ARE YOU ALWAYS ON LINKEDIN?

Sales Navigator might be your go-to when it comes to earning a living. However, the LinkedIn AI integration sets a new task culture of work and careers.

Many of you may have even been overthinking the process of using LinkedIn to aid your business performance and/or your personal brand. It’s great to embark on that fundamental journey and walk forward in life.

Your boss may be driving you a little tired trying to hit those sales numbers. This form of push back with a new light saber and quest to join the good side of the force is an exciting journey. Learn to be at peace with your inner emotions and carve a safe space for your mind.

What does that mean? Well, firstly, your mental health should come first - not LinkedIn or any other social media platform.

I’ve personally learned that when you invest hundreds or thousands of hours on LinkedIn, you get into a dangerous cycle of overthinking what you’re doing.

I know building a personal brand is important when you start a business, and I’ve been on LinkedIn now for over 13 years and only recently started to spark investment interest. Moreover, as you know, the life of an entrepreneur is lonely and hard.

And yes, sometimes LinkedIn posts that you see may perk you up if you are on a downer, and we all have had those moments, right?

To be honest, I know when I have engaged enough hours on the platform when I get loads of DMs requesting to work with me more or just pitches, which, to be honest with you, gets more strange as I expand my LinkedIn network.

On the other hand, building good connections on LinkedIn is a pretty cool thing to do! Having people you can directly video call instantly if you’re having a hard time, for instance, is truly wonderful.

And I know there has been a lot of talk about not thinking of colleagues as friends.

I am on the reverse and agree with Gary Vee's recruitment model: "Hire fast - fire quicker."

I have just started to pick my team for various brands I own, and not using LinkedIn to a certain degree plays good homage to me creating a unique work culture. I have recently met three great local potential leaders in my brands just through the essence of my emotional intelligence.

Conversely, though, LinkedIn does provide a baseline communication hub so folks can see what I am all about before deciding if they want to join one of my brands.

That said, though, there is a danger of the new LinkedIn interrupting our flow of learning when it comes to core emotional intelligence. And that's where I think I agree with what Sam Altman once said in a response on a YouTube interview: "We will lose something as humans through using AI."

The real golden question is, are we as humans going to enjoy the process of learning more AI interaction on LinkedIn and other software experiences? I, for one, enjoy writing about all the different features and outlooks of AI.

That does not mean I am a fan of the new LinkedIn. Additionally, I am using the platform less and less due to other areas of business I need to address.

For you, though, my advice is to assess how your well-being can run alongside features to give your body and mind more peace.

I am not talking about letting go of your full-time employment and starting a business. It's more the thought of you less overthinking your job and career journey.

Just enjoy each day for what it is.

In summary, I have tried to give a small, balanced brief account of how I see good well-being practices even with AI-embedded LinkedIn architecture.

It's not as easy as you think navigating the new AI world of doing business.

I think we all need to take a step back from using LinkedIn and start learning to increase well-being performance.

What that looks like will be different for each of us. However, what might remain cool and relevant is to think about how much actual social media time we clock up weekly as well.

Learn to reduce your screen time and leverage nature.

Look at the birds this summer and learn to meditate on your thoughts.

Thanks for reading this edition of Empathy Leadership Magazine - have a great evening or afternoon, whatever timezone you are in.

Blessings,

Stephen Fahey