can involve a lot of different things, but one of the most important issues for me is that I gain energy from being alone and expend energy anytime I need to be “on,” whether that’s hanging out in my Facebook groups, going live, creating video and Instagram stories, or just responding to comments and questions.
Some of these tasks take a little energy and some of them, like hosting a two-hour-long webinar, have the potential to knock me out for the rest of the day. So today I’m sharing what I’ve learned about scheduling my days to be live and engaged as often as possible without feeling completely worn out by the end of the week.
Note which activities take the most energy
As much as I love running webinars and getting to provide feedback and help, after such an intense live session I can generally be found crashed out on the couch, eating tacos like a zombie, barely able to focus on a TV show. Sometimes I can recover enough to work after a few hours, and sometimes I’m 100 percent done for the day.
Facebook Live, on the other hand, requires a slightly less dramatic recovery period. Taking an hour for lunch or any activity that doesn’t involve my computer or phone generally recharges me enough to get back to my to-do list and finish out my workday.
Plan time to be “on”
One of the ways I end up spending a lot of energy without realizing is by responding to emails, checking into Facebook groups, or answering questions on Instagram randomly throughout the day. This creates a near-constant energy leak and leaves me feeling spent without even realizing what I’m doing.
When I’m on top of my personal energy conservation I spend a few minutes in the morning and a few minutes in the evening answering questions and providing feedback in my Facebook groups. (If I check Facebook to see what my friends and family are up to, I do not check my Facebook groups until it’s time to check off that task.)
I go through email only ONCE each day, and I keep notifications on my phone OFF (something I did about 4 years ago when I went on vacation and loved it so much I never turned them back on).
Having distinct times when I’m “on” and interacting with other people and times when all my tabs are closed and I’m working on writing or design (like right now) helps me to be purposeful in where I use my energy.
Work on one thing at a time
I often find my mind wandering to small tasks while I’m in the middle of writing a blog post or going through email. But instead of getting sidetracked, I tell myself something like, “I’m not working on that right now” or “This does not need to get done right now” and go back to what I was working on. Even when I’m done working and watching TV at night, I avoid the tendency to have my phone in-hand, scrolling aimlessly.
Sticking to one task at a time not only helps to keep from feeling flustered and expending energy unnecessarily, but it also keeps me on track and finishing projects on time (or enjoying whatever show I’m watching).
Be mindful of how often you procrastinate with social media
If you tend to pick up your phone or scroll through social media when you should be focused on something else, you could be losing energy without realizing it.
Even if you’re laying on the couch, lazily scrolling through Instagram, it still has the potential for sucking up too much energy. I follow a lot of brilliant entrepreneurs so there is always something to read or watch and always questions and comments to respond to from my lovely readers. Some days my phone finds its way into my hand over and over before I even know what I’m doing and I get sucked into what everyone else is talking about and working on instead of my own stuff.
Again I try to remind myself of the task at hand and allow myself a few minutes to browse social media when I’m finished. (Instagram, I’m coming for you when this post is done!)
Add time for computer/people-free activities
You know when you REALLY need to use your phone but it’s down to 10% battery and you have to plug it in no matter what – your body functions like this too. Even on my most busy days it’s important for me to step away from work and find a moment to recharge. If I let myself run down to 10 or 20 percent, the work is not going to get finished or it’s not going to be as good as it could have been if I was more energized.
Planning my days so they include 10 or 20 minutes away from work is helpful in getting through my most “on” times.
For me this looks like taking the dog for a meandering walk, meditating for 10 minutes using HeadSpace, closing my computer and reading for an hour, making dinner (Blue Apron always gives me a delicious incentive to take time to cook), leaving the house to meet friends for lunch, and actively stopping work at a reasonable time.
As an introvert you can only get so far with a packed schedule and a penchant for multitasking. For those of us with a need to be mindful of our energy, staying focused and purposeful with the times we’re active online and leaving space in our days to take a solo break can be a literal lifesaver.
Introverts – how do you stay energized while being active and outgoing online?
“This creates a near-constant energy leak…”
I really like how you put this, Sarah. As you said, big things (like for you, the webinars) cause big drains, but at least they’re easy to identify. “Why am I drained? Oh, right, it was that marathon I just ran.”
But the smaller interactions – and even the things that aren’t interactions, like deciding if you want to follow someone on Pinterest – still leak little bits of energy, and it can be hard to pinpoint the source.
(Oh, and to answer your question… I read to my son. Right now it’s Harry Potter. There’s nothing like a little Ron / Hermione repartee to make me forget about social for a while.)
I started using a meditation app like Headspace. (The one I use is called Calm)
The guided meditations help sooooo much.
As entrepreneurs, its hard for us to turn off work. We think about 100 things at a time, all-day-long.
I was never really into meditation, but knew I needed help turning off work. I was skeptical at first that it wouldn’t work or that I wouldn’t stick with it.
But now I find myself setting aside time to meditate 2 or 3 times a day. Even just a 2 minute guided meditation helps bring back to the now and re-focus my energy.
(How yoga instructor did I just sound?!)
I recently started using Headspace, trying to find time to practise everyday has been a little tough though.
Thanks for the post x
I have a morning routine where I dump my ideas into morning.pages and try to write at least 250 words in the morning. Then, I use calm.com to meditate and use the 5-minute journal to write about what I am grateful for. Making sure that I work out 3 times a week helps to conserve my energy. Thanks for the post.
Rohit I Lifeselfmastery
Girl, you’re reading my mind. As a fellow introvert, I have found myself feeling so overwhelmed with the constant reading, commenting, liking, etc. that has to be done on social media to grow a blog/business. So often I’ll get sucked into one thing for literally hours and neglect what I should actually be doing. It’s a tough balance to find for sure, but I’m working on it. I’ve discovered it helps if I actually schedule each hour of my day, like 8am-9am work on blog post, 9am-10am read blogs, 10am-11am engage on social media. I haven’t been practicing this as much as I should, but honestly it works and helps keep my mind free from distractions (though the PULL is real). It’s been proven that multi-tasking makes you less productive, so I’m working very hard to single task.
http://www.wonderlandsam.com
I think yeah it’s key to get back into the real world and off the computer for a bit. A short walk in nature is my go too. And I don’t use an app to meditate because I teach meditation. So whether I’m working on my tarot/intuition site or my local site for wellness I need to get myself to stop because I enjoy the work and the tasks, it’s like getting on a fast train and just gooooooing!
I listen to audio books while working on creating my jewelry. While technically this is “work” because I am making my product, it’s how I meditate and unplug in-between the marketing and admin tasks.