How many times have you been scrolling social media and had these thoughts run through your brain…
Wow. She’s really got her shiz together. Wish I could figure out how she’s doing that.
Or… she’s made WAY more progress in her biz than me and has half the followers I do.
Or… no one ever comments on my stuff. Which means they hate it. Which means my life is boring AF and I don’t actually know what I’m doing.
Hear me when I say this: there isn’t anything wrong with social media. Not at all.
But it’s a very real fact that social media is an easy place for the best of us to get discouraged.
Sometimes it sneaks up on you when you’re scrolling Insta, but other times it’s a pervasive feeling that you just can’t shake.
It’s the comparison trap and if you get stuck in it, it can hijack your work.
Which means, you need a way to protect your brain and your emotions so you can be on social media (which is really meant to be fun, right?) and view those stories and posts for what they are - a filtered highlight reel.
And I’m not really talking about surrounding yourself with incense, candles and affirmation cards (though if those are your jam, you do you my friend).
I kinda think you already know you’re a badass biz babe.
Instead, I wanna equip you with the tools to recognize when your progress is getting derailed, and give you strategies to help you get back on track (and stay there).
Because even badass biz babes have to detox their minds from time to time.
Here are 3 strategies you can use to prevent yourself from getting stuck in the comparison trap on social media.
1 - Always remember social media has as much power as you give it.
In other words, it’s totally up to you to decide how social media makes you feel.
Newsflash: you’re in control of your own thoughts and feelings in case you forgot.
Which means you can consciously, aka ON PURPOSE, choose different thoughts if you’re feeling triggered on Insta or Facebook (or, let’s be real, even Pinterest).
If you’re tapping through Stories and have a thought like “if only my life was as cool as hers, I’d have more to talk about online”, remember that’s BS.
Yep, it’s literally a story you are making up and telling yourself.
So why not tell yourself something else like “I just found this super cool online delivery service that has GF, vegan, vegetarian, paleo, keto and whatever else options so I’m gonna share that with my peeps.”
Instead of your old thought about having a boring life which probably stirred emotions like disappointment, self-doubt, discontentment…
...you can tell yourself a completely different story which will bring about a different emotion. #BAM
In other words, you create a trigger for your trigger by replacing the non self serving thought with an entirely new one.
Kinda genius, right?
Another new brain download could be something like - “She’s being super creative with how she’s showing her life online. What great ideas! I’m going to try something similar.”
Your new programming suddenly has you feeling hopeful, excited, creative … all of which are gonna inspire you to take ACTION instead of demotivate you to stay stuck comparing yourself to others.
See how this works? You get to decide how much power social media has over you.
2 - Keep your head in your own lane.
Social media is how we curate our lives and doesn’t completely reflect reality.
I think we all know this, but we don’t always remember it.
It’s one of those things that’s easy to say but more difficult to keep in mind, right?
But here’s the truth: if that biz babe you follow looks like she had an overnight success… she’s just not sharing the behind-the-scenes work she had to do. Which, btw, probably took a decade, if not more.
Not to mention, the long nights and days before her launch.
Tons of content she had to write by herself.
Time spent away from her fam and friends while she prepped everything.
Tech issues… because they always happen.
Self-doubt.
All the trial and error. All.The.Things no one really talks about behind the scenes.
We all experience those things - I have.
They’re part of our path as entrepreneurs. But rarely do we share the details or frustrations on Instagram or Facebook because social media is a hand picked curation of our lives.
It isn’t a diary. It’s a filtered highlight reel.
And the sooner you actively work to keep that top of mind, the sooner you’ll be able to avoid being triggered in the first place.
And the way you do that is by staying in your own lane. In other words, don’t get distracted by someone else’s highlight reel.
Focus on YOUR work at this time in your life, and get your shiz done.
3 - Own who you are online.
Have you ever really considered that social media is a form of art? Maybe like the 21st century’s version of some of the most amazing pieces of art ever created?
When you think about it that way, it shifts your perspective a little, right? We know how to appreciate art.
Not only that - if social media is an art form, it means the way you choose to present yourself online is a form of your unique creative expression.
This is really just another way of saying it’s your “personal brand” but I think the idea of a person being a brand sometimes sounds way more confusing than it actually is.
But when you own who you are online and come to social media with your own brand of creative expression… that gives you a level of confidence.
And that confidence is what will keep you secure in your mindset as you work at bringing visibility to your biz day after day.
Probably the biggest tip you read in every blog, podcast, and email newsletter about social media is “be authentic” but no one really explains what that means.
Well this is true authenticity - simply owning who you are online, and then showing up as that person every single day. Not trying to show up as someone else or even kind of like someone else who you think is rocking it.
If you want to keep hacking your life and improving the daily habits you’ve become accustomed to, I have a special invitation for ya:
In class you’ll learn
A set of systems that give you back your time + freedom
Strategies to cope with stress that don’t involve caffeine injections or anti-depressants
A solution to the fact that all your kid will eat are gummies and Pepperidge Farms Goldfish.
Did I mention it’s a FREE class? Because it is. If it sounds like something you’d be into as you keep protecting your mindset + growing your biz… then head over to HERE to sign up.
Stay authentic, my friends.
XO,
Hayley