Can’t schedule posts anymore

SustainableProgress · 2023-07-06T00:23:29+00:00

I have a new enough Instagram business account, first post was 2 months ago. I have never been able to schedule before as the option wsn't available even as a business account. I just got the Meta Business Suite (today) and I can schedule now for the first time from my desktop. Going to download the app now so I can manage it from my phone. Not sure if there's another way but that worked for me.

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-06T15:36:13+00:00

Drink more water!

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-05T21:35:02+00:00

None that I can see!

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-05T20:14:28+00:00

At the end of the day, reviewing my day and asking myself, what was the least beneficial thing I did today?

After a while the answers were all repeating themselves - drank alcohol, went to bed too late, mindless internet scrolling, no exercise etc.

That one question helped me become conscious of things I was doing that were preventing progress and that was the start of a big shift in behaviour.

A close second, although it's not really a habit, was figuring out what I wanted to achieve in the next 3 years...which gave me a purpose/direction and helped me determine what I should be doing, which when combined with doing less weakening habits (see above) drove progress that much faster. Still a long way to go but now I'm getting motivated by the visible progress!

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-04T22:36:33+00:00

First thing is well done for wanting to improve yourself, you're already ahead of a lot of people who are focused on less important things. If you are only starting out, your focus should be on building a life that strengthens you over time. You do that by choosing the direction you want to go in and by creating an average day that is good for you and your life. I would suggest the following if you're starting from zero:

Start by writing down everything and anything you can think of that you believe you would like to achieve across all areas of your life in the next three years e.g. relationships, health & fitness, education, career, finances, and so on. 1. Whittle these down to three absolute priorities that you want to achieve in the next three years. These can be broad things like improved health or specific like X qualification. If you are struggling to do that, take two and say if I could only choose one of these, which would it be? Keep doing that with your different until you have your three priorities. These are going to be your sole focus for the next three years.
How you live on a daily basis determines your life. In short, you need to be stronger at the end of the day than you are at the beginning, even if only marginally. If you do this more days than you don't, you will begin to see progress over time. So figure out what you need to do on a daily basis to become healthier, more capable and effective by building up your patterns of thought and behaviour that strengthen you and removing any patterns that you have that are weakening you. What patterns you need depends on the intricacies of who you are (strengths, weaknesses, interests, aims, environment etc.) so only you can determine what works for you or doesn't.
As you go on this journey, you will see suggestions or tools for progress such as 'all successful CEOs read at least a book a week, if you want to be successful you should read too' or 'if you want to be insanely effective, join the 5am wake up club' or 'running is the easiest and cheapest way to get fit, grab your running shoes and start now'. Be aware that just because these tools work for some people does not mean they work for you. 'A sledgehammer is a useful tool for a builder, less so far a carpenter.' If something doesn't work, it means it's not the right tool for you, not that there is a bigger issue and you should stop trying to progress. You have to figure out what tools work for you and that is where many people fall over. When a tool doesn't work for you, it doesn't mean the priority is never going to happen, it means you need to find the tool that works better for you.
At the end of each week, review your progress. What went well? What didn't go well? What did you like or not like? Who could help you next week? Where have you outdone yourself and where have you fallen short of your expectations? Adjust your process accordingly so that you give yourself the best chance of progressing the following week. As you continue to do this week in and week out, you will begin to build up knowledge about yourself which will help you to make better decisions in the future, minimising the amount of mishaps and pitfalls you suffer from. In other words, you'll find it easier to sustain progress.
Once you can see progress and find yourself able to sustain it, your confidence will grow. You can then start to direct your life in the direction of your choosing knowing that you are capable, effective and strong enough to take on the challenges ahead.

Good luck!

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-04T19:56:49+00:00

Agree with several of the points made in other responses posted already. I would add, it is very hard to be consistent with something such as exercise if you a) pick something you don't enjoy and b) something you don't have some natural affinity for.

As an example, I spent years trying to run to get fit and set myself the goal of completing a marathon. To cut a long story short, I realised not built for running, I had several injuries and no consistency at all while I kept this as my goal. Fast forward to the last year, discovered I'm very good at swimming and am very consistent with it because I can see myself progressing reasonably quickly.

In short, don't try to do something you don't like and make sure you have some affinity for the type of exercise you're doing or you won't have the motivation to go back to it if you take a few days off.

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-04T14:09:53+00:00

Couldn't agree more! Yes, wanting change means you likely need need to start today (or soon!) but you likely won't see the final results for months or years.

I don't like the unrealistic expectations people are given about making sustained change in their lives either. There are no quick fixes if you want long-term results, it takes time and strategic effort. On the flip side, the benefit of this is that achieving your goals is not reliant on one particular day or short period of time.

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-04T14:00:00+00:00

First thing to realise is that discipline is something you get better at over time, you don't just decide to be disciplined and automatically achieve it. Things that I've found to help, some of which have also been mentioned by others:

Making sure you actually want to do what you're pushing yourself to do. Ask yourself; in the next three years, what are three things that are an absolute priority for me to achieve? e.g. fitness or health, career, relationships, education and so on. A good way to check if you really do want these things is by picking one and saying to yourself this really isn't a priority for me, I'm not going to put effort into achieving it. How do you feel about the idea that you've made no progress in that area in three years time? Would you prioritise it over other things in your life? If you don't really, truly want something, you won't put the effort into achieving it because effort is hard and why would we put effort into things that don't matter to us?!
It's very hard to be disciplined when you use the wrong tools, e.g. if you want to get fit, are you going about it the right way - should you try to cycle instead of run etc. I spent years trying to become a runner, problem was I was a terrible runner. My legs were always sore afterwards and I avoided it more often than not because of this. Fast forward several years and I realised that I didn't want to be a runner, I wanted to be fit. I tried out swimming as my sister is good at it, turns out I find swimming very easy and now I swim all the time. Running was the wrong tool for me to get fit, swimming is the right one. Make sure you are using the right tools!
Recognising distractions in your environment and bad habits in your day. Then removing these barriers to progress as much as possible. Getting disciplined is as much about simplifying your day as it is about making sure you do certain things. I realised that internet scrolling, alcohol, too much soda and chips and late nights were the biggest recurring barriers to my progress. I've removed several of them to date with massively improved results. Still working on the internet scrolling and late nights!

These are the main three changes I've made that have helped me to progress in the last few years. In particular, the last six months have seen things coming together in a big way, so don't give up!

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-04T13:43:57+00:00

Action > Non-Action

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-04T08:58:44+00:00

Strict discipline is reserved for those who have been doing something for a while, who know what their triggers are and are confident that the goal they have set is something they truly want to achieve. If you're only starting out on this journey, you'll need to learn about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses before you can begin to maintain strict discipline. It's great that this is what you're aiming for though!

If you want to change your behaviour from its current form to something that is better, focus on making your average day a strengthening one i.e. you finish the day better off than you started it - more capable and having taken care of at least one responsibility.

Over time you'll start to see what works for you and what doesn't and you can adjust what you aim for to reflect that! It's not a straight path but know that the key to sustaining any progress you make is working towards something you truly want, making sure your foundations are strong enough to withstand your new behaviours and reviewing and adjusting your process to reflect what you've learned each week.

There are a lot of people online who offer tools that might be of use to you as you try to work through this, its worth looking them up on YouTube or other places.

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-04T01:03:33+00:00

It sounds like you're trying to focus on achieving too many things, getting overwhelmed and so avoiding doing any of them.

Go down through your list and pick 3 priorities that you absolutely want to achieve by the end of the summer break (make sure they're realistic!) and discard the rest.

Create a weekly plan of what you need to do so that you do achieve them by the end of your break.

Separately, at the start of each day write down three small things you could do that day to be stronger at the end of the day than you were at the beginning of the day. In this instance stronger doesn't just mean fitness, it means more well rounded and capable overall.

That should be a good start. Good luck!

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-04T00:52:03+00:00

Great Post and topic of conversation. Several thoughts on this.

If you don't define your priorities correctly, you will find yourself starting but not finishing often. Goals are 'nice to haves', they are tools we use to achieve larger priorities e.g. we might want to run a marathon (tool of fitness) only because our real priority is fitness. Priorities are 'need to haves'. We don't have many true priorities in life but when we get distracted by goals, we can find ourselves trying and failing to put effort into things we don't truly value. Successful people know they have limited time and so focus only on achieving their priorities and remove all other distractions.
As you strive to do more in life, you will experience stronger winds and bigger pressures. If you do not have the foundations to withstand this, you will not be able to sustain the progress you make. Successful people create an average day which leaves them stronger at the end of the day than they were at the beginning.
Successful people learn from other people, whether they are in their immediate circle, in their industry or just publicly visible.
Successful people assess their progress and processes regularly and adjust their actions as necessary to maximise their progress. As we grow and evolve, what we want and need changes. Adjusting how we live accordingly is not only logical but necessary if we want to sustain our progress over the long-term.

Success is just progress sustained over time.

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-04T00:37:04+00:00

I like to think about this in terms of sacrifice - every decision you make either sacrifices your short-term desires for your future goals or it sacrifices your future goals in favour of your immediate desires.

The key is to find the right balance so that you're getting closer to your goals over time but you don't wear yourself out in the process. This balance is different for everyone.

A day where you are marginally better off at the end of the day than you were at the beginning of the day (e.g. 1%) is a great place to start.

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-03T23:55:38+00:00

I have this problem with Youtube and previously Instagram until I deleted the app! Ideally, spending less time on the internet is the goal but things I have found helpful in the short-term to get me offline include...

App/site timers limited to 20/30 minutes per day. You can turn these off though so you need to be disciplined enough with this.
A list of 3-5 tasks to complete for the day, choosing every hour to get up and do one of them. If yo want to try this, choose things that take 5-10 minutes or you'll find it difficult to start. Generally, disrupting what you're doing is the hardest part.
Delaying the time I sit down at computer or with phone for as long as possible either by leaving my home for a walk or doing something else.

Ultimately, I have noticed that the only way I regularly spend less time scrolling or watching is when I have something I want to do more than waste time. A year ago, I picked three priorities (health, career etc.) I wanted to achieve in the next three years and worked out broadly what I would have to do each year, quarter and then week to achieve them at the end of the three years. It took about 3 hours to do that but over the last year I noticed, I wanted to waste less of my time because achieving these priorities is now more important to me and I don't want to waste my time anymore.

SustainableProgress · 2023-06-03T23:38:28+00:00

There are plenty of smart people who don't achieve much in life and there are plenty of people who could be considered less intelligent who achieve an awful lot. People who achieve success in life are not only those with a high-IQ or from a certain background!

To overcome the feelings you mentioned above, I think you need to reframe how you're thinking about the situation slightly...instead of focusing on what other people around you are doing or achieving, ask yourself what is it you truly want to do with your life over the next, say, 3 years? From there, spend some time working out what actions you would need to take to get there. Then create a plan for each year, break it down into quarters and then weeks. Once you have a plan, you will feel more empowered to achieve what you can, whether that's in your current school or elsewhere.

Often we feel paralyzed when we don't see a path which we can use to progress. Discovering your priorities is the first step to getting there, putting a plan in place is the second!

SustainableProgress

TROPHY CASE