How to protect your energy and productivity on social media (and stay sane while doing it)
Social Media can really suck the life out of you. It can overwhelm and overwork you, and I’m not even talking about the constant push to create content, engage with client posts, or stay on top of DMs.
Sometimes just being there, scrolling through, feels like a lot.
Luckily, there are more than a few ways to protect your energy, peace, and sanity while you do social media for your coaching or other transformational people-centered business. In this post, I’ll be sharing tips and suggestions based on what’s worked for my clients and for me.
It boils down to boundaries.
You need solid boundaries for yourself on social media. These include boundaries around where you give your energy and attention, what you allow into your space, and how much time you spend on it all.
Set energy, attention, and space boundaries on social media
Your energy and attention are currency (conversion rates aren’t great) as a social media user, a human being, AND as a business owner.
Avoid arguing in the comments (especially about sh*t that you don’t genuinely care about). Social media can get you thinking you need an opinion on every topic. Even ones you know little to nothing about and care about even less.
Picture it: Facebook, today…
Your friend on the other side of the country posts about a new ordinance that limits bird feeders to one per household in order to curb a bird poop problem in her town. One person shares their support for the feeder restriction. Someone responds that the ordinance is inhumane. More people chime in. It’s getting heated and you feel compelled to jump into the fray.
But…you don’t actually give a fuck about the bird poop or feeders, and you know this isn’t a life-and-death issue for your friend. You’re also not passionate about birds (sure, you want them to be fed and healthy and all that, but you don’t care deeply). Oh, and you don’t know that much about them, either.
Still, ten minutes later you’re engaging in this random argument on a topic you knew and cared nothing about before you scrolled onto your friend’s post. Ten minutes after that, you’re still arguing and your energy is slightly sapped and your mood has turned foul.
Whether it’s how the platforms are designed, the algorithms that power them, or user habits that set this tone, it often feels like a personal take on absolutely everything is part of what being a social media citizen is all about.
Not true.
In reality, a take on every topic isn’t required for admission or participation on social media. You don’t always have to have an opinion. You can just…scroll on by.
So, before you get heated in the comments, take 10 seconds to ask yourself if you know enough and it’s worth your effort to get involved.
If you do get involved in an argument, do it on purpose, with a purpose. Are you sharing insights someone else hasn’t yet? Are you pointing out injustice, bigotry, bullying, or something else? Are you offering/sharing help, solutions, resources, or support?
Create boundaries for your feed and the rest of your social media space. One person’s motivation, inspiration, or connection can be another’s shame, distraction, or annoyance.
That influencer everyone else in your niche loves may not resonate with you. Those 9 daily posts of your former coworker's kids or cats or cactus collection may feel like clutter on your feed.
You’re allowed to be intentional about who you follow, and what you welcome into your mental space.
Whose voices resonate with you? Who’s adding to your knowledge, your joy, your mindset, your network, your growth, or your work?
And which posts are draining you, annoying you, or planting seeds of self-doubt, and mental blocks for you?
Mute, unfollow, unfriend, or block accordingly.
Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn let you can keep following someone but “mute” their profiles so you don’t see their content in your feed (be it in your regular posts feed, the Stories, or both). Facebook has an option to “unfollow” someone without un-friending them, which also results in not seeing their stuff anymore. TikTok also lets you choose not to see videos from accounts you don’t follow.
Say an acquaintance starts sharing a personal fitness journey that you find triggering. You can mute or hide their posts from your feed. Later, if you’re compelled, you can go to their actual page to see what they’re up to and re-follow them if you no longer feel triggered, (or drained, distracted, annoyed) by their posts.
Plus, every social media app or network has a block option, which means you won’t ever see the blocked account’s stuff and they won’t see yours.
Trolls, bigots, bots, and spam accounts can get blocked.
Also give yourself permission to permanently disconnect from accounts that stand against your values or post things you find harmful. If it’s causing you to constantly second-guess yourself or feel bad about yourself, in a way that’s toxic and not in a way that’s helping you level up, time to set and enforce your boundary.
How to set time boundaries for social media
Time is another valuable currency we often spend too much of on social media.
Limit your overall time on social media apps: Give yourself limits for how long you’ll spend using the apps (posting, engaging, or promoting your own content, and scrolling to consume others’ content).
Your phone offers built-in settings/controls that make this easy. iPhones have these options under Screen Time. On Android phones, you’ll do this through the Digital Wellbeing and parental controls option.
Here are a few tips:
Set limits wide at first, especially if you’re not sure how much time you currently spend on social. For example, you might start with 2 hours a day. Making the limits larger than what you think you’ll need, at first, can keep you from feeling bad if you blow past your limit, or panicked if you still have more to do there (Real talk: I set my Instagram app limit to 30 minutes at one point and the only thing that accomplished was to make me feel crappy about burning through it by midday).
Gradually reduce the time you’re allowing until you reach a place where you’re spending an amount of time you’re comfortable with, while also still hitting your daily interaction and engagement goals.
As you get more efficient (or busier) consider limiting your even further.
Limit your social media time window. Another kind of time boundary you can set is on the hours of the day you’ll use social media.
You might choose to a hard stop on social media apps at 9pm every night and a restriction on using them before 8am each morning. Tighten or loosen or move those times around as needed, but the goal is to simply make space for some “social media-free hours” in your day. Time when, even if the notifications come in, you’ll resist the urge to click through them.
Take social media breaks! When frustration, overwhelm, and burnout creep in, take a whole day away from social media. Hell, take a weekend, a whole week, or a whole month off social media if you need it.
A break can do wonders for your mental clarity, energy, and ability to keep showing up for your business long term on social media. People (ahem, including me) usually come back from social media breaks with fresh perspectives and more enthusiasm. That’s why I consider breaks more than recommendations, but actual requirements from time to time.
True story: One of my clients took over a month away from the social media platform she’s using to attract and connect with clients. In that time, free from the noise and constant stimulation, she deepened and sharpened her focus on what she really wanted to say, and what clients needed to hear from her. She ended up generating tons of ideas that turned into amazing content to fuel the next few months of account.
I’m not saying you absolutely need to take a month off social media. But a day or two might do you some good, especially if you’re tapped out or overstimulated.
Curate an inspiring, informative, challenging, joyful feed.
Finally, because boundaries are as much as about what you welcome in as what you keep out, do a bit of curating. By this I mean, find and follow accounts that add to or enhance your experience of social media. I’m talking accounts that bring you joy, information, inspiration, knowledge, wisdom, and spark creativity and motivation for you and your business.
Follow accounts that simply bring you joy or pleasure. For no other reason than to smile every so often and release some happy brain chemicals.
As an example, I follow Kelli Erdmann (@kelladactyl), who posts fun, upbeat dance routine Reels that always brighten my feed and lift my mood. I have no business-specific reason for following her, other than the self-knowledge that feeling upbeat and positive helps me bring my highest self to my business.
I encourage you to find + follow 3-5 accounts that bring you unadulterated joy or happiness.
Level up smart; stop skipping steps. To take your business to the next level, follow accounts that teach you something, spark your creativity, or keep you in the loop about your industry. Also follow accounts that challenge you and support your growth, in ways that work for you in this season.
A good way to do this is to follow more people and organizations that will help you hit your next milestones, than ones that bring you purely aspirational value. So, if you’re a side-hustle warrior trying to break open consistent 4-figure months, you may not get much targeted or relevant info from someone who helps coaches scale to 6-figure quarters. Yet.
Follow who and what you need to see now.
Hey…if any of these tips resonated with you or helped you, I’d be so grateful if you send me a DM on Instagram to let me know. 📭 And follow @corneliadoliancoaching for more social media tips & suggestions + strategy & content ideas. 💞
