Good habits might be your biggest problem

The habits that are hardest to break aren't the bad ones. They're the ones you never question.

That crossed my mind, somewhere between a family dinner and a +10 UNO No Mercy card.

My husband’s family visited us last week to celebrate his 40th birthday. As digital nomads, we highly appreciate it when people travel to us. So we clear our calendars and enjoy every minute.

When they arrived, I did what I had been doing for the last few months: I posted my Substack notes twice a day and replied to messages.

The day after, I caught myself reaching for my phone again, wondering:

Posting the note doesn’t cost much time. But I felt the urge to engage with those who took the time to write a comment or send a DM. And because of that urge, I didn’t feel present with the fam.

That felt wrong, so I decided to take a week off.

My brain didn’t stop, though.

While we were playing UNO, it occurred to me how we’re all getting older. How fast time goes, and how that feeling only gets stronger the closer you get to 40.

I realized that your life is the sum of your daily decisions.

So I asked myself:

Do I really want to spend so much time on social media? I quit Instagram and LinkedIn for a reason.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Substack. There is so much valuable content. And I’ve already met great people, who even checked in with me last week when they missed my notes (thanks again ❤️).

But it’s a time sucker. And that’s not only the case when you want to grow a new account. When momentum hits, you spend less time building, but more time answering messages.

I didn’t overthink it when I started on Substack three months ago. I loved the idea of writing articles and helping people by sharing the lessons life gave me.

So I just did the work and followed the platform’s rules. That’s how I used to grow my LinkedIn following to 3.500 back in the day. And that’s how I’m growing my Substack account.

But this time, you need to post daily notes in order to grow. Ideally even 3-5 notes. While I only posted 2-3 times a week on LinkedIn.

Because you don’t think much about it, you just do it. It saves your brain time. But if you don’t reflect regularly on whether you’re on the right path, your habits might be the most efficient way to waste your time.

My goal was not to make money, but to help as many people as possible. But do I want to do that with content through social media? Or do I want to solve real problems?

An old idea entered my mind again. A year ago, the pieces never quite fit. But in the last few days, the puzzle fell into place. It always happens when I slow down and zoom out.

The potential impact is so huge that it scares me a little. It’s a bit delulu, but if it turns out the way I hope, I can help lots of people and animals in need.

It’s too early to share it with you right now, but you will read it here one day.

The more scattered my focus is, the longer it will take to reach my goals. So I will reconsider my Substack strategy.

I will be more flexible with the daily notes. And I will write my articles when I feel like it. It’s likely that I grow more slowly, but sometimes you need to drop some balls to make room for what’s really worth it.

How do you spend your time? Are your habits still serving you?

What do you do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis? If you sum it all up, is that what your ideal life looks like?

And if not, are there better ways to reach your goals?

Enjoy your day,

Yvette