The dark side of online creative businesses no one dare speaks of

Illuminating the dark corners of online creation

There's a dark shadow over the single-player online creative business game.

Yet, you will not hear most of us speak out.

You can't help but feel that speaking openly about these challenges can hurt your online brand.

Especially for creators and coaches building businesses in the domain of self-mastery and personal development.

Let's dig in.

I've been consistently showing up and creating content daily for over 4 months.

During this time, I started ramping up and adding more platforms to the distribution system, going from Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to LinkedIn and recently expanding to TikTok.

That's a lot of work if you're only beginning to build and grow a conversation, which requires direct attention and engagement.

And If you're anything like me, being very conscious of subtle changes in your energy levels and awareness of your state of being, you don't need to question the effects of social media.

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

In a world of hyper-connectedness, instant gratification, and cheap dopamine, your basic psychology is easy prey.

Big tech is pouring billions of $ into engineering and fine-tuning the user experience whenever you tune into their platforms so that you keep coming back for more.

And even if you have the newsfeed wall eradicator and protocols of engagement in place to counteract this force, as I do, it still gets to you.

Especially in the past few weeks, when I substantially increased my social media presence, I've felt a shift in my general well-being.

More edgy and anxious, catching myself opening "the collection" of SM applications on my phone every 30 minutes or so.

This is only further fuelled by your typical "engagement authorities" hitting hard on the message that you need to be on this specific platform every day posting and engaging.

It slowly changes your perspective and behavior.

You start shifting from a growth mindset to a lack mindset.

Focused on the bigger accounts and their activity as a benchmark. Subtly allowing yourself to measure against the target.

Instead of measuring against your point of departure.

And that puts you in a place of lack.

A place where you're unable to operate at your best because you've allowed yourself to be slowly swayed by the (moving) target.

So what's the dilemma here you might be wondering.

It seems pretty clear, one-sided, a resounding no-brainer as to how to proceed.

After all, if keeping up with digital life, completely removed from the actual visceral embodied experience, then why not stop it altogether?

Well.

While this detrimental effect is no joke and can seriously screw your experience of life out of joy and happiness, it's still a tool that can be used for liberation.

I mean, let's face it. If it wasn't for social media, I'd probably still have to have "a job".

We've never had such a powerful tool to be able to connect globally and create a personal media house to share our message far and wide.

So how do we navigate this space with mindfulness, balance, and precision?

THE BOUNDARY

As I share this experience, I'm also reminded of already having knowledge of this.

It's not as if I'm tapping into something new here. This is precisely the reason why I had measures and daily routines in place.

But it is a stark reminder of how quickly you can drift from those boundaries that you set for yourself.

It's up to you after all to enforce. There's no external power descending upon your shoulders and tapping you gently when you fail to observe your own principles.

And it takes just one time of saying, ahh, it's going to be fine, just this one time of skipping my morning or evening routine.

THE CURE

So as quickly as I recognized this challenge, I made the decision to counteract it.

This Saturday, I took an entire day off.

No devices.

No screens.

No digital realms.

Absolute and unabashed presence in the now with my family and friends.

The result:

I don't recall the last time the day had felt as long as this past Saturday.

I've felt more connected and present with my daughter and her mother. More engaged in the conversation and the activity of the moment.

Not feeling as absent, contemplating another brilliant content angle.

Although, I've sensed several thoughts rushing through my mind begging me "to check this one thing."

But just as quickly as those thoughts arrived, I welcomed them and let them dissipate into thin air.

Sunday Morning come, and I started the day with a somatic (bodywork) ritual in a business coaching container that I'm journeying with.

Creating sufficient spaciousness and tuning into an alternate state of consciousness, the non-caffeinated, non-alert operating heavy machinery state of being.

Which allowed me to easily extend this digital fast into Sunday afternoon.

And even after catching up with what had transpired in the meantime, I had felt a sense of ease and non-urgency, easily tuning out again after hitting publish on the piece of content for the day.

In conclusion, I'm making this a permanent practice.

#DigitalFastSaturday

F**k the algorithms.

And on top of weekly fasts, I'm resuming my daily QiGong practice in the morning.

It's what kept me Zen as f**k during the isolation/lockdowns of the 2020 episode.

And I'm reinforcing my evening boundary of no screen time at least 1 hour before bed, reading a book instead.

Curious to hear how you're navigating the online create/consume game. Hit reply, I love a good conversation.