After deleting Instagram, within 3 days I found myself idle. The moment I was free, I'd automatically pick up my phone and open Instagram — I noticed this on the first day. The app was gone, but my hand searched for it out of habit.
3 hours freed up
Instagram took about 3 hours of my day. Lately I'd turned into a mere content consumer, and questions like "what am I doing wrong" had lodged in my mind.
Once 3 hours freed up, on Saturday I handed tasks to the team and started reading a book I'd picked up a month earlier. It was a good book — focus returned.
New ideas come in two states
Do you know in what state new ideas come to a person? In two: (1) when there's intense difficulty; (2) when there's strong idleness. For me it was the second — new ideas came.
"Consuming" content stifles creativity; emptiness opens space for it. Sometimes the best marketing idea is born when you step away from the screen.