This is usually what ends up happening. Your own LinkedIn profile and posts slide down to a lower priority because they just feel like a lot. Which is ironic, because that’s exactly what I tell people to work on. Push through, I say. Make some time for your LinkedIn.

And yet, when it’s my own profile, finding the time to organize my thoughts, create a post and think of interesting hooks and ideas is difficult. The motivation sort of escapes you a bit.

I kept writing and scheduling for my clients the whole time I was away. That didn’t feel like hypocrisy to me. It was my responsibility and duty to complete the job I was given. In a way it’s also my duty to finish the posts I have to do for myself and treat myself like a client. In practice that’s a lot harder. Sometimes you run out of motivation, in those cases take a step back and decide, okay, this is something I want to do at a later date. So that’s basically what I did.

The break also made me look at what I’d been posting before. Some of my posts were there just because I ‘had to do it.’ They were tied to whatever was trending in the market. This could be a screenshot of me working on Claude, or a meme on a general topic that was really working at the time. That was me following trends.

It’s nice for a bit to be part of something. But when everyone starts doing it, you just blend in with all the other voices on the topic. That’s the kind of post I want to stay away from: the post everyone else is doing.

Consistency is very important. I still firmly believe that. But it’s also important to maintain quality and not post just for the sake of it. So if you’re running out of inspiration, take a step back. Then give yourself a deadline to come back. Mine was simple: after my vacation, I decided to go back on the platform. I took about two weeks off, came back, took a bit of a break again, and now I’ll post again. (Consistency, as you can see, is a journey.)

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I took a break from LinkedIn. I took a break from posting on LinkedIn.

I never actually left. I stayed active in the comment section the whole time, because that’s something I like to do. LinkedIn never really stops feeling like my space. What gets overwhelming is the desire to constantly monitor performance and analytics, mine and my clients’. That’s when I feel like I need a break.

So I didn’t check my analytics, my followers or my inbound messages while I was away. I use those numbers as a guiding light. I don’t let them dictate my daily life. There needs to be a barrier between the metrics of LinkedIn and your SANITY. And if I’m not being active on the platform, it makes absolute sense that the numbers won’t move. Why would I sit and watch them not move? I don’t like torturing myself.

Did anyone notice I was gone? No. I usually keep to one or two posts a week, and no one came to me saying, hey, your posts aren’t showing up anymore. I was present. I just wasn’t posting.

Something very unglamorous: a simple framework for coming up with new post ideas. I already had one, but it had sort of run its course in terms of how effective it was, so I had to devise a new one.I have a list of 10 topics that I try to divide my ideas into - I use Claude to help me come up with ideas (based on the content I have already published.)

I fully expect this one to run its course at some point too. There are a lot of times when you doubt the audience you’re talking to, the message you’re sending out and the content pillars you have. And the platform keeps evolving underneath all of it. So from time to time you need these breaks. Sometimes they’re shorter, like a week. Sometimes they’re a bit longer.

If you haven’t posted in three weeks and it’s eating at you (especially if you post under an employer’s name and every gap feels visible), I have news for you. LinkedIn is a platform for visibility. It’s fine to want to be invisible for a bit, have your own quiet time and touch grass. I wouldn’t worry too much about falling behind because you didn’t post for a couple of weeks. What matters is having something that pushes you in a stable manner and helps you create something you’re proud of.

I’d say the same to a client. If they’re overwhelmed by everything happening around them, I would never push them to prioritize their LinkedIn over what’s going on in their own life. What I want for them is balance: achieving their professional goals through LinkedIn consistently, and also taking time for themselves.

This is the dichotomy I’m still dealing with. Part of me wonders whether the break was an avoidance tactic I’m now trying to justify in my own head. This newsletter would make a VERY convincing justification.

Practically, though, I didn’t have the bandwidth to create anything. I needed some time to NOT do, so I could come back and work on things that give me energy. And that’s exactly what I did.

Whether that was rest or avoidance with a nicer name, I can’t tell yet. I’ll probably find out the next time the motivation escapes me, depending on whether I give myself a deadline or just an excuse.

Grow-th Architect is where I (Shreya Vaidya) think out loud about brand-building, positioning, and surviving on LinkedIn. If this resonated, subscribe, or share it with someone who needs to hear it.