Ep. 36: Finding Time to Write With Sweta Vikram

Meg Casebolt 0:01
You’re listening to social slowdown a podcast for entrepreneurs and micro businesses looking for sustainable marketing strategies without being dependent on social media. Social media is a double edged sword. It’s a wonderful way to stay connected. But it also can feel like an addictive obligation. And it’s even more complex for businesses, your audience might be right there, but you’ve got to fight with algorithms to maybe be seen by them. So whether you want to abandon social media altogether, or you just want to take a month off, it’s possible to have a thriving business without being dependent on social media. This podcast is all about finding creative, sustainable ways to engage with your audience without needing to lip sync, send a cold DMS, run ads or be available 24/7. Let’s get started.

Hey, y’all happy summer is my favorite season of the year. And where I live in upstate New York, it lasts about five minutes. So I’ve decided to take some time off from creating content in order to really enjoy as much time away from my keyboard as humanly possible. But I didn’t want to just leave you high and dry for the next three months. So we’ve got a fun podcast plan here a little bit. First Search, we’re all about making evergreen marketing assets really work for you long term. So this summer, we are practicing what we preach. And we’re repurposing something that we created last year, releasing it out to the public for the first time. So last year, we ran an event called SEO summer camp, which focused on creating efficient content marketing systems. And as part of summer camp, I interviewed 15 of my fellow business owners all about their tips for planning strategic content and creating engaging content consistently, and utilizing that same content across multiple channels like YouTube or podcasts in order to grow their audience. So over the next nine or so weeks, you’ll hear those interviews here on the podcast. Some of them might be slightly out of date, but we still think they’re incredibly valuable resources. And we did not want to limit their reach by only having them available to the people who were involved in last year’s event. So you may notice that I start most of the interviews with something like hey, summer campers, and then I give recommendations based on what was happening in the community and the live events we are running. That’s why I wanted to give some context in this introduction. So you’re not just like, What the heck is she talking about. And because we are spending this summer in our podcast talking all about content marketing systems and creating more efficiently, I want to tell you about something that we’re going to be launching at the end of this summer, we’re going to be creating a new digital product, I am tentatively calling it the SEO content Maximizer it may change names by the time we actually release it. We will be sharing all of the Lovat first search templates and processes and systems that we use to turn every podcast and every YouTube video into its own blog and newsletter and social media content. To give some context in about six to eight hours a week, our team produces one YouTube video, a podcast, two blog posts, a newsletter and five social media posts, you obviously would not need to do that much as a small business owner, we’re you know, we’ve been doing this for a long time we’ve created these solid content marketing systems. But we’ve got this process so locked down that we want to share that with you so that it will be easier for you to make more strategic content in less time. If you’re interested in hearing about that new content Maximizer product when it’s ready, head over to love it for search.com/maximize Sign up for the waitlist and you’ll be the first to know when we’re ready for beta testers. And if you’re listening to this in the future, you can head to that and we’ll redirect it to where you can find out more about that product. Alright, so there’s the context as to what you’re hearing this summer and why. Without further ado, let’s get started with the interview. Hello summer campers. I am here with a speedo Vikram she is one of my students she’s we’ve known each other for a year at this point and I wanted to bring in theta to talk about her writing process because it’s so inspiring to me. So this is just kind of me being able to fan girl over the people that I work with so rather than me introducing you I’d love if you could introduce yourself because I know you always have like 20 irons in the fire at various levels of excitement. So Felicity who are

Sweta Vikram 4:35
so glad to be here, Meg and wonderful to see you and to anyone who’ll be tuning in later. A big hello. I love how Meg takes our insanity and turns it into something so warm and fuzzy. I feel like a lava cake right now. So my name is Shweta Vikram, I am an author, my 11th book a piece of piece comes out this October am and I radar and mindset based coach well let’s go Which, and a speaker and what I do is I help people thrive on their own terms, which is you figure out what goals you want to work on. And then we use are really lifestyle and diet apps, which includes mindfulness, meditation, yoga, all of the good stuff. And so holistic way to enhancing your creativity, productivity, overall well being. That’s me in a nutshell.

Meg Casebolt 5:23
I love that. And I love that you are able to have this idea of kind of an Ayurvedic lifestyle that can then seep into the way you show up at work, the food that you eat, your lifestyle patterns are the way you interact with others in your relationships. But it can also be hard to figure out how to be found by people for that, and how to talk about it in a way that people who aren’t necessarily familiar with your methods can connect with, you know, tell me a little bit about the things that you speak about. And then we can talk more about content creation, but that’s always interesting to me.

Sweta Vikram 6:01
Sure. So you know, very often, especially in the past year, because I’ve been doing like others been doing mostly Virtual Engagement. So it’s opened up markets, I’m no longer limited to my timezone or my city, which is New York. It’s like,

Meg Casebolt 6:14
oh, yeah, New York is so limited. There’s nothing to do in New York City.

Sweta Vikram 6:17
But you know, when when in the pre pandemic is like lifeforce sort of limited, and I used that like, without a connotation to it, like because of the opportunities in the city, you didn’t need to look beyond even though you always wanted to. And I’m okay with traveling. I was I used to be okay with just hopping on an airplane and being in spaces. But then the pandemic made me realize, no, there is a world out there where you can reach out to people and help people. It’s a two way street. So yeah, it’s been very interesting, depending on who I’m talking to, if I’m speaking to a corporation, and it could be a sub committee in their group, it could be an insurance company, it could be a college, it could be high school, I did work with high schoolers as well. It’s been incarcerated men and women, a library. So and that’s the beauty of what I do, because I love what I do. You know, we figured out the goals, if I’m talking to high schoolers, you know, their stress levels are very different from incarcerated men and women or C level executives. So the My Content Creation, and what I speak about is very much related to what people need. But the core of it is always mindfulness, our VEDA yoga, because, you know, when people take yoga, and I used to be one of those people, you know, my grandfather, my mom’s dad used to practice yoga was not and here’s the thing, what have your dude like, why is he moving his body like this? Yeah, but then

Meg Casebolt 7:42
you always think your grandpa’s a little weird, right? And then you don’t even your

Sweta Vikram 7:47
grandpa’s doing the split is like, Dude, that’s weird. Yeah, but see, now I’m like, holy crap, that’s cool. Like, that’s super weird. You eat on time you go to bed on time, you have such good verbal restraints, like, oh, I want people to lash out. Like, that’s me exaggerating. But you know, like, as you get older, you also start to understand the world from people’s perspective. So a lot of the things that I talk about is what be what are people’s pain points? And we you know, and the point being, people used to think including myself, and if you practice yoga, you had to be a certain way, no, not really, you could be a C level executive who has high stress, you could be a, you know, a new mom. You know, you could be working with survivors, you could be school, you could be a business owner, like you make and there are stressors in our daily lives. And so we’ll meet at a point where you tell me what your goals are. And I’ll come up with content to speak to to help you thrive on your terms.

Meg Casebolt 8:49
I love that because it’s like, it’s I think sometimes people feel like they have to niche down in order to create content, like, Oh, I’m only going to talk to C suite executives, or I’m only going to talk to busy moms. But you can actually adjust the types of things that you’re writing for different audiences. Because the core messaging is there. That’s the same and not everyone has to read everything that you write or not everyone has to come to every speaking opportunity that you do, you really can target, who you’re talking to and what that messaging is for your specific particular audience.

Sweta Vikram 9:23
I couldn’t agree more. And, you know, we tend to believe we are more different from others than we actually are. Except pain points are not that different. I mean, in the post lockdown world, women are stressing about about appearances. You know, people are stressing out about childcare. So it doesn’t matter where you work, what you do, our stresses are similar. So when we start to see ourselves as a connection, as an extension of the world around us, it’s very humbling and very grounding like No, not really, we are all stressing out about paying a bill staying healthy, caring for a loved one’s very similar, very similar challenge. Just very similar blessings.

Meg Casebolt 10:02
So when you were talking about, you know, you have the speaking opportunities, you just wrote your Did you say a 11th

Sweta Vikram 10:08
book, Team book that comes out, I’ve written more books, they haven’t gotten published. So that’s another reality for a writer.

Meg Casebolt 10:16
Okay, so as a writer, how do you find the balance of writing the published work, creating the content that promotes the work, and also still having a life and sleeping and eating, and doing all of those things? How does that all come together so that we’re not just working 24 hours are always being at your desktop. So I’m

Sweta Vikram 10:40
a type A. There’s a reason we connect max. And for anyone that anyone who has, you know, a little bit understanding of it, then very high beta, so very driven. But that also means I like being organized and having my goals in place. So certain things are non negotiable for me. So whatever wellness looks like on a given day, I might be hiking 10 miles on a day, or it might be just 20 minutes of breathing deeply. So figuring out what what’s non negotiable, my time with the family is non negotiable. So it’s like figuring out these buckets and in terms of work, what is non negotiable, and then figuring out what your relationship with each is. Right? So I’ll speak to I’ll answer your question and speak to writing. For me writing is how I navigate the world. It’s how I make sense of things. When the pandemic hit, like others, I didn’t have answers, but I wrote. So there is an issue at hand. I’m processing it, and I process it through my writing, I may reach the other end, and it’d be like, okay, seven tips on how to handle the post lockdown stress. But I wasn’t always there. So it’s a process. So I come to it with no ego, I come to it with a very curious mind. And again, at the same time, it’s like I’m willing to explore what that looks like. So having having your goals in place really helps and be flexible with those goals. Right? Spending time doesn’t mean cooking a five course meal, it just might mean ordering takeout. And that’s okay. The idea was to spend time together, right again, well, that’s for a lot of people, but I can’t get go to the gym, or I can show up to my yoga mat for 95 minutes. That’s okay. You can do 10 minutes, right? We all have 10 minutes, put your phone down, you’ll find those 20 minutes.

Meg Casebolt 12:29
It’s so true. Oh my gosh, the time that you spend just doing scrolling? Yeah.

Sweta Vikram 12:34
And also changing your perspective about things like it doesn’t have to be this big number resume obsessed with numbers, 90 minutes, 65 minutes, 5000 words, no, writing a coherent tweet is writing, sharing an Instagram post that makes sense that helps you connect with others, that impacts one person that’s writing. So that’s what I mean, like writing is not and I’ll get to the SEO aspect, because you know, that’s the core of a conversation. But it’s just changing your perspective with how you define things. Don’t, don’t be hypothyroid Don’t be type A, which means don’t be rigid. Because yes, some days, all that you do with your writing is 40 words. But you know what, that those are 40 words, or it could be keyword research, research is also writing, it could be figuring out what your competitors are doing, be inspired by them don’t don’t get into my advice would be don’t get go down that rabbit hole of what others are doing, you know, just see what’s working for people, right? All of that as part of writing. And you know, when when we write our SEO posts, and we set them to make for our magic, it’s that in itself, like coming up with an idea. And it works both ways you might create a post for let’s just say Instagram, and that has a high engagement that could inspire your next article or post. So I’m very open to all of it being a multiple way street, not just a two way street. So the first first first big suggestion would be throughout the limitations out the window that I don’t have the time I’m not a good writer. You know, this is what writing looks like. This is what success looks like. You showing up a success to me, you acknowledging that you weren’t able to write a 500 post a success to me, you wrote 50 words is humongous success.

Meg Casebolt 14:19
It’s very much like that is that Tolkien who’s like little by little one goes far. Like, very rarely do people sit down and write 5000 words they write 50 words for you know, what is that? 100,000 100 days? 50 words, 100 days, 5000 words, right? Like it doesn’t all have to be one one hour block of time and you just crank it all out. That’s very rarely how writing works. It’s iterative. You write a draft you think about it, you do the research, you’ve come back to it. It’s it’s not always going to come out perfectly.

Sweta Vikram 14:55
I am so glad you said that because again, Perfection is overrated. I used to be one of those be People, and you don’t get stuff done, or you’re mad about how you got stuffed up,

Meg Casebolt 15:04
or you were working on that first book, instead of publishing number 13, if you didn’t let go of it a little bit, you know,

Sweta Vikram 15:11
and nothing is perfect in this world. And that’s the beauty of it. It’s our imperfect imperfections that make us who we are the chase for the so called perfection, it’s an illusion, showing up as courage showing up as bravado and we need to celebrate our journey and not just focus on the destination. You know, when when you read, like, my, my book comes out this October, as I said, and it’s at that point where it’s out of my hands, like it’s going through those stages of edits. And there is obviously like, Oh, holy crap, it’s done. It’s, oh, it’s done. It’s out of my hands. And it’s, you know, it’s out in the world. So, celebrate every joyous, and every critical moment when you receive feedback, like this sucks strange that all of it is part of it. So even when we receive feedback from you, Meg, to me, it’s like it’s part of the learning curve. It’s part of the journey. Oh, what can I do better next semester, there is more feedback. No, I personally love feedback. So my editors loved me, I was like, oh, because this makes me a better writer, you also need to know as a writer, what you’re good at. And you know, where your strengths are, where your challenges and that’s when you bring in people like somebody like you who you know who Tulsa can use this keyword, or I write as an author, like you’ve told me before, like, I don’t write as a blogger. So it’s something that I’ve had to learn along the way. So be open to it. So writing is not just sitting down and writing, it’s being open to feedback, it’s being open to newer perspective, it’s, it’s bringing, like, I always bring a physical journal, even if it’s something as tiny as this carrying this with me and a pen, wherever inspiration strikes, and at the same time, like the Notes app on the phone, just jot down ideas, all of that is writing, and you just never know what form that takes whether again, going back to whether it’s a tweet, it’s an entire blog post, it’s an article, or it’s creating content for a client, just just be open to the idea of writing.

Meg Casebolt 17:08
And for you in terms of time management, when do you go from that I have this idea that I wrote down on a pad or putting my my notes up, and how, what’s the process to get it to something that’s published and out in the world? And or do you have specific like, rituals or habits that you I always write on Tuesday nights or something like that? Or is it a little bit more fluid?

Sweta Vikram 17:36
So yes, yes, I had no

Meg Casebolt 17:39
answer, I gave you like eight questions in a row. Take it wherever you would like.

Sweta Vikram 17:45
So rituals really help. There’s this concept in our VEDA called den Acharya, which is daily rituals. So whether it’s your meditation in the morning, or being Ollie, ah, I’m thinking of like the oil people clean them out with oil. So yeah, the oil falling, yes, thank you so much. The oil, or

Meg Casebolt 18:03
when you have multiple languages rolling around your head, it’s not always.

Sweta Vikram 18:08
Similarly, with writing a dinner chapter really helps you I like to write in the mornings, because that’s the Bartok creative time. And it helps me and I start my day job like 630 in the morning. So I want to get the writing out of the way because like I said,

Meg Casebolt 18:21
when do you wake up? Before five, okay, you wake up at 430, you have your morning routine, and then you sit down to write from like five to six and then go to work,

Sweta Vikram 18:31
then go to work, shower, then get to work. Because again, for me, the stream of consciousness, but it does also the petrol routine, which really helps. So there’s this word called tapas in yoga, which is self discipline. And I feel if you have that self discipline for people who had that self discipline, navigating the pandemic has been slightly easier, I wouldn’t say easy relative, it’s all relative, right? Just because there was something that gave you purpose, not for not because the better people, it was just purpose. So even with writing, this gives me purpose, having the daily ritual, then Acharya, but then, some days I’ll take out because I have weekly columns and magazines that are right for so there’ll be few hours on Sunday, which is like, this is for the column. Or this code is my research time. So you also need that those chunk of hours to get research done, but just stream of consciousness writing or ideas. I do that every morning because you know, when you wake up in the morning, you there’s no clutter around you like literally and metaphorically, right? So it helps get the creative juices going. And at the same time then I’m very focused on my job, like, oh, I have that gift and that privilege of being able to write and create and now I can get to what really pays my bills, being very real about it. And I’m not a night owl at all I like to bum out with the family or read or things like that. So that’s my evening. Ritual. I don’t get as much writing done. unless there’s an editor who send stuff, most of my editors by now know that I won’t even respond to emails after 6pm. So it’s very important. Whatever your purpose, your self discipline looks like, have that in place. You know, for some people mornings don’t work, and that’s fine. But I know people will be like, oh, we’ll make it weekly monthly knowing you have to be like Pavlov’s dog, when you show up daily, even if it’s for 10 minutes, your brain knows when it sees a notepad, or, you know, journal or an iPad, or a laptop, or desktop, or it’s time to write. So it’s important to train your brain. And some days, you’ll just stare at the screen, it feels like nothing. But you know what, you gave your brain that time to do a dress like that deep breaths, it’s almost like yoga nidra. When you get to it, the next day, you will have stuff. Yeah, but make it a non unless the house or people are on fire, God forbid, make it non negotiable. Like this is my time. And let people know, again, unless you’re dying, please don’t come tell me anything is happening. Just just make that date with yourself on a daily basis. And again, it doesn’t have to be an hour. Sometimes. For me, it’s just 15 minutes, if, you know, there are some clients who like to work with me at five in the morning. Because of the time difference. I have one who worked with me at 430 in the morning, so I’m gonna have to handle that right 430 to 530, then I breathe, I get dressed, I still have to report to work at 630. So I’ll still find those. And I want to have that cup of tea with my husband. That’s non negotiable. So what do you do alright, for 15 minutes, but then I feel it’s a form of meditation for me. So just figure out what writing means to you? What role does it play? Don’t and don’t treat it like a chore? Because that’s when it gets mundane? Like, what does it do for you? Does it give you anxiety? I mean, can we do some deep breathing to lower that anxiety and don’t make it a performance art, like just just show up to it? The way you show up to breathing to swimming to biking? It may it becomes that natural. Like it’s almost like befriending this art.

Meg Casebolt 21:59
Yeah, got so many things I want to say about that. First of all, I want you to create a blog post about the daily rituals and the Ironman of daily rituals. I feel like that’s so like, I want to read that blog post. But also, I love what you said about like, if you show up, your brain will sort of have prepared for you a little bit. If it knows that it has to do something, I think about people who are like going through clinical trials where they have to write down their dreams. And because they know that they have a journal sitting next to their bed to write down their dreams first thing in the morning, they remember their dreams better. And I think the same is true for any time that you’re mentally preparing for something whether that’s that 510 minutes of writing on a daily basis, or, you know, breathing or whatever it is that you know, you can anticipate going into. It’s like your mind prepares you for it over the course of the hours leading up to it. I also love that you’re like it doesn’t have to be polished and perfect to get it out the door. It’s just a daily ritual. But then you also have those time blocks of this is for you know, kind of the creative flow. And this is for like I have a deadline. I work on that on the weekend. So it is kind of a combination of what’s inspiring versus what’s urgent. Can you talk a little bit about finding the balance between inspiration and deadline?

Sweta Vikram 23:18
Oh, absolutely. And I think for firstly, Meg, I did submit a blog post on your on the same page on productivity looking forward to reading last week. The other thing is, if you want to call yourself a writer, just write there’s this is a cliche, which I read somewhere if you want to wait call yourself a waiter. I found that very funny. I don’t know if people are offended by it. But I found that really funny on days when I’m being a sloth. I remind myself like Who stopped you from Writing, Publishing and writing away different processes. So that’s inspiration, just write. And sometimes you write for yourself too. Because you know once you clear the cobwebs in your head. And we all have those cobwebs, if you’re humans, Once you clear those cobwebs, you can then meet your deadlines because a deadline is not about this is what I feel it’s about this is what you need to achieve right? So the inspiration, get the cobwebs out. I use that time for that like what things are happening in the world around us, right? It might inspire your writing good or bad, be it politics, be it in your personal relationship, whatever have you. But then once those cobwebs are out it’s much easier to work on a deadline and then even with the deadline at that you calendar so let’s just say you know there’s a deadline for today may 25 Depending on how much time it takes you one week prior to that start working on that piece added two days in your calendar until the final deadline because every end and again like when you some pieces will just happen you know you sit you write it’s over and done. But if you want things to sit and that’s great for if you’re writing a piece on it In a mom’s pasta recipe, I’m just making our kitchen recipe. It’s very differently very

Meg Casebolt 25:04
tangible when it comes to creative or kind of going first thought leadership. Yeah, yeah, like,

Sweta Vikram 25:10
I like that. Yeah, with the thought leadership thing, because you need your thoughts to simmer instead of just going to a horrible diarrhea piece, right? So if you go within, if it’s your calendar, you will pay attention to it go visited, how else what else can you add to it? Can you add research to it? So you might have like, bear meats and bones, right bare skeleton in place, but like how, how else can you enrich it? Statistics, health research helps. So adding all of those pieces, and if it’s a deadline, and if you’re getting paid for it, I help people do your bit show up. And there’s a difference between professional writing and amateur writing. Amateur writers wait for inspiration to strike. professional writers don’t give themselves that option. I need to get the stuff done just the way I would have met any other client deadline or a deadline at my day job. So you, you have to even if no one else has given you the deadline, give yourself that deadline. You know, some articles like I have three months before the deadline shows up. I don’t wait for three months, I might not feel that way for that piece. I’ll still finish it in a couple of weeks, and have it ready. And whenever the editors send it over, I’ll take one last look if I’m including any links to articles or research and all that to update the numbers, but the ideas already out there. So give yourself those deadlines. Because three months from now, I’m not so sure if I’ll feel inspired to write that I might have moved on right.

Meg Casebolt 26:32
I think we’re all on this like kind of academic calendar we’ve all been trained to be like it’s midterms, it’s finals. And so we have to like work to the end goal, as opposed to creating our own study habits.

Sweta Vikram 26:46
Right right. And I mean, we all love our all our petals out there we love organizing ourselves. Yeah, just just put it in your calendar, even you I even will put in like the name of the magazine, the tentative title of the piece. So I don’t have to do any homework when Okay,

Meg Casebolt 27:02
so I just if all the pitches are they’re doing their organization and having the deadline but having the structure what about the causes? What about the bottom? Like how do how do the other tendencies or the you know the doshas, the primary doshas? How do they approach this a little bit differently? And what would be your advice for them,

Sweta Vikram 27:23
dandy than a child that then a child to see pitons will be on top of the game and burn themselves out in the process if they don’t know when to slow down? With voters. There’s one deadline here, but they might slip, it might slip their mind or they’d be like, Oh, oops, I did another thing. But I was eating those bag of chips. And then I was watching Netflix and it didn’t happen. No judgment. Like as a bit that I know, if I don’t pause, I burned myself out. So the dinner charter really comes in handy. That calendar habit, make it for everyone. A better will show up a deadline, I’m gonna get this at NACA, we’ll learn about our deadline, but I missed it. But you know what, if it’s in your calendar, you will show up to it. If you have a ritual of writing and make it a ritual, you know, some people burn incense. Some people have music, you know, some people will do yoga, whatever works for you. Some people go for a run to find the ideas, find your ritual, stick to it, make it a daily habit, again, 10 minute, much like meditation. Like I tell all my clients who are just new to meditation, start with five minutes, not even 10. Because I know I can promise how much of a difference than sitting and how difficult it is to find stillness for five minutes when you’re new to it. Or even if you’ve been doing it for a while. If you fall off the wagon, just get back on it and it will be a challenge. But you know what, what how boring is life and there are no challenges. So yeah, get the den Acharya, which is your daily ritual in place, make these made five things a part of your daily habits, that’s easy, whether it’s waking up at a certain hour daily, whatever that time is for you. And this is not an IRA with a consultation timeout, I’m going to tell you guys when to wake up. Have a schedule in place, it really helps. And remember Pavlov’s dog, like your creativity will show up if you show up. But then also we eat a Vata, Pitta Kapha leave your ego out like Oh, but it wasn’t good. Like I have clients and we but my meditation was in good says who you showed up. You showed up that is brilliant. So same thing with writing. Just show up. And I promise you, one word will lead to a sentence will lead to a paragraph will lead to two paragraphs will lead to a page and in the beginning it might take you three months. There are days I get three articles done in a day after I finished my day day job. So you know it’s not because I’m special. Not at all. It’s just a practice. So my brain knows Oh, this is the timeline. This is the deadline after 6:30pm This lady is gonna say two roles. We better get stuff done now.

Meg Casebolt 29:52
The brain just shuts off after she just shuts off.

Sweta Vikram 29:55
I can only discuss like a show that I’m watching or my brain is like ooh, Some days it’s warm now some days but, and you have to have time for fun and joy. You can’t always be cerebral, you can’t always be taking care of others, you have to take care of yourself. Because when we do that, we heal ourselves, we become better writers, we become better people, we become better business owners.

Meg Casebolt 30:18
And I love that idea of stacking the writing with other things that you enjoy, or the things that are important to you. So it can be five minutes of writing five minutes of meditation, two minutes of breathing, brushing your teeth, start your day, and that’s only, you know, 17 minutes or something. But that can really set your day in the right way. Or it can be your lunch break, or it can be, you know, after the kids go to bed, if you are a night owl, but finding that time, whether it’s two minutes or two hours doesn’t matter, it’s the break, coming back to the practice and thinking of it as a practice as opposed to an outcome.

Sweta Vikram 30:52
Right, and also thinking of it as self care. Because all of these are so connected, right? When you meditate, you feel calmer, then xiety comes down, that will reflect in your writing. And then when you’re doing the writing, and you’ve taken care of yourself, you’re just a much better parent, partner, friend, employee, employer, business owner, all of that. So the power of daily habits, because it improves your productivity. So your stress has got to get lower right.

Meg Casebolt 31:20
And the mind body connection of when you’re in movement, your mind is kind of in that default mode and able to think to process things differently. And when you sit too long, it can decrease your overall. I mean, you talk about this all the time.

Sweta Vikram 31:38
100%, right. And if you are going to write on, the other thing I recommend is like have separate gadgets, we had this conversation at home all the time, like my husband, he’s a guy. So it’s like he’s forever watching, like his football or golf or something. And I’m like, so big. Do that on the iPad, use your phone for phone pings, which is any apps, news could be there you’re writing could be your laptop, or you know, wherever you write. So habit, it’s separating your gadgets is also really, really great and critical for productivity. So your brain knows, oh, this journal means ideas, she’s not going to write an entire essay in this notes. App means ideas. So expect maybe

Meg Casebolt 32:18
it’s even just apps, you know, but I definitely I definitely have an iPad and a Kindle that I use just for reading that does not have any social media like both Kindle. It’s like an old Kindle. Doesn’t not allowed to have social media on it. But then I also have an iPad that like it is only for writing like writing, like a coloring book app and the Kindle app. And that’s it, I don’t have Instagram, I don’t have like, I don’t want any notifications on it. Whereas my phone is where it gets a notification. So I started doing that without even knowing that that was a productivity.

Sweta Vikram 32:50
And it really helps when you do that, you know, because every notification, it’s like the body goes like that. And if you and your creative zone, the last thing you need is to be pulled out of that someone and a notification will do that. So I do the same thing I made. My iPad is all about research and YouTube videos. And because I don’t watch YouTube, otherwise, it will never be on my laptop or my phone. And there’s so much good stuff out there. I’m like not shutting down YouTube. But it’s like, it’s my iPad time, whether if I’m watching a TED talk, or some random dance move, it’s all the iPad and it helps. So I know like after a certain hour, my phone is just on airplane mode. And I remind myself and like all of us need to unless you are an ER doctor, it’s our own ego fitting What if someone needs us, if your family is with you, and your friends start to learn about this habit your family starts to learn about like, my friends and family know when some of them forget, I’ll remind them that unless it’s urgent, I won’t be on a call at 8pm. Because my day starts really early, I need my vata to come down. So when I wake up in the morning, like I’m not in that heightened state, and again, self care is radical, and it’s critical for your creativity. So figure out whatever those parameters are for you, for some people talking to others before going to bed. Scientifically, it makes no sense. But emotionally if it makes sense to you go ahead and do it to each their own. But like those habits in those 24 hours, define how productive you’re going to be, how healthy you’re going to be, how calm you’re going to be, how creative you will be and all of that will impact your relationships.

Meg Casebolt 34:25
I love that thank you so much for coming in for sharing with us for giving us this space. Guys. Have you been watching this and you have any specific questions for how she does it or any AI or VEDA related questions you can ask that in the comments right below this video. And thank you so much for being here. Serena, thank you for this conversation.

Sweta Vikram 34:43
This was so much fun and I always love hanging out with you Meg and you know I’m obsessed with Aveda writing all of that good stuff. So, folks, Meg is awesome. Join her tribe.

Meg Casebolt 34:56
Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to The Social slowdown podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe or come on over to social slowdown.com and sign up for our email list so you never miss an episode. We’d also love if you could write a review to help other small business owners find the show you can head over to social slowdown.com/review Or grab that link in our show notes for easy access. We’ll be back soon with more tips to help you market your business without being beholden to social media. Talk to you then

Please forgive any typos as this transcript was automatically generated by otter.ai.