We use it. We love it. But most of us spend too much time on Facebook. A complete waste of time…. Right?Wrong.

What if, instead of for procrastination, you used Facebook for inspiration? What if Facebook could make you more productive? People, be prepared to never look at Facebook the same way again.

The 3 Types of Facebook Posts

Let’s group all Facebook posts into 3 distinct species:

1. Inspiring. Posts that pump positivity into your life, and motivate and inspire you.
2. Mindless Drivel. 70% of Facebook posts, yet are utterly banal, and a complete waste of space.
3. Negative. “My life sucks”, “Life is so unfair”, “Monday’s are rubbish.” “My boss is an absolute –“ “Why is society like this?!” “I hate XYZ”.

The problem is humans are a mouldable bunch.  Our environment makes us.  What and who surround us defines us. What we put into our environment goes into our brain. And what goes into our brain manipulates our thoughts. And our thoughts control our actions.

Our environment has massive power over us. Our Facebook feeds are plagued by posts that feed our minds with junk, which sabotages our efforts. Think of Facebook posts like nutrition for the brain; If you put crap food IN, you get crap results OUT. If you put great food IN, you get great results OUT. Our Facebook diets are awful. Our feeds are filled with posts that drag us down into complaints and mediocrity.

“You are the average of the 5 people you spend time with.” – Jim Rohn

The Damage of Negative Posts

Negative posts are real killers. Why? In our brain, negative stuff tends to stick around a lot longer than positive stuff. Ask any city driver what they think of cyclists, and you’ll get an earful of expletives. But why? They’ve had far more good cyclist experiences than bad. Well, those few negative experiences stick out, making bad cyclists the rule rather than the exception.

Negative Facebook posts work the same way. They take up precious brain space, and paint the world as this awful, opportunity-devoid place. Short-term, the effect of negative posts is hard to see. But long-term, we slowly become more negative people. Negative IN = Negative OUT.

If everyone else around you complains, complaining gets a whole lot easier. – The more complaints you read, the more you find to complain about. For some reason, our brain craves fear and juicy gossip. That’s why media fear-mongering works. Fear sells. So when we read someone’s Facebook rant about how their life sucks, a part of our brain secretly loves it. And this makes Facebook way too addictive.

The Mediocrity Disease of Mindless Drivel

Mindless drivel brings  absolutely no value to our lives. What are we doing spending half an hour looking through them? Yet, they’re everywhere on Facebook. And they drown out the inspiring content that we want to read.

But there’s a bigger problem. What these posts do, is illuminate, with a glaring neon sign, life’s path of least resistance – mediocrity. They secretly lower our expectations of ourselves, our drive and our ambition. They tell our subconscious mind; “Why go the gym?”, “Why chase your dreams?” “Why aim high when you can chill with us???”

If all you have on the ol’ inspir-o-meter are utterly banal Facebook posts, then it’s not going to help you get to the next level. Instead, you could be filling your feed with athlete work-outs, awesome resources to chase your dream, and motivational quotes. Imagine comparing your success to the likes of Michael Phelps, Lebron James, and Neil Patel everyday? Now that would raise your bar.

“Most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit.” – Les Brown

Here are 3 steps to help set your Facebook feed to inspire you:

Step 1: Unfollow negative people

• Login to Facebook.
• Go to “News-feed Preferences”, in the drop-down where you can log out.
• Go to “Unfollow People to Hide Their Posts”. Unfollow your Facebook “Friends” who fill your feed with mindless drivel or negative posts.

Step 2: Follow inspirational people

Find and follow as many inspirational people and pages as possible. Join as many inspirational groups as possible. Pick people in your niche. If you love basketball, follow NBA athletes. If you swim, follow Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte. Content marketing? Follow Neil Patel.

Step 3: Turn OFF instant chat

What have you just done? All the negativity and mindless drivel have now been obliterated. (About 70% of your facebookb feed.) Congratulations! Result? You’re now following a lot less people. And the hordes of unproductive posts have been replaced by fewer, more inspirational ones.

This instant reduction in post-volume is incredibly liberating. It’s a mental detox. The benefit? – Now that there’s less stuff to catch up on, you won’t want to go on Facebook as often. Boom! And with those addictive rants gone, Facebook is much less… well, addictive.

What you’re left with is pure inspiration. It’s potent brain fuel that makes you want to get off Facebook and do stuff! You’ve unleashed a beautiful see-saw effect: you’re MORE INSPIRED, and you want to WORK MORE, plus, with less posts to read, you’ll want to procrastinate less.

With instant-chat off, people start to value your time. They can’t see you’re online, plus they know you won’t reply in 30 seconds. Without the millions of drag-on-forever distracting pop-up conversations, you’ll stay on task for longer too. Plus, with time to think and to write a cohesive reply, you can talk great ideas and have meaningful conversations. What better way to maintain and build relationships on Facebook?

Conclusion

Facebook isn’t a waste of time. Used properly, it can be an incredible tool that lets you share ideas, maintain relationships and be inspired. An ocean of positive thoughts is now yours! More work done, less time wasted. Less negative, more positive and more Inspired. If ever there was a win-win situation, this is it.

How do you use Facebook to inspire you?