As the decibel levels on social media get louder each day, it is quite easy to feel inadequate unless you are absolutely secure in your sense of self and rather unaffected by braggadocio.
Across every sphere of your life someone in your social circle is inevitably achieving a whole lot more. Just take a moment to audit your feed across platforms. In a span of a few days you’re likely to see everything from Matt’s promotion to a challenging new role, Radhika’s transformational weight loss journey, Alicia’s cool videos of hot air ballooning with her besties in Cappadocia, Sunita raking up hundreds of likes and comments for her a post on her fabulous workplace and Sumit’s photos of him perfecting the Bhujangasana in addition to lots of cute baby, cat and dog videos not to mention every other bizarre piece of content that pops up in your feed!
Add to this the fact that our social media consumption is rarely time bound. Open up LinkedIn or Instagram and an hour later you might still be floating from one post to next, seamlessly aided by technology, hoping for some natural end which never comes.
This heady cocktail comes at a mighty price.
What is the knock off impact on your on self-worth by your endless scrolling?
The infinite scroll is designed by Silicon Valley to be addictive for a reason. The term has transcended its original usage (easier pagination of content rather than clicking) to become a verb and a noun that has become, unfortunately, ubiquitous in our lives. More so for the young people in our lives.
If we’re not careful, the infinite scroll could have a devastating effect on our productivity and creativity not to mention physical and emotional wellbeing.
I’m most worried about us getting distracted from achieving our own goals because we see someone getting there faster. Or easier. Or with less pain.
This is why it’s super important these days to remember to swim in your own lane. If you look over on the right or the left, you’re bound to lose focus and per- haps make a wrong move the will deny you victory.
The story of Chad Le Clos vs. Michael Phelps, famous swimming rivals, in the 2016 Olympics 200m Butterfly final is eye-opening. The South African youngster was all set to beat the American swimming legend.
What was the result? Le Clos didn’t beat Phelps.He didn’t even get a medal. (He finished fourth).Why? Photographs and video footage from the race show the exact moment at which Le Clos turned his head to look for where Phelps was.
That cost him dearly.
What’s the takeaway for us?
If we spend hours on end watching others achieve their goals, what happens to ours? We have to stay absolutely grounded and focused on our purpose and our dreams and not allow distractions in any form, especially other people’s achievements to steer us off course.
It’s not about always winning but rather giving everything our absolute best efforts by having the right focus and direction.
Brands make this mistake as well. So often they are so worried about standing out from competitors that they forget that the real winner is the one who gets closest to the consumer.
There’s no better way to keep becoming the best version of yourself by remembering to swim in your own lane!
Over to you now:
How often do you fall prey to the infinite scroll? Are there ways in which you can control this?
What’s your strategy for dealing with seeing others’ glorious achievements and slices of life enjoyment?
What can you do to remember to swim in your own lane?