Social Media, Sanity, & You

Struggling to maintain mental wellness in the digital marketing world? Welcome to the Power Lounge. Today, our host Amy Vaughan, owner and Chief Empowerment Officer at Together Digital, features Robbie Schneider, a healthcare content marketing leader with over 20 years of experience and author of Social Media, Sanity & You.

Looking for strategies to balance your professional and personal life? Robbie shares her journey from a goal-setting cohort participant to a published author, offering practical insights from her extensive background in healthcare and personal experiences.

How can you sustain your well-being in an always-on digital environment? Robbie provides actionable advice to achieve balance and maintain mental health in your professional life.

Connect with Robbie:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbieschneider/
Website: http://robbieschneider.net/

Episode Timestamps

00:00 - Intro

04:54 - Navigating Digital Impact on Mental Health

09:02 - Career Pivot: Social Media & Healthcare

13:22 - Strategic Resource Engagement

14:15 - "Burnout's Mental Health Impact"

18:46 - Strategic Response to News Events

21:55 - Walk Away from Screens

26:45 - Balancing Work Flexibility

29:42 - Challenging Meeting Necessity

32:15 - Navigating Social Media Trends

34:00 - Time Boxing for Focused Email Management

38:03 - Connecting Communication Research Dots

40:26 - Overcoming Perceptions in Strategic Communication

44:21 - Pandemic Shift in Social Media

48:48 - Goal Setting Tips for Big Ambitions

52:12 - Overcoming Challenges Shapes Growth

53:31 - Embracing Year-Round Opportunities

58:12 - "Boundaries, Communication, and Speaking Up"

01:00:03 - Leading with Heart in Business

01:00:32 - Outro

Quotes of the Episode:

"Serving as a strategic resource and having meaningful conversations eases stress and prepares you for crises."

— Robbie Schneider

"You don’t need to be an expert in everything. Delegate to experts and learn from them."

— Robbie Schneider

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hello everyone and welcome to our weekly Power
Lounge.
This is your place to hearauthentic conversations from
those who have power to share.
My name is Amy Vaughan and I amthe owner and chief empowerment
officer of Together Digital, adiverse and collaborative
community of women who choose toshare their knowledge, power
and connections.
Join the movement attogetherindigitalcom and today I

(00:30):
am thrilled to welcome one ofour very own.
Today's guest, robbie Schneider, is a true embodiment of what
happens when passion meetspurpose in the digital space.
As I mentioned, she is abeloved member of Together
Digital and our amazingcommunity, and she recently
achieved something remarkableshe leveraged her goals from our
2024 goal-setting workshop intoreality in her newly published

(00:53):
book Social Media, sanity andyou a Guide to Mental Wellness
for the Digital Marker.
So marketer, it's so Friday andI'm just so excited and I'm so
stinking proud of you, robbie.
For over two decades she's gothas worked in healthcare and
content marketing, and shecurrently leads social media
strategy at the FranciscanHealth Company and serves as a

(01:17):
board chair for socialmediaorghealth.
But what makes this storyparticularly inspiring is how
she has channeled her experienceinto addressing one of the
industry's most pressingchallenges protecting our mental
wellness and an always ondigital world and good golly,
this couldn't be more importantand relevant at this time and

(01:37):
when.
She's not just sharing hertheoretical advice.
She is.
She's lived in that.
She's not just hinging ontheoretical advice.
She's not just hinging ontheoretical advice.
She has lived these challengesof balancing digital demands
with personal well-being, andtoday she'll be sharing some
practical strategies that haveemerged from her both personal
and professional journey and herdeep understanding of the

(01:58):
healthcare space.
As we launched our 2025Authentic Ambition Goal Setting
Cohort.
Robbie's journey from workshopparticipant to published author
could not be more timely.
She is a shining example of howour community and support can
help to transform professionalaspirations into reality.
So everyone, please join me inwelcoming the amazing Robbie

(02:21):
Schneider into the Power Lounge.
Welcome, robbie.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Hi, I'm so glad we get to talk this morning finally
.
I know, you know, I know wewanted to do this in December
and life happens, unfortunately,and I'm just excited.
I think this is a wonderfultime.
Right now there's so much goingon with the news and in the
digital space, and I'm justthrilled to be talking with

(02:44):
everybody about this andbringing some attention to it.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
As much as life can throw us in, as hard as I know
things were for you at the endof the year.
You know, I think you're right.
I think now is the time that weneed to be having this
conversation.
So, yeah, definitely, membersbe listening Now.
Members share the news of thisbook because it's such a
fantastic read and, again, youknow, you've walked the walk and
now you're talking the talk,and I think that that's so great
.
But before we dive into thebook, I'd love to hear more

(03:10):
about your journey with thiscommunity together, digital, and
what sparked your decision tomake writing social media sanity
and you your goal during ourworkshop.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Okay, that's a loaded question and you know, I'm
gonna be frank with you, I wasvery unsure about together
digital at first, because therewere some really great local
communities and unfortunately mymarket didn't have one and I
was like, what is the value ofanother digital organization?
And I'll tell you, amy, thisone is different, it feels

(03:42):
different.
You know, we've got greatconnections with the cohorts and
the goal setting groups andI've met wonderful women around
the country who are willing topitch in and help bounce off
ideas and collaborate and reallygrow in our professional goals.
So I really, you know, I'mthrilled to be part of this
group and I'm thrilled tocontinue with this group and I

(04:05):
just, I just can't say enoughabout it.
But, um, so he made an extendedinvitation to you know, just
try it out for a year.
And I said, okay, well, if I'mgoing to do this, I'm really
going to invest with this andreally make sure that I'm making
the difference with it.
And I said signed up for thegoal setting workshop.
Um, had no idea what I wantedto do, so I'm going to give you

(04:27):
my you know, very real thing foranybody who can see.
These are my sticky notes ofideas and goals and things I
thought maybe I'd like to doover the 2024.
No real sense of rhyme orreason, but I had ideas of
things and getting past the ideainto action it's an evolution
it really is and being able towork through you know kind of

(04:50):
how I wanted to do things, how Iwanted my 2024 to look.
I come off of a couple of verydifficult years, not only COVID,
but also with somelife-changing events in our
family and, you know, reallytrying to take a look at you
know what can I do to kind ofshift the script in my head and
what can I do to really make themost out of what I I've been

(05:12):
through and to help others also.
And so one of my goals wasreally just, it wasn't even
about writing a book at the time, it was about hey, I just want
to use my voice to leverage anddiscuss about the impacts of
working in the digital space andthe impacts it can have on the
mental health, because we'vetalked so much about how social

(05:35):
media is impacting our youth andthat's such a valid
conversation.
But a lot of times what we tellpeople is just turn off your
phone, put it away, downloadthose apps.
What do you do when you're thatprovider and that's a
professional, and yourexpectation is to be digitally
connected all the time?
How do you find that balance inlife?

(05:57):
It's something that's achallenge, it's something that
doesn't go away and, frankly,you know, given the political
environment we've been in thelast probably five to eight
years, just given the evolutionof the discourse on social media
and given the splintering ofall the social media outlets
that we have to choose from froma brand perspective, we're
doing more and more and more andwith the speed of social media,

(06:20):
you know, we're getting lessand less and less time and
trying to figure out where thatbalance is so we can come back
and perform and be at our best,so we can do our best work for
our brand is just it's.
It's good for us and it's goodfor your business as well.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, agreed, and thank you so much for being
honest, because I think it's afair and valid point right, and
I think that we're in a new erawhere there's like this pivot
obviously towards everythinghybrid and virtual and remote
and you know, and it almostmakes us feel more separated and
fragmented and alone andsometimes it's hard to think
because there are not alwaysplatforms that are built out

(06:56):
there with intentionality andpurpose and mission that you're
like, is this going to be a safespace?
Is this truly going to be aplace where I can, you know,
bring my full self and talkabout my challenges?
And to me, I think that's likethe importance of community
right now in the world thatwe're living in, whether it's
online or offline, but findingyour people and community to

(07:16):
source that collective couragethat you need to sort of go
after the things that you neverthought you would go after.
And I, you know, I thinkthere's.
There's people I challengepeople all the time.
I know women who have becomethe best of friends through our
network and being on zoom andchat alone, who start businesses
together, you know, and thenend up in the physical world

(07:37):
together.
It's just, you know, I mean God, if people can get online and
meet and get married and spendthe rest of their lives together
.
Why can't I meet myprofessional soulmates online
too?
Right, and I also think and I doappreciate the fact that, even
though you were a littlediscerning about it that when
you came on board, you jumpedright in, because this is the
kind of thing, right Anycommunity what you put into it

(07:59):
is what you get out of it.
You can't just show up and take.
You have to show up and bewilling to give, and I think
you've done such a great jobwith that, especially with being
so brave as to choose a veryvalue-based goal of yours.
That, I know, is a little hardto do, looking at all those
post-its to then take the thingsthat you had experienced and

(08:19):
learned and grew from and say,oh, I figured this out and now I
want to help others figure itout.
That's just, it's so, soamazing.
I love that.
And so, yes, kudos to you forjust you know coming in, being
intentional, using your timewisely.
I think sometimes we make theexcuse I just don't have the
time.
You've really done that, likeyou're working a full time job

(08:41):
and still showing up foryourself and taking the time to
do this always on social media,plus write a book about it.
So I want to talk a little bitabout that.
Like you know, was there anyparticular moment, or was this
something that kind of had beensitting with inside your either
your mind or your heart?
Was there any particular momentthat made you realize that this

(09:03):
was the message that you neededto put out there, to like, ok,
look at all those post-it notes,this is the thing that needs to
go out into the world ofdigital professionals.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
I think for me and my journey, you know, I've worked
in the social media landscapesince, you know, the early days
of Facebook and it was literallymy career took a pivot when I
had a conversation with somebodyin another room saying, hey,
what do you think about thisFacebook thing?
And had I known that this wouldcompletely shake my career, who
knows where I would have been.

(09:32):
But you know, as we've seensocial media grow and evolve and
some ways good, some ways bad,you know and coupled with a
pandemic and I work for ahealthcare organization, and
especially if you think back tothe very early days in 2020,
there was a lot of confusion, alot of concern.

(09:53):
You know we rode the emotionalroller coaster of what the heck
is this?
Watching science experiments inreal time.
Essentially, you know, we're,we're, we're testing, we being,
you know, the global sciencecommunity is testing to try to
figure out what exactly is goingon and how our best practices
for treatments and preventionand that kind of thing, trying
to make sure that you know we'reout there as a public health

(10:13):
resource, trying to be thatresource for people who are
reaching out for information,whether they're concerned about
a loved one or they may beneeding to visit the hospital,
or you know, hey, I saw this onsocial media and you work for a
hospital.
You must know what's going on.
It was truly an emotionalroller coaster.
You know, I think I went 60days without a day off in the

(10:34):
initial weeks, because you justhad this sense of you know, this
is your moment.
This is the stuff we've beenplanning for since H1N1 back in
2009.
And these are.
You know we're actually.
This is evolving in real timeand you know the reality is.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
I dealt very much with burnout as a result of it
and I didn't realize it wasburnout.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
at the time I was tired, you know.
We kind of got through themotions.
Everybody was going throughthis collective social shift
where you weren't seeing peopleand you were suddenly trying to
get your child to actually dotheir homework while you're
trying to do your job.
And, thank God, I made itthrough me and my kid actually

(11:18):
made it to the next grade.
I'm quite shocked that thathappened, to be honest.
But, um, I really, you know, um, there was, there was a lot,
and I came through this andstarted thinking it was like,
well, maybe it's amazing.
And you know, I, I worked with,you know, my manager at the
time and he was kind of like,well, what can we take off your

(11:40):
plate?
And I'm like, well, you can'ttake anything off of my plate
unless you, you know, get morepeople.
And so it was kind of like,well, if you don't take anything
off your plate, it's kind oflike your fault and it's, it's,
it is and it isn't, it's justthe reality of the situation and
we were in very unique times.
And then, um, I'm very blessedthat I'm part of socialmediaorg
health, which is a consortium ofother healthcare social media

(12:01):
professionals across the country.
And we were all starting tohaving those same conversations.
We're just exhausted, we'reburned out, we just can't keep
up at this speed.
And I realized it's not a mething, it's not our hospital
thing, it is a healthcare,social media professional thing.
And, as I, you know, continuethese conversations.

(12:23):
You know we got through theworst of the pandemic and we're
still all burnt out and we'restill all tired.
And you know, what do we do tokind of help evolve the
conversation?
And I, you know, as I'm readingand growing, I'm learning that
it's, you know, not justhealthcare, social media
professionals, it's peopleworking in digital space, it's
people who are working in mediarelations, it's people not even

(12:50):
just in the United States.
You know, the burnout amongprofessional communicators is
huge.
There's studies in the UK andAustralia and around the world
demonstrating the level ofburnout and mental health
concerns that we're all facingas communicators.
And you know, so we have totake a look at it and sometimes
the answer is maybe we, we don'thave that resource to step back
, but maybe we've got some otherresources and having those hard
conversations.

(13:10):
And maybe it took me into myforties to realize that I can't
have those hard conversationsand saying I can't do all the
things at once and have it allperformed to their best
abilities, and for me to be aperforming in my best abilities,
and so having thoseconversations of me to be
performing in my best abilities,and so having those
conversations of hey, you know,if this needs to get moved up

(13:32):
because of a campaign, somethingelse has to go, yes, and so if
you can't meet this deadline orthis needs to be moved up, what
needs to get shifted?
So everything gets theappropriate attention they
deserve, not only from thesocial media team, but the
design team, the marketing team,the eyes that are looking at
the content that you want peopleto react to.
If you are flooding people withpost, post, post, post, post,
they're going to tune you out.

(13:53):
And you've done no good otherthan just spin your wheels.
So having those toughconversations it gets easier
over time.
Being asked to be brought tothe table and saying, hey, don't
forget, we're here as astrategic resource, being able
to have those deep conversations.
It just makes all thedifference because whatever you
can do on the front end to helpreduce your stress in your

(14:16):
workday is going to help you outwhen you hit those crisis
events or life events that causethat upheaval professionally.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and I love that you're sospot on.
We need to really start lookingat and thinking of life events
that cause that upheavalprofessionally.
Yeah, and I love that you're sospot on.
We need to really start lookingat and thinking of, like I
think we're all burnt out on theword burnout, but we need to
talk about what's behind theword burnout.
It's mental health impact andit's acknowledging the fact that
it's impacting and hurting alot of people.
And even though some peoplemight think it's like a fluffy
thing to have like mental health, you know we don't put it on

(14:46):
the same level as physicalhealth yet it does impact the
physical health.
It does, in fact, like affectit's amazing how many
performance conditions areimpacted by stress and anxiety
your higher quarter zone.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know I don't want to be that statistic that goes
back to the 50s.
Yeah, we're talking aboutpublic relations professionals
being at higher risk of heartattacks.
Yeah this is.
This is not just a digitalquestion.
This is an industry question.
It is and it's something thatwe're past time having those
discussions about yeah, no, Iabsolutely agree.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
And that sense of you know doing it all, doing it
alone, always being on, alwayshaving the answers, it puts us
in that fight or flight mode,right, and so like we're
constantly responding from aplace of fear and uncertainty
which is just again trauma aftertrauma, which again impacts
mental health, physical health,performance, innovation.
So like if your team's notbeing as productive as they

(15:40):
could possibly be, if you're not, you know really putting the
things in place to really helpthem create that.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Absolutely.
I mean, I remember at one pointin the pandemic I would
literally have a stress responsewhen my cell phone pinged.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Oh my gosh, I believe that.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
And it was 10 o'clock , 11 o'clock at night.
It was because people weremoving so fast and they're like,
oh, and I need to tell themthis.
I ended up finally coming to mysenses and saying, okay, I'm
going to have a work rule and Italk about this in my book too
is, you know, set up your workrules for technology and having
my okay, admittedly, having mychild teach me how to do the
dark hours and so I wasn'tgetting those notifications for

(16:17):
work and letting people knowthat, unless the hospital is
literally on fire, burning down,that I will respond to it
during my worker hours and yeah,and that's.
That seems like such a simplething to do.
But just because I'm thinkingabout a 90 to get out of my head
does not mean that the teamneeds to execute it immediately.
In that moment, you've got tobe able to, as professional

(16:38):
people, to discern what is themost important thing, whether it
is 8am or 8pm.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah, on that note, I would want to.
I want to lean into this.
Next question actually is moreabout like for our listeners who
are leading digital teams oraspiring to and marketing teams.
You know I love that you aredoing this work with the social
mediaorg health.
As their board director, I'mkind of curious as to what are
some of the practical strategiesthat you talked about
boundaries and work hours butwhat are some other strategies

(17:04):
that you have seen work forprotecting the team's wellbeing?

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Boy, it's all about it.
You know, we are communicatorsand we, I think, as an industry,
do the worst job of internalcommunication right Among our
teams.
I'm not even saying among ourorganization, I'm saying talking
amongst ourselves.
So you know, on my team weliterally have daily touch bases
and we're talking abouteverything from what's going on
in the world to what's going onin your world.

(17:30):
And, if you know, my coworkerright now wasn't feeling the
greatest.
I'm like, okay, go.
He's like, well, maybe I needto go eat.
Well, first of all, go eat.
And if you're not feelingbetter, then, and if you're
feeling off, go, take care ofthat.
And we're okay for the weekendand I can monitor.
And so you need to just be ableto have those conversations,
because if I'm dragging becauseI'm not feeling good or I'm

(17:51):
stressed out or I'm worriedabout X, y and Z, I'm not
bringing my best to the table.
Yeah, and that's you know.
I would rather somebody takethe hour they need to go for a
walk or go to a doctor'sappointment or even take a nap.
Yes and come back refined andrefreshed and able to do their
best work.
That small investment just paysoff dividends.

(18:14):
So communicating with ourselvesis a big thing.
Knowing our boundaries isanother thing too, and we don't
have to be online all the timejust because we are digital
communicators.
And this is something we've hadconversations about internally
and, you know, with others in myfield, is just because the news
goes 24 hours a day doesn'tmean that you need to be tapped

(18:35):
in.
So we knew, going into electionseason and with changes with
this administration, that therewere going to be policy changes
and some that could be quitecontroversial changes with this
administration, that there weregoing to be policy changes and
some of that could be quitecontroversial.
And knowing that from a healthorganization, we made the
unilateral decision that wewould check our headlines and
discourse a couple of times aday within our social media
monitoring app and then coursecorrecting based on the news of

(18:57):
the day.
That way we're not constantlypinging in oh my gosh, this has
happened and this has happenedand this has happened and then
getting triggered by things thatwe're seeing in the feed that
we can actually take that stepback and having strategic
discussions based on it.
So, for example, you know thediscussion about some of the
minority health research beingtaken off a website.

(19:18):
Yeah, that that pinged up inour feed and there was
discussions and it's like, okay,well, we can take a step back
because we're taking that momentto not react in the moment and
say what does this mean for ourcontent strategy?
Are there opportunities, Arethere things that we need to
step up and do, to bring to theplate?
But being able to take thatstep back and think about it
strategically rather thanreactionary and we're not

(19:39):
talking huge amounts of time,but just being able to have the
sense of being able to step backand say what does this mean for
us before we just react, Ithink is important, and you know
that comes into planning andgoing back to that idea of basic
communication.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah Well, and really what you're talking about is
systems, like if you, you needsystems and structure to help
provide that space and sanity,and those boundaries Like you
can't maintain boundarieswithout some sort of system in
place because we will cave everytime.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Right, somebody will come with the pressure or the
guilt, or we'll just fall intoold habits and systems aren't
just you know, hey, did I put itin a work front or did I send
an email, or did I fill out theform?
It's really about havingconversations at the right time.
So it could be hey, we'rethinking about doing a campaign.
What does this look like in asocial media space?
Are we doing organic content?
Is it complimentary to us?

(20:35):
Is it something that your teamhas the resource to do?
Is it the right channel and theright time for it?
And what else is going on inthe digital space?
There's just so much competingfor our attention, not only as
professionals but as people,that we've just got to be
mindful of that in the worldthat we're working in right now
it kind of reminds me of what Ithink to tell my kids.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
Oftentimes, when they either say things to themselves
or to others, it's like youknow, before you open your mouth
, before you communicatesomething, before you post
something up on social media, Ialways think is it helpful, is
it true, those two things?
And if it's not, I tell peoplepractice the pause.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Think about what you're saying before you just
get out there, you know, and Ithink, we've all had those
moments where we forget to dothat, but you know, taking that
step back and saying, okay, didI need to?
And then either rectifying itor moving on Well cause.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
As a brand, you don't want to go out into the world
and just step in a big old pileof you know, because people have
.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
I mean not for Wendy's, but you know, not for
my brand.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
No, right, exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I honestly kind of hope,because I was on brands where we
were literally always on, wealways needed to be responding
to what was happening in thenews and the world.
And we were marketing for afabric softener and I'm like do
we really need to becommentating on the entire world
and all that's happening?
Like, is this really helpfulfor customers?
Is this going to make them morelikely to buy our laundry

(21:47):
product?
I don't know, but yes, I lovethat step back and pause and
again putting systems into placeto protect everybody's
boundaries.
Your book also talks a lotabout building resilience.
I'd love for you to walk usthrough one of your favorite
stress management techniquesthat our listeners can take and
implement.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
I'm the big proponent of taking a walk, which I know
that sounds very silly, butwhether it's a walking meeting,
it's a, I'm going to take 20minutes, go around the block and
come back and then reassess.
Taking that step away from thescreen is is the biggest thing,
I think for me, and that's sohard to do because we are so

(22:24):
attached to our phones and ourdevices and you know my kids are
like well, you're on your phoneall the time.
I'm like one I do work.
Two, it's attached to a medicaldevice that I work with, so I
need it for a living, so I can'tjust like put it in the room
and we'll see it next weekend.
So being, you know, mindful ofall the things that you're doing

(22:44):
and what do you have in control, and so for me, the realm of
control may be hey, I'm going toshut my laptop and I'm going to
go take a walk.
The other thing I love the ideais closing your door of your
office at night, and you know Icurrently work remotely and I
don't have a set office roomwith a door.
I'm closing the door, I'mshutting the laptop off in the

(23:09):
night and you know that is done.
I put it.
Put it away and we'll revisitit in the morning.
So you know, those really smallthings, building in rituals to
start your day, to close yourday.
I think all of those things areso helpful.
The other thing I do is is Ithink about you know what are my

(23:30):
key goals for that day.
You know I um this soundsreally hokey I work, you know
digital space, but I found alittle system and it was like a
note card and I'll just show youknow it's literally lines and
I'll write down here's mymeeting times and here's my top
three things that I want to getdone that day.
And having that focus of likehere are my key things and

(23:50):
everything else will get done,but reminding ourselves you know
what I need to do to be themost successful for my
organization that day, I thinkmakes a big, big difference too.
So just putting that structurein place.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah, my daughter's class.
I think I might've shared thisbefore.
I was super thrilled to hearthis.
They have this thing calledsoft starts to their day and the
kids basically get in.
And so, between you know, kidsget between in like 815 and 830.
And then the first bell rings,I think at like 835.
But they use that window oftime and it's funny because now
my daughter's, like I, have toget to school.
I have to get there as early aspossible, as soon as the doors

(24:23):
open, because she wants to bethere for the soft starts and
essentially it's.
You know, they can sit and do apuzzle, they can draw or color
or just journal for a fewminutes, but the whole idea is
that you don't have to sit downand go from zero to 60 and start
to like working your brain andyour body and all this at once.
It's really about those softstarts and, like you said, it's

(24:44):
not, it doesn't have to beanything huge.
Honestly, it's better off thatyou start with a small thing.
So, whether it is like sayingI'm going to get up and take a
walk because I got a meetingcanceled and I'm going to use
that time now, or again, come toyour desk 10 minutes early but
don't get right onto thecomputer, Take a soft start.
I mean, I had another you know?

Speaker 2 (25:04):
yeah, it does involve getting on the computer, but I
get up, I turn on my lighttherapy lamp, I grab something
to drink and I read my emails.
I know that you know most daysbecause, you know that's, I'm
not going to have a meetinguntil nine o'clock, so I've got
my time to kind of ease in.
I can do my web edits, thoselow bandwidth tasks, and then
I'm ready to go.
So, knowing that, you knowyou've got that, that, that

(25:27):
space and that ritual, and, andit makes a difference, whether
you're eight or you're aprofessional A hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
When I told, when I heard her say that, I was like
I'm going to start recommendingthat to every adult that I know,
Cause it could be such a usefulthing.
Even one of our live listeners,Corey, was like I'm going to
start you doing a soft start tomy work day.
It does it makes you.
The reason the teacher hadreally implemented it too is

(25:57):
because she actually learnedthat it helps you improve
creativity and focus, and she'sseen it with the kids.
It's made a difference.
So I'm like yeah, if it worksfor them, it's got to work for
us.
So we've already mentioned acouple times that pressure to be
always on.
How did you develop and how doyou stick to the boundaries that
boundaries you write about inyour book, Like what is it that
made them stick?
Because, like I said, withoutsystems sometimes it's really
hard and when you've got a lotof people coming at you for

(26:17):
different things, it's hard.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Boy, I'm going to say I'm a work in progress, and
that's me being completelyhonest.
I would love to say that I am,you know, clear boundaries.
All the time.
I realized that I'm human and I, I text and I, you know, get
online or whatever.
I think it's, it's recognizingwhen it's okay to give yourself
an exception, as opposed toadjusting your boundaries to

(26:41):
break the rules all the time.
And so it's kind of like youknow what do we say with dieting
?
You know it's like 80% of thetime and then you can have your
ice cream.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
Um, it's kind of like that, that, not that works ice
cream all the time.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Good reward.
But you know, it's like, youknow, realizing that it's like
if this is the exception of therule, that's okay.
Like Mondays tend to be one ofmy days that I may break the
rule and I may work a littlelater, and that's just because
that's how it's working in mylife right now and I get some
really great work and some longform writing done and then maybe
I will, you know, adjust on theback end later on.

(27:14):
You know, maybe where I've gotthe time to do things like a
podcast later on in the week andthat kind of thing.
So you know, making sure thatyou've got that flexibility and
recognizing that thatflexibility doesn't just extend
to your work, but it extends tothe other aspects of your life
as well.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, you just reminded me to have a practice.
I don't even think about itanymore, excuse me, I just do it
.
And that is like my littleSunday night ritual of looking
at my calendar ahead.
I used to just let my week comeat me.
I didn't know what was coming,I didn't know what meetings I
had on my calendar, and so Ijust perused through my calendar
and I will look and say, okay,I mean, I'm pretty meeting heavy
on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

(27:49):
Mondays and Wednesdays are mydeep work in meeting, like
in-person meeting times and days.
And I will look at my weeksometimes and I'll be like, oh
hell, I have really done a goodjob of overbooking and
overcommitting myself.
So that means when people cometo me during the week and say,
hey, let's do something thisweekend, I say, nah, you know,

(28:10):
because I know what's like aheadand I know that I'm going to
need like the time and theenergy to really recover from
the week.
And I know that's not alwayssomething you can do, but I do
think sometimes we just like tolike pretend it's not all there.
But it actually helps me tolook at my calendar on Sunday
night to see like what's comingand I don't go down a rabbit
hole.
I just kind of take a quickglance and then I say, okay, and

(28:30):
also it helps because I'll belooking at like a Wednesday and
I'm like, ooh, I don't, it's,it's not too terrible of a week.
I've got a Wednesday, there'ssomebody I need to hang out and
have lunch with.
You know what I mean.
Like you can be moreintentional, not just about what
you're packing into your week,but where you're placing moments
of rest, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, that reminds me of kind of what we do in our
houses.
You know we sit down as afamily.
What do you need to do to besuccessful for the week?
You know, are there things thatthat we need to know about?
Do you have activities going on?
Um, going through all of that?
And then I do that from aprofessional standpoint and make
sure that I've walked in andreserve time for me to do that
deep work.
That needs to happen, because Ican be responsive 40, 60 hours

(29:09):
a week if I needed to be.
But the reality is there'sstill the strategic work, the
deep work that I need to do, yes, the actual work, people.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
It doesn't happen by itself.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
That always drove me nuts.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
as a creative director, I'm like I would go to
my project managers and be likelisten, you have me in 10
meetings today.
Exactly how and when am Isupposed to hit these deadlines
if I am in constant meetings,nonstop, are these meetings?
Yeah, it goes back to thatcommunication.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
I had somebody I ran into in a meeting.
I'm like I know I need torespond back to you.
I've been in meetings six hoursa day the last three days.
I promise I'm going to get itback to you, but maybe Monday
and setting those expectationsthat it may not be today, but I
do see you, I do recognize yourneed and I will respond to you
as quick as possible.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
I challenged meetings after a while.
I'll be honest, robbie, maybe Imean I didn't do it like a
cockily or from an egotisticalstandpoint, but just knowing
what I had ahead of me in theway of work.
Again, looking ahead at myschedule, even before I truly
owned it as a business owner, Iwould often go to them and say
is this a meeting, is this anemail?

(30:13):
Is this a hallway conversation?
You know, because it's like Ineed to be able to make time and
space for me to get my workdone.
I can't just be in meetings allday till five, six o'clock in
the evening and then be able tostart on my work like that won't
fly for me or my family.
And I have to say to, somethingelse that we have to keep in
mind is we're not just doingthis for ourselves.
We are doing this, we'remodeling something for our
coworkers, we're modelingsomething for our children you

(30:34):
said your kids.
They notice how much we're onour phones and I'm not trying to
guilt, you ought to put themall down, but they want to see,
they want to have your attention.
And it's like when we were justtalking about teenage years and
moving bedrooms and I'm likelisten, I have got maybe 18
years with you guys in my homeand I am going to make the most
of that and that's going torequire me to make and create

(30:56):
some boundaries and again, Ithink the earlier and the more
often that you can reinforcethose, the better.
But yeah, just know, like yourteam is watching, you know your,
your family is watching, and sothat I remember that whenever I
get an after hours email ortext or message that's related
to work I really do work hard tobe like I mean I might read it,

(31:16):
but then I'll set a remindernine o'clock tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Well, I'll do you one better.
I don't even have Outlook on myphone.
That's smart.
I mean, do it I literally.
Only you know, look at socialmedia account content through my
monitoring.
That's great.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Oh, I love it.
That's so smart, you knowotherwise you're stuck.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
I need to do that horrible thing of scrolling and
you?
Know, unfortunately, doom andscrolling and then you know that
, just like reset your brain ina way, you don't need to be
informed, but you can beover-informed and get your life
back.
Yeah, get your time in yourlife back.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
We got a question from one of our live listeners.
She wants to know.
She's like.
I know that that managing timeis important for wellness.
This is kind of on the topic ofwhat we're discussing.
So good timing there, butmanaging time is often very
difficult with social media.
Do you have any advice onknowing what's happening in
social channels without havingto stay connected and read all
the things on the channelyourself?
Although I think you might havejust answered that with the

(32:10):
monitoring, Are there anyresources that you can recommend
?
So maybe we get a little morespecific for her on how to track
those trends, For example?
She's all about looking forways to work smarter, not harder
.
Amen, my friend, and I knowthat you all are too.
What do you got for her, Robbie?

Speaker 2 (32:25):
So I'm not sure if we're talking about trends as
far as what they're seeing, asfar as content, or trends in
social media apps and how thingsare working.
So from this I'll just touch onthe social media apps
Definitely tie into your network.
You do not have to be expert onall the things, but you can
curate and figure out who theexperts are and let them do the
heavy lifting for you and thenkind of digest that information.

(32:46):
I spend, you know, a couplehours each week just catching up
on trends and knowing what'sgoing on.
It's also important to knowwhat makes sense for your brand.
If your brand isn't on acertain platform, it's okay to
keep aware of it, but that's notyour primary area of focus and
it's okay to kind of table thatand then just look at the bigger
industry trends and the reportswhen you're taking a look at

(33:08):
content that impacts you andyour organization.
That content that impacts youand your organization.
That's where it gets tricky andyou know I mentioned earlier,
you know we are we do a lot ofmonitoring through Spread Social
for our app.
You can use Hootsuite or otherplatforms, but one of the things
that I know is it's easier tomonitor an aggregate that way,

(33:30):
filtering for your keywords, keyphrases, that kind of things,
and then just checking inperiodically on the headlines
and the trending topics tocourse correct, because
everything happens so fast insocial media Things can turn on
a dime, you know, just based onone person's comment, and we see
that all the time.
Person's comment and, and wesee that all the time.

(33:57):
And um, you know, it's justeasier on you to kind of keep
your focus primarily on yourbrand and your audiences and
their needs.
Yeah, but then just checking inon the status, you know, kind
of thinking back to back in theday when the news was only on it
eight, five and ten, you know.
You know there's another ideatoo, robbie we talked about this
in the goal setting workshop.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Right Of like time batching and time boxing.
So I started time boxing timesin the day when I would check my
email, because I would findmyself.
I would have like a contextswitching moment between one
task to the next, something thatneeded to be done, especially
on my deep work days, and Iwould see an email.
But most of the time emailSlack messages are incoming to
dues and or need thoughtful,intentional responses, and I

(34:36):
would never get that.
I would miss things.
They would get like pushed downin the feed or in the email
inbox and then I wasn'tanswering thoughtfully and
intentionally because I wastrying to do it between a
million different things.
So I time box in the morningand in the afternoon when I will
check my emails, and it takessome discipline and it takes
some time because I know we'reall afraid that you know people

(34:57):
will die if we don't check ouremails, but I really do try to
minimize real time and decisionsare being made real time over
email.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yeah, um right, it's convenient, but not so well,
that's the case when I get upand walk to them.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
What?
That's all what.
I'll get up and go walk to themor be like do we need?
To jump on a Zoom call Becausewe should be talking.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Exactly, exactly so, and it's okay.
Again, those work rules.
You know if you're going togive me an assignment over Slack
.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
I'm going to be like, hey, you need to fill out a
work front request, or you know,send the details over email, do
not piecemeal it.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
I've kind of trained team members that if you send
stuff to me in piecemeal that'sfine, but just understand it's
going to take me longer to getit together because now I've got
to go curate all theinformation as opposed to you
providing me all the details.
Great.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
And I loved your point too, that collective
knowledge is such a powerfulthing.
You don't have to be the onealways on with all the answers.
I'm sure that you get a lot ofthis from the other community
that you sit on the board for.
But together, digital, we havean asks channel where you can
literally just drop in.
It's like your bat phone.
You're like yo, I'm trying tofigure out this thing, I need
help, and people just reallycome to your rescue with lots of

(36:05):
thoughtful, intentional,sometimes bulleted lists, links,
their calendar, to offer tospend a half an hour talking
with you about it.
So don't ever think that, likeyou have to be the one to know
all the things and figure it out.
I think that there's a lot tosit to be said for.
You know, leaning on thecollective knowledge of others,
you can still walk into the roomand look smart and because it's
like you're surrounded by smartpeople, that's totally fine,

(36:27):
that's totally fine To me andsaid hey, let's have some
conversations about thesedifferent social media topics.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
I said, well, yeah, I could talk about it, but this
person is even better about itand being able to proactively
share that not only are theygetting the best information
they can, you know, I'm helpingthis other personnel too, and
that's the beautiful part aboutcommunity.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
I think it is, it is, it is.
Yeah, these guys, everyone here, all these amazing women make
me smarter every day.
People are like you know somuch.
I'm like it's just because Iget to sit here and take it all
in every single day.
So I also wanted to make noteof where folks can get your book
.
So if you wanted to tell themtheir website, we'll obviously
include it in the show notes too.

(37:07):
Where should they go to getyour book?

Speaker 2 (37:09):
Absolutely.
So you can check out socialmedia, sanadita and you at
robbyschneidernet.
I also have a couple of otherbooks out there that are related
to caregiving resources, justbased on some previous
experiences and some needs thatI've seen.
So you know I've been reallyblessed to work in the
healthcare space and have someexperiences that kind of have

(37:31):
helped me inform things andbeing able to help, share and
bring it forward to others.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
That's wonderful.
I love that, and also, membersof those of you who aren't aware
, we do have a caregiver channelas well, because that is
another very lonely endeavor,sometimes when you're working
with, like aging parents oraging family members and you
become the caretaker.
All right, let's talk a littlebit about your process and how
you got here.
We kind of came into, like yousaid, the goal setting workshop.

(37:56):
You had all these post-it notesand now you're a published
author.
We know that didn't just happenovernight, right, but I am
curious what surprised you themost about the process of
turning this expertise that youhave gathered through just lived
experience into guidance forothers that you have gathered
through just lived experienceinto guidance for others.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
I think what surprised me the most was that
nobody was connecting the dotson research and you know, I see
pieces from PRSA andorganizations overseas and
research on communications andthis small element.
But and everybody's havingconversations who work in the

(38:32):
social media space about likewe're tired, we're burnout, you
know, don't push our people toohard but nobody's saying, hey,
you know, we've got that largerconversation.
So me being able to help bringsome of that data together
hopefully can help othercommunicators have those
conversations with their teamsand their leadership and saying
how can we do things better andsmarter?
I'm not saying that I have allthe answers.

(38:54):
I'm not saying that I've gotall the research, but it's a
starting point for a deeperdiscussion about how we can make
things more effective for yourorganization and to make things
more balanced for your teammembers, because we don't need
people to be tired and burnoutand ready to quit.
I've seen studies about how 60%or more of communicators are

(39:16):
ready to quit because of mentalhealth concerns.
That's ridiculous.
That's losing attention.
That is a tremendous issue forany organization, let alone
somebody in healthcare.
And taking that step back athow we can do things better, I
think is good and I think itneeds to be something that's an
ongoing conversation.
I mean, I even got called outon it yesterday.

(39:37):
Um, my team members like, okay,you sound tired.
I'm like a little overwhelmedand I'm like, well, why don't
you take a step back and we'llregroup about it tomorrow?
And I'm like, oh, my God, youdo listen to me.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Oh, look at that, I'm reflecting what you have taught
back to them.
That's such a good moment.
I love that.
Yes, definitely Good for you.
I mean that's how you knowyou're doing it right.
Right Is when your team showsback up for you and the ways in
which you've been modelingshowing up for them, which,
again, is why I think all ofthis is so important.
So I love it that, like youknow, the majority of our

(40:11):
members within this communityhave like 15 to 20 years of
experience.
So and you've been in it for awhile now you know social media
is not something new.
It's something that a lot ofpeople are kind of in and then
they're right out of, but youhave really managed to stick
with it.
So I would love to hear someadvice from you about
sustainable career growth andhow you recommend staying
current with digital trendswithout sacrificing that mental

(40:32):
wellness that we all are reallyholding so near and dear.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yeah, I think one of the biggest challenges working
in this kind of role is thatthere's very much a sense by
non-communicators that this isjust easy.
I can take a picture and snapit and throw it online, I can
take a video and stick it online.
But really take diving intothat strategic messaging and how
you can be a good partner foryour business to tell the story
and not just be, you know,putting a pithy quote or a meme
on a brand, that you are herefor customer retention, you're

(41:02):
here for education, you're herefor, you know, leveraging your
organization to really help yourcustomer base or potential
customers.
It's really about kind ofgrowing and defining yourself
within your organization.
It's about not being afraid totry and even if you try and fail
, that's okay.

(41:23):
You know we decided that afterhow many years of saying, hey,
we need to do more social video,this is the direction they're
going, and we weren't gettingresources.
We just said we're going to doit and it's going to look
terrible and you know I was okaywith it looking terrible
because we were getting outthere and we were trying and we
learned from that.
So, not being afraid to getyour hands messy, not being

(41:44):
afraid to try.
I'm a print journalist bybackground, so you know the
video side is is all new to meand it's a little nerve wracking
but it's fun and it's it makesthings interesting and it makes
things, you know, exciting totry something new for a good day
.
So not being afraid to try, Ithink, is just one of the

(42:06):
important things, especially ifyou're you're determined to stay
with a particular field withinthe social media space.
You know, never being afraid totry, I think, is the biggest.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Yeah, I love it and I love that you haven't lost your
passion for it, and I think itis a testament to your ability
to kind of be mindful andintentional and acknowledge,
like the mental toll that it cansometimes take on you.
I think that helps for the sakeof resilience and longevity as
well.
Right, because it's not alwaysabout jumping on and following
every, every trend, because youknow, guess what?

(42:35):
you're jumping on a trend andyou're putting a ton of money
towards you know, I don't know,a tick tock, and then all of a
sudden it's gone and then it'sback, and then it could be gone
again you know we had a greatconversation this week with some
other members really about,like you know, as one of our
amazing members here inCincinnati said, you're social
media platforms are likebuilding a house on sinking sand

(42:56):
, like own your properties, beconscientious about your lists
and how you reach your people.
Because you don't own socialmedia, you know you're playing
in someone else's yard, and Ithink that that's such an
important mindset, even to kindof help you sort of realize that
, yeah, there are certain thingsyou said it before too that are
out of my control.
What can I control?
What levers can I pull?

(43:17):
Knobs I can turn to like testand learn, and I do love that
curiosity.
Digital and social are a greatplace to kind of just put things
out there and see how it, howit works and how it evolves, and
then maybe blowing it up intosomething bigger.
But yeah, you don't need tomake it an all in every time
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
And I think I'm lucky I work in the healthcare space.
We are about helping improvepeople's lives.
I mean that's how do you get abetter mission than that?
You know, so I feel like I'vegot a very special place.
It's it's.
It's a very serious placebecause you know, we are walking
alongside people, sometimesduring their most difficult
times on life you know, and youknow some of the message we get.

(43:59):
We're trying to direct people toget care or answers question
about their loved ones, and youknow we're really here about
helping connect people to carewherever they are, whether it's
a hey, I know I need to eatbetter.
Or it's a hey, you know, myloved one has cancer and walk
alongside and and and tell thosestories and help educate.
You know it's, it's kind of agift actually.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
It is.
And I wonder has that reallychanged?
Like, I don't know if you'vebeen anywhere outside of the
healthcare industry, but do youfeel like that's changed your
perspective a lot on socialmedia and how you guys show up,
since you are dealing with suchdelicate things?

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Um, you are dealing with such delicate things, I
think.
So, you know, I think early inour the career was social, that
it was.
It was very much a what is thisspace about and it was more
conversational, you know.
But really leaning into youknow, like how we can do this to
not only work for ourorganization but work for the
people who read our content orwatch our content.
And I think that that shiftdefinitely took place during the

(44:51):
pandemic, where we're like,okay, we are real.
I mean I've seen it before Like, okay, you know, I've had
people post, you know there areroad conditions and we can't.
They say that don't travel, butI broke my arm.
Do I go to the hospital?
Literally, I've gotten thatasked before and you know, so
you're trying to help them andit's like, yes, that's a medical
emergency, right.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Should be on Facebook right now.
I don't know how you're typingthis.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
But, you know, talking about that, talking
about you know we are here as apublic health organization, as
somebody to help reach out, notonly from a data perspective of
oh yeah, we reached numbers, butbeing able to hear it from the
emotional perspective of likebeing able to tell somebody that
thank you for sharing yourstory about getting your your

(45:39):
colon cancer screening, becausefour people just posted in the
comments that they're going toget their schedule because of
you.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
That is crazy powerful.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
I mean that whole word of mouth, and that's what
we're about.
We're here to you know setthose examples and help lead
people towards positive changeand be able to share that.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
It's amazing.
I love it.
Yeah, that's so thoughtful.
So obviously you've not justtouched professional lives and
your personal lives with thosethat you've kind of created and
set these boundaries and hadthese conversations with, and
now you've got your book.
I'm kind of curious I know it'searly days with your book and
everything, but I'm kind ofcurious as to what sort of

(46:19):
feedback you've received aboutyour approach to digital
wellbeing, and has anything outof that been sort of surprising?

Speaker 2 (46:26):
Boy, that's a great question.
I think people are justpleasantly surprised that we're
actually bringing it onto theforefront and we're we're
starting that conversation.
You know, we've talked aboutmental health and we've talked
about depression and anxiety andthose are all very valid, but
when we're really bringing thoseconcerns already to the table
and then into the workplace andthen onto the demands of digital

(46:48):
, that's a lot.
And so being able to leveragethat conversation and start that
conversation within the digitalindustry, I think it's a great
thing.
I'm glad to play a little smallpart in that and hopefully we
work to improve everybody'slives.
So maybe we don't become thatstudy that says, hey, social
media professionals are morelikely to have chronic health

(47:11):
issues because they're nottaking care of themselves, right
, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
So true, preach to that Really quick a little.
Oh, I think I forgot it.
I had a little bonus questionfor you.
Oh, actually, yes, it is abonus question for you Because
this is such an important topic,because it is so timely and
because you have a book.
I kind of want to know, myfriend, are you applying to be a
speaker across the board atdifferent conferences?

Speaker 2 (47:35):
I would love to.
I've been in conversationslocally and I love talking and
writing and sharing tips withothers.
Definitely that's somethingthat we need to keep that
conversation going.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Yeah, no, definitely.
I think you should be lookingat things like marketing profs
with Anne Hanley, the B2Bmarketers you need to talk and
apply for content marketingworld.
They have their applicationsopen.
Now's a good time, robbie.
There's a lot of speakingengagements for everybody's
conferences in the fall that areopen.
So I'm happy to share with youeven my list, and then I'll also
recommend to you.
Innovationwomenorg is a greatwebsite.

(48:10):
If you're not already on there.
It's like 120 bucks for theyear for the profile.
Well worth it.
You can create your speakerprofile and then it'll aggregate
.
You can search and find andfilter different types of
conferences that you want toapply to.
So then you're not having tolike scour the internet trying
to find all these places tospeak.
You just kind of build your bioand then you put in some

(48:30):
keywords and it'll give yourecommendations.
Actually and it's anotherwomen-led organization and, yeah
, I really enjoyed being a partof that I have found also some
amazing speakers from there.
So if you're a person lookingfor speakers, innovationwomenorg
they have never, ever let medown.
All right, I've got a couplemore questions and then we'll go
into the power round at the end, our little rapid fire

(48:50):
questions.
But again, our audience our livelistening audience has done a
great job of engaging and askingquestions, so keep it coming.
If you've got more questions forRobbie, please, please, don't
be shy about using that in thechat or putting them into the
chat.
I would love to bring it backto kind of where it all started.
You know we've launched ourauthentic ambition goal setting

(49:11):
cohort for this year even thoughthere's still time to join,
watch the first workshop andthen get in our spring check-in,
because we do quarterlycheck-ins to keep each other
accountable.
But I'm curious for our memberswho are already within that
group and just kind of startingout on their goals for the year
what advice do you have for them?
Because you know who you areand where you are.

(49:31):
A year ago you know that's beena big step and if they've got a
big goal that they're kind ofworking towards, they probably
are feeling a little bit ofuncertainty.
So I'd love to hear some ofyour advice for those that are
kind of setting these big goalsand about to chase them down for
2025.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
I think you know the phrase about you know eating the
elephant.
you take it a bite at a time andthat sounds really gross, but
yeah you get it, you know, Um,so one of the things it's it's
overly simplified, but Iliterally had a Google doc and I
said here are my, my threegoals, or whatever that I was
going to do.
Um, writing the book at thebeginning of 2024 was not one of

(50:09):
them, it was a.
I'm just going to use my voiceand I started listing, listing
down ideas, and here you knowthe steps towards the goal.
So it started out very small,like hey, I'm going to pitch a
friend about writing an articlefor their blog and I'm going to
do this.
And you know, some of thethings didn't come to fruition.
Um, not for lack of trying onmy part, it just wasn't the

(50:29):
right time or got lost in aninbox or what have you?
Um?
But having those checkpointschecking in quarterly, not only
with um, the larger togethertogether digital group, but I um
met weekly with um a couple ofwomen just checking in on their
goals and their, theirexperiences, and not giving up
when times are hard and justsaying it's okay to take a pause

(50:50):
when life happens.
I had major surgery in themiddle of this and I was out of
play for like eight weeks andthat was okay.
Yeah, it was going to get donewhen it was going to get done.
And you know what?
I came back and made thingshappen.
Um, but giving myself the grace, I mean we'll say, okay, there
are bigger things going on in mylife right now.
Um, you know, having a loss inmy family, you know.

(51:11):
That is bigger than whether ornot I promote a book.
So if it's meant to wait toJanuary, it's meant to wait to
January and and being able tosay you know what's the most
important things in my life?
Not just am I hitting my goalsand my metrics, but am I taking
care of myself in the process isreally one of the things that
was important to me too.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
I love it and you really took that away.
I think you took that.
You said it so well and it's.
I think you took that.
You said it so well and it's.
It's always interesting becausewhen we've been doing the goal
setting cohort for gosh fivemaybe it's almost six years now
and it is funny because I feellike a lot of the women will
come in and they're so gung hoand ready to like set big goals
and like nail it down.

(51:49):
And you know, and we do talkabout making smart goals and
looking at your productivitystyle and really figuring out
the best way to actually makethis happen.
But I always feel like thething that we really try to
overemphasize is exactly whatyou said there is life happens
and it's going to happen,whether you like it or not, and
so it's not so much right.
Exactly it's so.
It's like you know, it's notalways even.

(52:10):
It's like not even plan for theworst, hope for the best.
It's just allow.
Allow these things to happen,but don't let it be the thing
that stops you from picking itback up and finishing it.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
You know, and I'm so glad you did we get challenges
and you know what do we tellstuff.
You know my son just wentthrough his Eagle Scout project
and there were delays.
And I said what did you learnfrom this?

(52:40):
He's like well, don't alwaysrely on this or things will get
delayed or this will happen andand having those experiences of
you know, even when you stumble,even when you have to hit pause
, it kind of helps create theyou that you are today.
So dust off and saying, okay,you know, here's what I can make
happen and making the most ofit.
Um, you know, I suppose youknow I I self-published.
I mean, I'll be honest with it.
You know I could have gonethrough the process of finding a
publisher and that kind ofthing and I was like that was
not something that I was readyto do at that point in time, and
that's okay.

(53:01):
It meant enough for me to getthe message out in the world,
and then we'll go from there.
And you know, kind of knowingwhat your goals and your
expectations are.

Speaker 1 (53:08):
I think yeah, being realistic with those, I think
yeah, deb in our workshop does afantastic job of breaking that
down and being like is thisrealistic?
Is this the right time?
Do I have the right support?
Because there are just so manythings we don't think about when
we start to set these goals.
We don't break it down, likeyou said, take it bite by bite.
We sort of just go for the goal, the whole like enchilada, and
then we're like I can't do thisnow, no-transcript.

(54:05):
When you get broader in thatrespect, it really opens up your
mind to opportunities too,right, because you kind of never
know when something good couldbe really coming your way and
unless you're really in tunewith your values and your goals
that align with those values,it's hard for you to see those
opportunities and know when togo.
You're just going to kind ofquestion everything Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
The third goal I had on my.
You know we don't need to getinto all my goals, but I think
it's kind of important.
I included that I'm keeping itfor this year too is considering
it the year of yes and.
I was at a place in my lifewhere I was like I could take a
step back.
My kids didn't need me quite asmuch, my husband's health is
stabilized, you know to where.
Maybe he didn't need me quiteas much.
And what could I do and whatopportunities could I be open to

(54:47):
?
And I literally kept a list ofopportunities that came my way
that I took advantage of, andbeing able to say that it's like
wow, that was kind of cool.
Um, you know, and and notbecause anything was was
particularly big, but it wasgreat just to say, hey, I'm
going to be open to trying newthings and I think that's just,
you know, allowing yourself thegrace of being able to be able

(55:08):
to try those things.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
I think you know I say it like once a day it's like
courage comes after the action,Like, yeah, you know,
confidence, courage, it allcomes after the action.
It doesn't come before.
We're all scared, we're allnervous, we're all worried about
it, we all got all these thingsthat are holding us up, but
yeah, it's really just thosebarriers of your own limiting
beliefs.
All right, let's go into ourPower On questions.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
We've got a few minutes left.
Go-to anxiety busting app.
If you happen to use any appsfor helping, um I do use calm
mostly for the music at night.
Um, I don't do a lot of the.
I always have great intentions,I'm like, oh, I'm gonna do the
exercises and frankly I justusually just.
But I sometimes that that musicin the middle of the night and
I need to kind of justdecompress.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
Yeah, I love it.
I will recommend to you.
If you haven't seen them onthere there are walking
meditations.
You said you like to go forwalks to decompress.
I had trouble for a whileduring the pandemic sitting and
meditating, even though I'vepracticed meditation since I was
18.
It was just being still in ahome.
So much the getting outside andwalking, the walking meditation
.
I almost have it memorized nowthat I don't even need to really

(56:09):
listen to it because I know allthe cues now.
But yeah, I would recommendthat as well.
All right, First thing you dowhen you feel digital overwhelm
coming on Disconnect which iscrazy because it's like I've got
meetings or whatever when I can.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
it may not be in that moment, but it's recognizing
that and I think having thatreality is like, okay, I've got
too much going on.
I have a little bit of time,you know, between four and 430.
I'm going to just take my breaknow.
I'm going to, you know, walk.
I'm going to read a book.
I may talk to my kids who havewalked in from school today.

(56:44):
I'm going to take a few minutesbecause the work will still get
done.
Even if I have to postpone itby half an hour, I will make it
happen, and being able to justtaking that break to breathe is
just so important Helps you comeback stronger and more capable
and focused.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Yeah, when you take that break, I think.
Sometimes we think if we justkeep pushing, keep pushing, I'll
get through this.
It's like, oh, actually no.
And there are times when that'svalid.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
When you're working in an actual, true crisis, yeah,
that's fine, sure, but stayingat that high crisis level, it's
not doing your body or yourmental health.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
Any favors Agreed?
What's your favoritenon-negotiable boundary that
you've set for work-lifeintegration?
I won't use the word balance.
I don't like it.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
No, that's kind of a misnomer, I think it's.
It's it's setting up for not mynon-negotiable, I think it is.
You know, when I'm offline,it's offline and that's.
You know whether it's the hoursof the day, certain hours of
the day or when I'm on vacation.
If you text me and I'm on ahiking trail.
I will text you a picture backand say this is where I'm at.

(57:44):
I can't help you.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
This is why.
I like the mountains in themiddle of nowhere, cause then I
don't get phone service orinternet and people think that's
gotta be the scariest situation.
I was like you have no ideaYou're.
It's actually going to be sofreeing once you allow for it
and just be present and realizelike we've gone back in time.
You know, we all survivedseveral centuries more than a
millennia of like not twomillennia of not being always on

(58:10):
and always reachable.
It is, it is possible, myfriends, you can do it.
All right.
We'll wrap it up with this lastone.
What is one self-care practicethat you wish you had started
sooner in your career?

Speaker 2 (58:21):
You know what it would be boundaries and
communication.
And I always thought thatspeaking up isn't necessarily
about complaining and saying Ihave so much work to do but it's
like, ok, this is not effective, this could be done better.
And I think that just tookmaturity in my career and
maturity and understanding me asa professional, the people who

(58:42):
are coming up in their careerand they're able to speak up.
For that I love it for them.
But being able to set thoseexpectations and saying, hey,
these are best practices or thiswould be better, if you know,
having your voice in theworkplace, I think you know.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
I wish I had found it sooner, frankly, Advocate for
yourself and advocate for otherswith these conversations.
Yeah, I think this would be agreat team book for people to
buy for their team and read as agroup as like a book club type
of thing That'd be great Thankyou, yeah, yeah, absolutely Well
.
Thank you so much, robbie.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
I know we've been waiting a minute to do this, but
I'm really glad that we hadthis conversation again.

Speaker 1 (59:21):
It's such an important one.
I am so glad we got to do this.
Everybody, please check out herbook Social Media, sanity and
you by Robbie Schneider.
We've got the link in the chat.
We'll include it in the shownotes.
Yes, again, just thank you somuch for all the amazing work
you're doing, for showing up.
That's sometimes the hardestpart being a part of this
amazing community and justreally adding to it.
I know that there's a lot thatyou get out of it as well too,

(59:41):
so I've been really happy to seethat balance of that give and
take, and I just can't wait tosee what you're up to next.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
I can't wait so thank you so much, Amy.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
Of course, my absolute pleasure.
All right, everybody.
Thank you so much for beingwith us today.
I hope you've found a moment tojust pause and start to look at
your days and find ways inwhich you can create more
balance, more sanity in dealingwith all things social media,
digital life.
We know it's a lot.
We want to do what we can tohelp you get through it and
continue to be the strong,amazing people that you are.

(01:00:09):
Next week, we are going to bejoined by Adrienne Garland.
She's a trailblazer for women'sentrepreneurship and she's
going to share her incrediblejourney of building a business,
creating community and reshapingthe entrepreneurial landscape
through the idea of doing itwith heart, which again feels
all soft and fuzzy, but when youlook at her her she Leads Media
company you're going to beimpressed.

(01:00:30):
She's succeeding by leadingwith heart.
So excited for thatconversation.
Thank you again, robbie.
She's succeeding by leadingwith heart.
So excited for thatconversation.
Thank you again, robbie.
Thank you again listeners andour amazing production team.
We'll see you all next week.
Until then, keep asking, keepgiving and keep growing.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
La la, la, la, la, la , la, la, la, la, la, la la la,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la, lala, Produced by Heartcast Media.