34 Comments
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Shanjitha's avatar

I too spend most of my time in Substack. Currently, I am trying out Substack curfew. I allot time blocks: two hours for writing on Substack and one hour for engaging and figuring it out. No Substack beyond those three hours. So far, maintaining the streak. Let see how strong I am.

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Nur Nadar's avatar

How has the curfew been going one day later? =p

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Shanjitha's avatar

I slipped in an extra 30 minutes to "engage" in Notes😉😆

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Alexis Mera Damen's avatar

I like the time block idea! 💡

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Julia Wendling's avatar

I highly recommend the book Radical Self Responsibility! It has a lot of great tactics that can be used to help take a pause

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Awesome Julia thank you I'll take a look

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Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen's avatar

It's so easy to get addicted eh? I too fell into that trap but have gotten better!

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Trap is the perfect word for it hahaha

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JS Hyder's avatar

I get this, I feel I'm spending more time reading and not writing at the moment. I'm trying to read Substack on coffee breaks now, and not get overwhelmed with the growing unopened messages in my inbox.

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Yeah, I love the idea of having set times to check it. Those unopened messages can wait =p

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Alexis Mera Damen's avatar

You can change your notifications so it’s only in app versus also via email. ;)

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Nur Nadar's avatar

But how will I get my daily doses that way?!

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Alexis Mera Damen's avatar

Doom scroll thought the “Read next” section on your Substack home. I should say doom scroll though bc it’s all great content to read! 😻

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Jiva Smith's avatar

Thanks for voicing the early substack acclimatisation challenge. It’s real and important to regulate from.

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Lewin Carr's avatar

Of all the skills I’ve learned in this life, the ability to catch, and more importantly put a stop to, when my thoughts are in a negative spiral, is by far my favorite. thanks I am working on this too...

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Raveen's avatar

'No matter how justified this neglect felt and regardless of what words I used to romanticize it, I still found myself feeling annoyed and disappointed in myself.'

Yeah, I can relate to this type of feeling. I think it just shows how important it is that we pay attention to and follow our gut feelings and what we genuinely want to do at that particular period.

In that sense, we shouldn't ignore the deep signals and nudges that our own bodies are telling us.

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Karen Abplanalp's avatar

Relate! 🙏🏽😅 I read somewhere, on here, a writer who deletes her Substack once a week! 😅 yikes - but yeah- I definitely like the idea of a detox - even setting a road block on half of the day 🚔😅

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Marie Vandoorne's avatar

Such a relatable Substack journey!! I really had to take back control at one time as well. I limit my time on the app, it's also not available on my phone. Also almost no notification emails are coming through and still it's a hard juggle to get back to my beautiful routine 😅

Love the images and thank you for sharing!

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Thanks for reading Marie! I'm definitely still looking for what works best for me and I'm guessing it is going to be a long work in progress, lol

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Alexis Mera Damen's avatar

Feeling a lot of the same things as you at the moment!

I bought notebooks today so I can try rough first writing free of distraction.

This is a great place and I’m grateful for it, but my daily routine is also suffering. I think it will simmer down though after the starters excitement passes. Trying to go slow and steady so I don’t burnout and drop this completely.

Thanks for sharing!

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Yeah mine still is even after writing this. It’s a writing platform that has the allure of achieving the writing dream but it’s also very much social media. The lines can get blurred sometimes

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The Sterling Pound's avatar

Great article, definitely needed to read this experiencing the same things at the moment!

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Thank you :) I'm glad you could get something out of it!

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Jenn- jscreative's avatar

I love the graphics! (haven’t read the post yet. lol)

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Hahaha thank you! I'm playing around with less serious styles so I appreciate it

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Dr. Louise Schriewer's avatar

Great article and so relatable! I have noticed something similar; those notifications are really quite addictive. My current approach is to not open Substack at all during the weekend. I also don't have the app on my phone so at least my engagement with Notes is confined to the laptop. Maybe I should also close all Substack windows when I'm done interacting for the day.

P.S.: I chuckled over you describing yourself as "aggressively curious." Such a great description.

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Thanks Louise!! Really been hyping me up today hahaha.

It's one of those things I think we'll have to discuss regularly and see what works best. I like the approach of not having it on the phone a lot. Anytime I catch myself with my phone out mindlessly switching through apps I really have to take a deep breath.

P.S.: Thanks! I describe my dog as 'aggressively friendly' (he is) because you see a person ask and hear AGGRESSIVEly friendly and see their expressions change

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Dr. Louise Schriewer's avatar

Hahaha! :)

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Jack Livaditis's avatar

Absolutely epic bro I love your swag and your knowledge keep it up homie💪🏻💪🏻

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Thank you my man I appreciate it

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Jane Deegan's avatar

Listened while driving today. I definitely can relate to this as far as the draw of substack and other social media. I've been trying to set timers on my phone for that and putting my phone out of reach. Yoga helps me too

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Nur Nadar's avatar

Thanks for reading and for the tips Jane! Always looking to try out new strats

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Ez Nadar's avatar

Need more fire fighter samoyeds in this world

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Nur Nadar's avatar

I agree

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