Productivity with Zest

Doomscrolling, Magic Vaults & Posting Like a Muggle

• Jasmine Clarke • Season 2 • Episode 3

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This one’s part productivity chat, part wizardry. I’m joined by the brilliant Amy Downes – the Content Wizard herself – for a refreshingly real convo about juggling business, mum life, and social media without losing your mind or your mission.

We dive into:
 📱 How to scroll mindfully (and stop frying your brain)
 🧙‍♀️ The Hogwarts Express of productivity tools
 ♻️ Why reusing content is smarter than reinventing the wheel every week
 💬 The 4 “Cons” of social media that’ll actually help your business
 🚫 And why sometimes the most productive thing you can do is log off

Whether you're burnt out by Instagram, avoiding LinkedIn like the plague, or just want some top tips to make content feel fun again – this episode's got you.


Amy Downes, also known as The Content Wizard, is a social media manager and strategist on a mission to help female business owners find more confidence, consistency, and connection through their content. She believes social media doesn't have to be stressful or time-consuming - and with the right support, it can even feel a little magical.

Amy is committed to sharing the lessons she’s learned as a social media manager to help others create a better balance between business and life. Her approach blends focus and flexibility to make content creation feel more doable, more joyful, and ultimately more effective. Sometimes, all it takes is one small tweak to make a magical, transformational difference.

Connect with Amy:

FREE GUIDE: Conserve Your Magic” – a mini guide to calmer social media: subscribepage.io/8IlQ3e 

Message me!

Let’s Stay Connected!
Loved this episode? Let’s keep the conversation going—connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook.

Grab Your Freebie: Productivity Quiz - What is holding you back? Take the quiz now and take targeted action

If this episode helped you, I’d love it if you could rate it and leave a quick review - it makes a huge difference! Just drop me a note at jasmine@zestproductivity.com so I can say thanks.

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Speaker 1:

Hey and welcome to Productivity with Zest, the podcast that helps you get the important stuff done without burning out. I'm Jasmine and I live and breathe productivity strategy, the kind that gives you life and helps you get the important things done in a way that works for you. Here I like to keep it real and practical no fluff, all zest and no pith, just simple, doable strategies that help you focus, get organized and actually move forward. If you want to figure out what area of productivity is holding you back, take my quiz at wwwzestproductivitycom. Forward slash quiz.

Speaker 1:

Now on to today's episode. Hi, everybody, we have something a bit different. Today we have a guest interview. So in today's episode Hi everybody, we have something a bit different. Today we have a guest interview. So in today's episode I am joined by the brilliant Amy for a juicy and practical chat, especially helpful for business owners.

Speaker 1:

But honestly, there's gold in here for all of us. We're talking about things like productive doom scrolling, taking the pressure off social media and using tools like Trello in a way that actually makes sense for your brain. Just watch out for platform nine and three quarters and the Hogwarts Express of productivity. Amy also unpacks the four cons of social media shares why your next post doesn't need to be brand new. Spoiler, reuse and recycle as your new best friend and gives a gentle nudge towards being more mindful with your scrolling, because your feed should fuel you, not fry your brain. So let's dive in. Today I have a lovely guest with me, amy, and she's going to talk to us all about productivity and social media content creation and that lovely world that I have such a love, hate, hate love relationship with. So, hey, amy, first can you just introduce yourself and who you are for my listeners.

Speaker 2:

Of course. So firstly, thank you so much for having me on when we met. The topic and your passion just really connected with me, because it is something that I have to talk about so much with my clients and with my audience, because social media can become so overwhelming. So I'm hoping we'll be able to talk through some of that today. So my name is Amy Downs.

Speaker 2:

I am the content wizard. I am a mum of two. My eldest, harry, is eight. He also has autism, so that has an extra added effect on sort of time consuming being his mum. And James, my youngest, is just an absolute ball of energy that constantly needs my attention when he's around, so balancing very different plates there, but also both equally as consuming as the other one.

Speaker 2:

From a work point of view, I am a social media manager. I have been for eight years now. I became a freelance social media manager when I was made redundant while pregnant with Harry, so it completely flipped my whole world upside down, but genuinely I believe that having him has made me more productive. It's taken me, I would say, until the last few years to get it right and feel like I'm finally getting somewhere with it, but it is that balance that I'm now hoping to share with other people who are in business, other people who are working mums and thinking you know how on earth do I stay visible, engage with people online without letting it take over my life completely? So I'm hoping that I'll be able to share a few tips and things that I've come up with since becoming a mum, really, but having to balance work life with that now.

Speaker 1:

Amazing. So Amy and I actually only met last week and it's one of those things that it feels like we've been on a slightly whirlwind type romance. We met at a networking event last week for women in business in our local area and you know, when you just speak to someone and you just click, you know that you're linked in somewhere, that you have similar values, you just know. And we even have sons called James. So I just thought you know what. I want this amazing woman to come on the podcast and she said yes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and we were there. So, amy, you have two young boys who have very different needs. You run your own business, so how do you juggle the?

Speaker 2:

demand, honestly, with a lot of stress and a lot of wine. But I think the first thing that really honestly, I probably really only learned last year is that you have to take pressure off yourself. Yeah, and I think one of the things I probably really only learned last year is that you have to take pressure off yourself. Yeah, and I think one of the things I find really hard is that you have a constant to-do list and it never seems to go anywhere. It never seems to. You, never seem to get to the end of it, and what I've had to flip my mindset around is oh, if I don't get to the end of the to-do list this week, I've failed, because the truth is you're never going to be completely finished with your to-do list. It's always going to be more that you want, especially for me. I'll come up with an idea and I'll put it on my to-do list and you know that it doesn't need to be done now, but it feels wrong if you're not getting anything done now. Um, so I I really struggled towards the end of last year. I have struggled with my mental health. Actually now I realize probably all my life, particularly since having Harry and just adjusting to that.

Speaker 2:

Mum. Life has been really, really difficult for me. I'm very much uh. I'm still in my head, I'm still 21, so being a responsible adult is not something that has come easy to me. So balancing is very much for me about the pressure I put on myself. I sat down this morning, got a massive to-do list. Barely got anything done yesterday because I was so tired from my weekend away. I was like, oh my God, I'm not going to get everything done this week. But when I looked at my list I was like, actually that will be fine next week. I can do that in the evening once the kids are in bed. I'm going for a coffee with a friend tomorrow, but I also should have cancelled that no because that's the balance that you need.

Speaker 2:

So really it's been about trying to take the pressure off myself and not feeling like I've got to do everything straight away. One of the greatest tips I've had for that called the focus hierarchy. Okay, you have a list of things that you want to get done for your business, but you pick the things that are really important, that are making your work, pushing you forward, the things that are priority because they're client related and things like that. But there might be two or three that are absolutely your priority, but you don't have to forget all the others. So I have a list on my Trello board which is my Hogwarts Express, and then I've got the Platform 9, 3 quarters waiting room. So the Hogwarts Express is what's driving my business forward, the thing that's keeping my business on the train tracks going to its destination, and then my list that's on my platform nine three quarters waiting room is okay, I know I want to do this.

Speaker 2:

It's in my mind that I'm going to do it at some point, but it doesn't have to be on the to-do list to get done now, and that I find then takes the pressure off, because I always worry I'm going to forget it and lose track of what I'm aiming for, um, but yeah, the short version of that, of that answer is, I think, taking the pressure off and trying to get yourself out of the habit of guilt, which is such a mom thing to do, I think yeah, I hear that that take the pressure off is massive, because I think we are so used to putting the pressure on when we're juggling all these different roles, like, well, I need to do that, I need to do that and I need to do that.

Speaker 1:

They're all priority. And I heard something interesting recently where the word priority never was intended to be multiple. It never should have been priorities, it's always number one. What is your top priority? And I love the way that you have your work life set up in terms of this Trello board with your Hogwarts Express and your platform nine and three quarters to physically actually park things and to push things and to separate that, because it's all well and good saying take the pressure off, but I'm always like, okay, how give me, how tell me how give me the steps and I'll do it.

Speaker 1:

I think really practically, you've just given us some really good tips there. It's used almost like this focus hierarchy, this what is actually truly important to you. They'll be different For those of us running a business. It's what is going to bring in that future work, those clients. What are your business goals for the year? And I think that's really important to know where you're going long term, for the next year, for the next five years. And the beauty is we can pivot all the time and change our goals. Having what is the most important in mind will then filter through.

Speaker 1:

Well, I've got this massive to-do list. There's no way I'm going to get it all done. So what are the tasks, or what is the number one task that is going to move me forward? So for those of you listening who are thinking, oh, I love that idea of you, know, leaning into something that you love, to represent this If Harry Potter's your thing, go for the same as Amy. But what about if something else is your thing? Maybe you could have a notebook where you have, like, put post-it notes of your key things and you could have something on your wall or just something where you know these are the things that are moving the needle. These are my priorities, these are my goals. This is what I need to be focusing on. So that is great.

Speaker 1:

So we have to talk about content creation, social media, because this can be a huge time hole. I know lots of my listeners who run their own businesses. This is either you spend too much time on it and you're not quite sure it's being strategic, or you kind of run and hide from it. You don't want to show yourself or feel like I don't know it, so I don't want to give myself lots of time to it and it can just feel like it takes. It can take all your time up. So what are your top tips for staying strategic and consistent with your content, but without letting it take over your life?

Speaker 2:

so I I think this is where we are really well in tune. It's about focusing on the things that actually matter and actually work, and there are so many different ways you can do it, but the first most important thing is knowing what you want to get out of. So, if you know what your business mission is, are you keeping that in mind whenever you are on social media, whenever you're engaging, whenever you're writing content? That needs to be the first most important thing, because that is what will then help everything else. So whenever I do training with clients, I talk about what I call the four cons of social media. Now, I'm sure if I was to ask you what are the cons of social media in fact, you told me a few of yours when we met on Wednesday what the cons are, there's a lot of negative, but what I'd love to do is put that mindset now so that we can start to think of the things that actually can help us with social media, rather than when you're thinking about the negatives getting dragged down and that. So the four cons for me are confidence, consistency, connections and conservation. So the confidence is the first most important one, and that is about coming up with a strategy. It doesn't have to be complicated. Just this is what my mission is. This is what I'm promoting for the next month, two months. This is who I'm talking to.

Speaker 2:

Once you know those things, it should then become less pressured no-transcript. It should feel less scary because you know what you're aiming for and b. It should feel less overwhelming because you don't have to worry about all the other bits of advice that you're being given. You've got a focus now because you know what your goal is, and I think quite often we can become a bit distracted by um sales. But actually social media has never been meant for that. It's never been meant to sell. It's just been developed into that because Zuckerberg loves his cash, doesn't he?

Speaker 2:

So we have been kind of dragged into that competition of trying to get more sales and trying to get more visibility, so that in terms of productivity and what you're focusing on, if your focus is on sales, you're going to get distracted and overwhelmed and probably feel like you've got to do more and more to get more sales. If your focus is on building genuine relationships, then actually you're going to feel more benefit from it because you are going to be meeting people, making genuine connections, but also that will then help you in the future when you do have something to release, because you've got people who genuinely support you. You've just been talking about the people who know you through your podcast and who've known you from your previous business and now follow you through this podcast. It's those genuine relationships that we build are absolutely key.

Speaker 2:

So kind of focusing down on those things and knowing if you know, if I was to say what was your reach last month, you might not know, or most people yet that exact face that you're pulling right now that is what I usually get, because either people don't want to check I don't want to check, and I know I've been super, super active over the last couple of months but also if it's low, it's really disheartening. But what if I was to say, okay, what messages have you had? Who have you chatted with? What bookings have you had? With my current client that I've got, I've started recording how many queries she's getting by messages, but also I asked her how many bookings she's getting by her social media, because that is her main word of mouth. So that was really helpful to know that.

Speaker 2:

So we're not focusing on what I like. I like the phrase of vanity metrics, because I think that sort of explains that that's not what we need to worry about. It's the genuine connections. So what lovely feedback have you had? I just had a post today where people have been tagging me because we're planning on working together and they loved working with me and things, which is really nice and really kind. It's those genuine connections and having that confidence in what you're going to do is what will create the consistency, because you will be showing up with a consistent message and with the confidence to post every day, and then that's what builds the connections, and I'm just going to touch really quickly on that fourth one so that it makes sense.

Speaker 2:

Um, I've included conservation in there, which is balance. It's about conserving your energy while using it on the right things, and there are a lot of tricks that I like to share about. You know things like back to creating, repurposing your content. All of that. It's about reusing the stuff that you know is already working, so you're focusing on the right stuff. The first, most important thing that anybody can do today is go away and say, right, what is my mission? Yeah, how can social media help with that? So for me, the reason I do what I do is not to write content for other people. Forbid that, otherwise I would be doing it for a company. The reason I do what I do is to help other women do it and help other women feel better about social media. So that is my social media mission. That is where I want to make connections. So going back to that is super important, and that's I think that's the first job for anyone to do is just to remind yourself what your mission is and how social media fits into that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So just what we were saying before watch your goal. Where do you want to be in a year? What is your mission, what is your vision? And then social media supports that you might be posting things that are not actually fulfilling your mission, your vision. No wonder it's not hitting the mark, because what do you want to get out of it? So it's thinking that strategically what's my mission?

Speaker 2:

how can it support it? One really good example actually is you know when you get engagement posts and people like seeing one at the moment, what time are you seeing this post? And you know it. You get engagement posts and people put like I think seeing one at the moment, what time are you seeing this post? And you know it's just to boost their app them on the algorithm. Um, you know, uh, who like pineapple on pizza? What do you prefer? Tea or coffee? What is that teaching anybody about anything? How is that? Building a genuine connection might get a lot of comments because everybody's got an opinion about what's better tea or coffee. They won't actually get to know people and, more importantly, they won't get to know anything about you. But you might get distracted by doing a post like that because it's something that helps you with your reach but, actually that's not your overall goal.

Speaker 2:

Your overall goal is to get to know people. So you know, maybe if I did one on Harry Potter or social media or something like that, that might be a bit more on brand, but really it's about content that helps you towards your eventual goal.

Speaker 1:

I've heard different things from different people about how much of yourself you should share, and some people are comfortable putting their whole lives on social media their kids, everything, the ins and outs of everything, and you almost don't see any of their business because it's all them. And then you have the other side, which is just this is me, this is my business, yeah, so what's your opinion on how much of yourself you should share?

Speaker 2:

I think the more you can share about yourself, the better. Okay, but I do completely understand. I always caveat that with some people don't want to share their personal lives and they. I think the more you can share about yourself, the better. But I do completely understand. I always caveat that with some people don't want to share their personal lives and they like to keep it separate. I'm my kids are all over my social media 100% use them for my marketing, as it were, but it's because they are.

Speaker 2:

They're a huge part of me and they're a huge part of the story of why I'm doing what I'm doing. I work with other mums because I know from having those two ratbags around my ankles all the time what it is like being a mum trying to keep on top of everything. The best work I've always seen is somebody who is comfortable sharing their whole life, and that personal story is what people will connect with. They will get on board, they will support you. I always talk about building an online army, basically creating fans of clients, and you do that by connecting with them on a genuine basis where they can relate to you. So the more you share of your own personal story, I personally think is the better. But there is a balance. There can easily be a balance of you choose what areas of your life.

Speaker 2:

I absolutely think that sharing your business, your family, on your business pages client that I've just been working with, every post that she shared, like when she'd been out with the kids somewhere locally she shares that and that fits because most of her clients are local, so they relate to that. They like to see what she's doing because most of her clients are local, so they relate to that. They like to see what she's doing. Her audience generally tends to be mums, and it does all fit. And I think the more personal side, particularly over on Instagram and having photos of your personal life, are important.

Speaker 2:

I find it quite hard when I go on to someone's Instagram and all I can see is graphics and it's their business name, but there's just nothing there really helping me connect with them. If I have to scroll way down to see what you look like, I will find it hard to remember you whereas I'm look, I'm terrible with names, but I remember your face, jasmine, like just from that first night we met. And it's the same from social media. It's just that social media has given us a chance to put our face in front of a lot more people. So at the very least, get some photos of yourself up, like every once a week.

Speaker 2:

Have a photo of you telling a story, whether it's something you've been doing during the week, whether it's where you came from, what your mission is. It might be a personal story. I've seen lots of content around trans rights recently. Personally, I haven't shared anything on there, but I can see that it is a really great way to connect and to sort of share your passion about a topic like that. So I do think that there is a balance to be found. My argument is if you picture I don't like using the phrase but your ideal client might be somebody who is comfortable sharing anything, because that's what people are going to relate with you've given us a really good action point there.

Speaker 1:

Once a week, share your face, picture, video, share a story, share you dip into as personal as you feel comfortable doing. So, yeah, there's a good action point for us all there. Share your face once a week, at least. I'm thinking oh, she looked at my Instagram. So I'm on Instagram, facebook, linkedin, I've got a Facebook group that people can join and I, back in October, november, when I was starting to build things, I was focusing on Instagram and I got some training on it.

Speaker 1:

I'd never been on it before, really like I'd had an account but not posted. I find it all a bit overwhelming. I didn't know when to do a post, when to do a story. So I learned it and started posting, but I didn't like being in that place. I didn't like going to share stories.

Speaker 1:

I don't have social media on my personal phone because I don't like being sucked into it, so I found it really annoying having to have my work phone with me to take photos for stories when I was out and about. I just felt it wasn't genuine and wasn't connected to me, and I've realized that a lot of my ideal audience people I'm talking to are running their own businesses. They are on Instagram, they are on Facebook, but LinkedIn is where I feel the most comfortable. So I'm kind of moving away from Instagram, facebook and into LinkedIn, because I feel like I can box it in more and it's better for my mental health, because when I get entrenched in social media I don't like the person that I become. So it probably would be savvy for my business to be excellent on Instagram, but it's not something that I want to do. So I'm almost like drawing a line and going LinkedIn. But how do you decide what platforms to go on, what's worth your time, what to let go of? How would you advise your clients on that?

Speaker 2:

Amy, I love this question and this actually is probably one of the most common questions I'm asked which one should I be on? Genuinely, my first piece of advice is what's your favourite? What is the one you spend the most time on? What is the one you feel better? So I'm trying to be more active on LinkedIn, but at the moment I'm not quite clicking with it, whereas Facebook is like my natural go-to and that is probably where I get most of my connections from. Having said that, I do think there is a place for LinkedIn in my business and I want to expand out more onto it. So my advice is always which one do you enjoy spending time on most?

Speaker 2:

Focus on that first. Once you get comfortable with that, once you've seen some posts, do well and you work out what it is your audience want to see from you, you can then reuse that content over on the other platforms and you will need to change it and you will need to tweak and try different things, but it will save you time so you might find some content that works really well on linkedin. You can then reuse over on instagram a little bit further down the line, so you can save yourself time and energy in that way, but you put your energy into an area that you like, and my argument has always been if you don't feel comfortable and you're a little bit resentful, almost, of posting somewhere and having to show up regularly and having to share stories, you're not going to enjoy creating the content and that will come across. It's not going to click with people because that spark, that mission, isn't in there. So I really think enjoying yourself, as silly as it sounds, is the most important thing when it comes to content creation.

Speaker 2:

If you love making reels, go for it. Have some fun, because they're great for visibility, but they're great for a bit of creativity and a really good connection as well. If you cannot be bothered because the videos take too long and you spend hours on one and then it glitches and it disappears, this is why I don't do very many. They're really hard to schedule, so I can't get them done ahead of time and all of this stuff Don't, because if it's feeling like a drag it doesn't need to be done for you at the moment. Somewhere further down the line you might be able to tap some more videos into your content or whatever it is, some more stories, but you'll have done it once you've learned a bit more about what's working, rather than forcing yourself to do everything, spreading yourself too thin and then not actually getting anything out of it at all.

Speaker 1:

Great advice so in general, I am not the biggest fan of social media because I find it very inefficient, because I can spend time crafting a post that I feel really happy with, I release it into the world and, if I'm lucky, it's around for a few hours, maybe a few days. Linkedin seems to like be a bit random in that sometimes I'll have people like a post from three weeks ago, which feels a bit bizarre. Just what's happened with the algorithm, I do not know, but I feel like you're at mercy of the algorithm. Will the algorithm, gods, bless my post today? And it feels like I can make lots of effort, I can do it all right in inverted commas, and it still doesn't feel as efficient, which is why I don't love it.

Speaker 1:

And that's why I love doing this podcast, because every single week people are listening to episodes that I recorded back in October last year and hopefully in the future, as this grows and I have hundreds of episodes in my belt, people will be able to pick and choose content and episodes that are relevant for them, that are years old and that feels so efficient. Also, I do a lot of my social media content from my podcasts. I do the podcast as like my big, chunky bit of content and then from that I create posts, and that makes it a lot easier for me me. So how can you make social media efficient and not flash in the pan here today, gone tomorrow?

Speaker 2:

and not feel like I've put all this hard work in and it's just flopped. I really relate to that. The answer is you need a bank of content. I like to call it the content vault. Imagine you have a vault at Gringotts and you just dip down, you jump on the Goblin's trolley every once in a while, you pull out the post you need and you go back on into the world to make some magic. That's the idea, is you have a bank of content.

Speaker 2:

You could do something as simple as have a look at what your most popular posts were last year, reuse them and just have them as your bank of content. What I like to do is have them in an order that kind of makes sense. So I've created a toolkit and it is based on 27 tips. It's that simple. It's 27 tips, but it's like the most common thing that I work with with my clients and I have put them into an order that makes sense to me, having worked through them with clients. So I know there is no point in deciding what platform you want to use if you haven't figured out your mission. There's no point in trying to create a content vault if you haven't actually come up with some posts that you like first. So having that order is what then makes that content bolt make sense to me and I can reuse that content as much as I like.

Speaker 2:

So coming up, obviously, we're literally about to start Mental Health Awareness Month, so May there'll be a lot of talk online and it's a topic that really resonates with me. So I will dip into my content bowl for anything that relates to Mental Health Awareness Month and Maternal Mental Health Week, so I can reuse stuff I've used already. I've got stuff that I've rewritten but I've updated. There's tips that I know have gone down really well in the past, so I want to share them again so they're not missed. And then there might be do you know what? There's probably posts in there that I loved last year because they were so full of like my thoughts, but they didn't get noticed.

Speaker 2:

So I'm going to try it again this year, and it's not about the likes, it's about sharing the story and building the relationships. So for me, that is the biggest way you can be efficient. It's been a genuine game changer for me, with me and my clients. That is my goal with every client that I work with is to build up a content vault, because then I've got that core content and I can focus on the things that I love. If I feel like doing a few reels, great. If I want to do some training videos, I've got the time to do it now because I'm not online all the time.

Speaker 1:

I love that idea and I love the imagery you build of you know, get going to Gringotts and going down to your vault and like and it's gold, it's treasure, and it's treasure that you've crafted and it's not gone, they, it's saved in your vault for you to use again. And I think people feel like we need to constantly be doing new. But we don't, because you know, a small percentage of people actually see all your posts now, even if they've seen it before last year. They're not going to remember and they might not have seen it. And you've got new followers since.

Speaker 1:

We don't remember as much as we think we remember. Our memories are very subjective. They do change. I did a psychology degree and that was my most fascinating thing was how memories change over time. They feel very real to us, but it might not have been what happened. So people don't remember. And if they do, then that's fine. You're just telling them again. So reuse content that has worked that you love. I love that as well that you said maybe there's a post that you love and it had lots of your heart in it. It didn't go down as well as you hoped it would Do it again. Well, as you hoped it would do it again, bend it out into the world again. So if somebody is drowning in their social media needs at the moment and they're just feeling like I can't, I just feel stuck, I feel like it's not serving me and they could do with a little bit of Amy magic in that area, how can they find you, follow you, get in touch, etc.

Speaker 2:

I am all over social media, as you would expect, so on Instagram and Facebook it's Content Wizard UK. I am also on LinkedIn. If you just search Amy Downs Downs is D-O-W-N-E-S. You should find me, but I'm pretty sure I'm Amy Downs Wizard on there as well, so you'll know. You've found me because it's me wearing a witch's hat, waving a wand at the camera. I've also got which. I will share the link with you.

Speaker 1:

This hasn't even been released yet a new freebie called conserve your magic, amazing, a mini guide to calmer social media.

Speaker 2:

Drop a message to me of what's on your mind and I will help you with it, because I guarantee you, whatever's bugging you, I will have heard it before and I will have. Whatever's bugging you, I will have heard it before and I will have either done it myself or I will have helped somebody else through it. So there's always an answer. There is no obstacle too big. But the biggest, best piece of advice I can give anybody is if social media is feeling like that, just switch off. Just come away from it, because you will enjoy the break.

Speaker 2:

I get loads of really fresh ideas and I love it. So you might find that the break gives you the inspiration, the motivation, the spark, the sparkle that you need, the magic that you need. Or, as somebody that I'd been, I had been chatting with last year, she actually took a break and she decided she wanted to focus on her email marketing instead of her social media, which is absolutely fine as well, like if that it's about finding what works for you, as we've said the whole way through. But that is the best piece of advice, especially the summer holidays coming up. Just take some time off whenever you can give yourself a break from it, and I would be willing to bet that you come back feeling more inspired and more excited about it, because you've had a break.

Speaker 1:

I love that, because sometimes the most productive thing we can do is stop, rest. So stop doing all the things. Draw a line under it, stop putting the pressure on yourself to do it all. No one's going to notice either, really, what I will do, amy. I will put all the links in the show notes and if anyone needs to, wants to get in touch with Amy to follow her to get this guide, I want to sign up for that guide, so give me the link. I'm going to be first, and if anyone wants a bit more support and wants to work with you, they can get in touch with you via any of your socials and I'm sure you will help them out and I think I might be doing the same in the future. Amy, before we go, have you got any more burning top tips?

Speaker 2:

literally one that's just popped into my head, which I do cover in the spell book, but it is about I call it mindful scrolling, and when you are disappearing down the scroll hole, which we all do it's absolutely fine. Yesterday I was worn out from my weekend in Newcastle. I spent most of the day scrolling through Facebook. Fine, it just it happens, but when you are in the right mindset um focusing on things that actually do good for you yeah it's really important.

Speaker 2:

So it goes back to remembering what your mission is. So many people will moan about oh, I don't see any of the posts that I actually like, and actually I feel like, well, yeah, because you engage with the wrong stuff. Okay, I tended to get dragged into arguments on, like news posts. If there was something on there that I really disagreed with, um, so then it would show me more of those negative news posts, so that would then drag me down. So, being really mindful of what you're engaging with and what you're spending time on, so every morning I go into there's three networking groups that I know, and I go into those three groups first thing in the morning and I will either post or engage on one of the posts that's already in there, because then I will see that group again for the rest of the day, and I just find that a much better way of making yourself more productive than just going down your timeline, which is going to show you stuff.

Speaker 2:

That is, whatever. Whatever Facebook wants you to see, yeah, than what you want to see. So I think that's a really good piece of advice, like whether you're a business person or whether you are employed. Yeah, it's a really good piece of advice, like whether you're a business person or whether you are employed yeah. It's a really helpful piece of advice to not feel like you're wasting your time on social media, because so many of us do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Quite easily because it is designed to be addictive.

Speaker 1:

Yeah yeah, yeah, we're pretty powerless. This is why I have real issues with social media, because I've read quite a lot of books about how it is designed and I know that I'm not strong enough to overcome that the powers and all the money that's put into these apps to keep me hooked. I am powerless. So that's why I don't have it on my phone, because that is taking the power back, because I'm not strong enough to do it, to keep it in its box.

Speaker 1:

I think that being intentional about where you go first is brilliant. Tip Like where do you go first? Because that is then what you will see, or hopefully more of what you see. So, yeah, I love that that you can still do the scroll, but if you've been a little bit intentional at the beginning, then hopefully it will bring you more of what you've got. And the other piece of advice that someone once gave me is about it's okay to stop following people if you're seeing person you don't want to see that content anymore. Really orchestrate your list of people, because then that's what you'll see and that's okay. People are not going to mind they don't know.

Speaker 2:

If you've stopped following them, it's fine you don't have to justify it, you don't have to apologize, you don't have to feel like you've got to follow someone because you don't want to cause an argument. So I've had I had a really good friend who I've noticed to take a meal for her social media absolutely no idea why. I could swear I'd not done anything that could have offended her. But sometimes people just decide they have a clear out and it's okay, because also it's okay for you to do it. And people who don't feel right for your mission anymore, yeah, it's okay if they're not on your timeline and it's better for you. Yeah, brings the focus and your energy where it needs to be, rather than trying to sort of placate everybody remove people, unfollow who you want and just curate your social media experience.

Speaker 1:

I think that seems to be a bit of a theme for today, like from what you post and why, to who you follow and why, to what content you choose to share and why. It's all your choice, there isn't? You must post three times at 9 0, 7 am, or else what's the point in life?

Speaker 1:

you might as well just close your business not about, it's about you, because, particularly those of us that are business owners, you are your business, your business is you. It's very difficult to separate the two, so the more you can lean into the things that you like, the better definitely.

Speaker 2:

If it feels like a daily chore that you're dreading doing, which it does for so many of us, you actually have the power in you to turn it into a magical tool and make it something that you love using. And if you're not, then what's the point of being? I love that. I'll just stop.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, amy. It's been such a pleasure having you on the podcast. I am so grateful that we met last week and that you can be one of my very first podcast interviews, and I hope that's been really helpful for everybody in my audience. If you're not a business owner, I'm sure you've been able to get some really good top tips there, particularly around the curation almost of your feed of what you see, and mindful scrolling, I think, is a wonderful tip. So that's been really helpful. So thank you so much, amy, and I'll put all the links in the show notes and that's all for today.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining me on Productivity with Zest. If you want to figure out what area of productivity is holding you back, take my quiz at wwwzestproductivitycom forward slash quiz and I'll give you some tips to help you along the way. If you've enjoyed this hit, follow so you never miss an episode. And if you're feeling generous, please leave a review, because it really helps. If you want to hear more, head to wwwzestproductivitycom. Until next time, stay focused, stay balanced and keep bringing the zest to your productivity.

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