The difference between expectation and reality is often the source of significant discontent.

Life trains us to search for ideals: the perfect partner, job, life, outcome. Unfortunately this almost never arises and even if it did, it would be fleeting…

Today’s episode is the audio from a talk I did on building an authentic Instagram following for the Remotely Possible community.

I touch on the importance of engagement, connection, values, and being ‘real’. I also go into specific strategies like hashtags, stories, DM’ing, music and other techniques specific to the platform.

If you have a personal brand or business, this talk is a must for you!

Yes, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. Yes, it was shocking. But perhaps there are far more shocking and consequential acts of violence occurring as we speak?

Here is my take on the event, as well as a meta discussion of our collective response to it, and the implications of that response.

As I say in the episode, if I am wrong, please enlighten me!

What happens when a society has no memory? When every issue feels just as important to every other issue? When we are so over saturated with conflict and controversy that we lose the ability to discern real problems from surface level irritations?

In this episode of The Reality Check Podcast I break down how technology, the news cycle, and social media is warping the social fabric of our society and creating a never ending roller coaster of conflict - all for profit.

Unless we speak our truth, our narrative will be created for us. People will believe what they see online, pushed by the curators of their individual echo chambers.

Thus other’s perception of you, and the people belonging to your groups, will not be correct. Quotes will be mined, small disagreements emphasised and conflicts stoked.

All for profit.

There is always something to be afraid of.

This is by design. The media outlets, social media platforms and people in the public domain all have a vested interest in promoting this fear: it keeps you coming back for more information.

This leads to advertisement revenue.

The real world risk for most of us from the Coronavirus is minimal. There is little that you can do to prevent it.

I prefer to step back, turn off the 24hr news cycle and look at life as it actually is, not as what I am being told it is.

Social media uses algorithms designed to promote maximum engagement.

It does this by showing posts to people who will engage (positively or negatively) - typically this is the same people over and over again.

This creates an echo-chamber that distorts your reality - if left unchecked it can make you feel like the whole world is split (and viciously attacking each other) all around the issues closest to you.

This will corrupt your thinking and is simply untrue.

In this episode I break down how this happens and the impact it will have on your mental state, as well as how best to manage it.

Click through to listen

Topic: Real self-care is more than just a ‘feel good’ activity, it involves taking action to improve yourself over the long term.

Book Chapter: ‘Limit Social Media & Screen Time’, ch 5.5 of How To Get Your Sh!t Together