62: 10 Things I Do to Get My Spark Back When I'm in a Content Rut

🔥 When Content Feels Heavy (And You're Not Alone)

You know that feeling when you sit down to create content and absolutely nothing sounds good? When your ideas feel stale, your energy is low, and the last few posts you made didn't hit the way you wanted them to? When you start wondering if Instagram hates you, if you've lost your creative touch, or if you need to burn everything down and start over with a completely new strategy?

Yeah. Me too.

And honestly, if you're in that place right now, welcome. You're in very good company. Content ruts happen to everyone. They happen to new business owners and seasoned entrepreneurs. They happen to people who are really good at making content, and they happen to people who literally teach content for a living (hi, it's me).

But here's what I've learned after posting every week for five years: when content feels heavy, the answer isn't to push harder. The answer is to make your content feel safer, lighter, more simple, and more supportive again.

In this post, I'm walking you through the 10 things I do to get my spark back when I'm in a content rut. Some are practical systems, some are mindset shifts, some are boundaries that protect my creativity and sanity. My hope is that at least one or two of these feel good to you, and you can take them and try them yourself.

Feeling like you're in a content rut right now? Grab my Instagram Analytics Tracker for $19 to help you get out of the drama and look at the data instead. It's one of the best tools I've created for staying grounded when content feels overwhelming.

💭 The Day I Realized I've Been Posting for Five Years Straight

I've been posting every week for five years. The most I've ever taken off is two weeks, which is honestly nuts to say out loud. It makes me realize I need to take more time off.

But when I'm in a content rut, I don't force my way out of it by putting even more pressure on myself. Not even close. I don't sit there and white knuckle my way through it, trying to be inspired. I don't tell myself I need more discipline or that I'm failing.

I'm actually quite kind to myself. What I do is come back to a few things that help me feel like me again and help me feel excited to post again. Because creativity and pressure don't always play nice, and sometimes the fastest way to get my spark back is to stop gripping so tightly.

📋 The 10 Things That Bring My Creative Spark Back

1. 🌬️ I Take Time Off and Give Myself Room to Breathe

This one's huge. When I'm feeling really disconnected from my content, overwhelmed, or like nothing sounds good, that's usually a sign that I need to take a break. Not a forever break. Not a six month disappearance. Just a little breathing room.

I need some room to think. Some room to feel creative again without the immediate pressure to produce and create something. And I know that can feel scary because a lot of us think, "Well, if I stop, I'm gonna lose momentum. I'm gonna lose followers."

Maybe a little bit. But if you keep forcing yourself to create from a place of dread, that's not exactly momentum either. That's survival mode.

So I take a breath. I go live my life. I take the vacation. I take two weeks off. I let my brain relax, and I stop demanding content from myself every day. And usually that space helps more than any other content hack I could ever share with you.

2. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 I Have Never and Will Never Post on Sundays

Sundays are my family day. I am fully off the app. We're usually at ten million different sports events, or I'm just doing life (cleaning, doing laundry, being outside now that spring is finally coming).

Sunday is family day. I don't post. I don't check. And honestly, it's just freeing.

I just know that Sunday is not a day for Instagram, and that boundary has helped me so much. It reminds me that my business works for my life, not the other way around.

One of the quickest ways to lose your spark is to act like you need to be available and making content every single day of your life. That's not sustainable. It's not healthy. And for most of us, it's not necessary.

I find that a lot of my ideal clients aren't on the weekends either. They're not looking to learn, they're not looking to invest, they're not looking to do anything on Sunday. And I want freedom in my business. I want family time. I want boundaries like that. I want to be present.

So this boundary isn't just about taking a break from Instagram. It's about reinforcing the kind of business that I actually want to build, and that's one that supports my life.

3. 🔄 I Lean on Weekly Rhythm Instead of Reinventing the Wheel

This has been one of the best things for my creativity because structure actually gives me a lot more freedom, not less.

I know what my week looks like. I hit the ground harder Monday through Thursday when it comes to Instagram. Friday I start to pull back because I've found my audience is just not really trying to get super deep or strategic at the end of the week. They're mentally checked out. I'm mentally checked out. We're all kind of limping towards the weekend together.

So Friday content for me is lighter. It's a connection post (something about me or my family), or it's something lighthearted (vote on these fonts, check out this color palette I came up with). It's light, easy, inspirational, or connecting.

And Saturday? I already know what Saturday is. Saturday is always a freebie promotion post to grow my email list. It's scheduled in Later.com. ManyChat does her thing. I am not over here doing anything. That is a system, and the system helps save my spark.

Because when every post requires you to start from nothing, of course your content's gonna feel exhausting. Of course you're gonna be in a rut. You're doing too much.

I'd say 50 to 70% of my posts throughout the week are recycled. They are not brand new. One or two posts are brand new, maybe three max. The rest are ones I've already done.

You don't need a million tiny decisions eating up your creative energy. You probably just need a gentler, more clear content rhythm, and you need to figure out what that looks like for you.

If you're spiraling over your post performance and want a really simple way to look at what's working, grab my Instagram Analytics Tracker for $19. It helps you get out of the drama and into the data, which is exactly what you need when you're in a rut.

4. ⏰ I Protect My Mornings by Not Checking My Posts Right Away

I schedule every post to go out at 6:30 AM Eastern Standard Time while I am still asleep. God bless automations. I'm either scheduling it through Later.com or scheduling it natively within Instagram.

My kids don't get on the bus till 8:30. I do not check that post until they've gone off to school. That is a two hour buffer, and it is so good for my mental health.

Because if I wake up and immediately start checking how something's performing and it's not what I hoped it would be, it absolutely affects the tone of my day. And you might relate to that.

Today I'm not even kidding, I was like, "This is going to be so good. Everyone's gonna love it." 8:35 when my kids were off on the bus and it was time to check Instagram? It wasn't even anywhere near what I thought it would be.

Do I take it down? Absolutely not. Am I gonna sit down and pivot my entire business by 9:00 AM? No. I don't do that. I don't spiral. I just let it be honestly, and I continue to wait because sometimes it takes time for things to pop off. Or maybe it never does.

And then it's just data. It's just data for me to say, "Hmm, wonder why that didn't work. What could I try differently? What's a different headline? Maybe that was a reel and it should have been a carousel, or maybe vice versa."

I'm just over here collecting data and figuring out how to move forward.

5. 💡 I Remind Myself Why I Started Posting in the First Place

This one matters so much when my motivation is low. When I'm in a rut, it's really easy to start posting out of obligation, out of pressure, from "I should," or from fear. And that energy feels terrible. Your audience picks up on it.

So I try to come back to why I post in the first place.

I post because I care so much about helping the people in my world. I post because I legit love talking about content creation. I post because content, when it feels good, is such a creative outlet for me and really lights me up.

I post because I know there is some woman out there scrolling, overwhelmed, second guessing herself in every decision, wondering what to say, wondering if she's doing something wrong. And knowing that I can help this feel lighter for her matters to me.

Sometimes that reminder is enough to shift me out of "Ugh, I have to make a post today" energy and right back into "All right, I get to talk about something that lights me up and I get to help someone today. Let's go."

When the deeper reason is there, that spark usually comes to life. It's not just buried under pressure.

6. 📊 I Detach Myself from the Vanity Metrics

This is a work in progress every single day. I am working on it constantly because I am so human. I have eyeballs, I have a heart, I have a head. I notice numbers.

I still have moments where I feel like, "Really, Em? You have 124,000 followers and you got like 30 likes? Stop."

But I work so hard not to let likes and comments or outward engagement decide how I feel about myself or my business or my content. Because so much happens behind the scenes that people can't see.

People are consuming quietly. That is the world we live in right now. They're binging my content and not engaging with it at all. They're sending it to a friend. They're clicking. They are joining my email list. They're thinking about working with me. They're starting to follow me. They're watching for months before they even say a word.

If we let ourselves feel good only when something looks impressive on the outside, we're gonna miss out on so much of what content's actually doing for us.

I've even thought about hiding my likes, and I still go back and forth on that sometimes. But I also think there's something really powerful about letting people see that creators of all sizes can still struggle with vanity metrics and continue to show up anyways.

7. 📈 I Treat Content Like Data

This one helps me a lot. If something underperforms, I try not to make it mean something really deep or existential about me as a creator, as a human being, as a business owner.

It's data. That's it.

Could the hook have been stronger? Probably. Could the timing have been off? Maybe. Could this have worked better as a reel instead of a carousel? Hmm, probably. And that's something I can try next time.

It's information. It's usable. It's not personal. It doesn't mean my followers hate me. It doesn't mean the algorithm hates me.

And I really want you to hear me on this because I know so many perfectionists (including myself) struggle here. A post underperforming does not mean you're bad at content. It means one post did what one post did on one day in one format with one setup. That's all.

The second you start making every post a verdict on your talent or your worth, your content's gonna get a lot heavier, I promise you. And when it gets lighter, you're gonna get some of your spark back.

8. ✋ I Do Not Let One Post Consume Me

This comes down to perfectionism again. Hi, it's me. I know I'm the problem.

I'm a perfectionist by nature, so left to my own devices, I will tweak a headline or a design for 700 years. I could move words around forever. I could continue editing, second guessing. It's crazy.

But at a certain point I gotta let it go. I gotta post it, I gotta learn from it, and I gotta move on.

That has been such a big part of protecting my energy because one post cannot be allowed to eat up my whole day or my whole mood or my whole creative identity. That's actually insane and it will burn you out so fast.

So if that's you, this is your permission slip to loosen your grip. Done is wonderful. Posted is beautiful. Data is better than overthinking every day of the week.

9. 🤖 I Let AI Help Me with Words

This has been so life giving to me because I'll tell you, I can be in Canva all day playing and having fun and designing (it is my jam). Words have always been hard for me, and I do still rely heavily on AI and ChatGPT for support with words, headlines, captions, carousel formatting, carousel copy, brainstorming, refining my ideas, all of it.

And it helps me stay sane and it helps me from burning out.

I've worked really hard to train ChatGPT, whether it's a project or a GPT of mine. I give it strong examples. I have gone back and forth 500 times with it and taught it what I like, what I don't, phrases I would never use, tones that sound like me, structures that I love.

I use it for support, not for a replacement for my brain. This is not like I ask it one simple question, it gives me the answer, and I use it. We are going back and forth until it gets it right.

That does not make me less creative. It makes me resourceful.

10. 🎉 I Try to Make Content Fun

This might be the biggest one of all. When I'm in a rut, I have to remember that this is supposed to be somewhat fun. This is the creative part of my business. There's supposed to be some life to it.

It's not life or death. I am not saving lives. I'm doing the best I can to help people, to teach, to connect, to market my business in a way that feels really good and enjoyable.

But if I start treating it like every post carries the emotional weight of the world, it's gonna suck all the joy out of it. And then I sit there and wonder why I don't wanna create. Hello.

So instead of trying to be more impressive, I try to just be more honest and more simple and more playful. Content becomes lighter for me and more me.

And by the way, showing your face really matters a lot here too. When I feel disconnected from my content, a face to camera reel can help a lot because it brings me back into the room and it brings my personality back and it reminds my audience that I'm human.

So if content's feeling a little flat, let go of the graphics. Get outta Canva. Make it more personal, make it direct, make it a face to camera reel. Just make it feel more alive and more like you.

🛠️ Resources & Tools Mentioned in This Episode

Tools I Use:

• Later.com - Scheduling platform I use to automate my posts (especially that 6:30 AM publish time)

• ManyChat - Automation tool that handles my Saturday freebie promotion posts without me lifting a finger

• ChatGPT - AI tool I use for caption writing, brainstorming, and refining my content ideas

• Canva - My go-to design platform for creating graphics (though sometimes I need to step away from it and show my face instead)

Resources to Help You:

• My Instagram Analytics Tracker - $19 digital resource that helps you track what's actually working and get out of the drama of vanity metrics.

• The Content Coven - $97/month or $970/year membership where you get ongoing content support, community, live calls, and all my resources in one place. This is where we do the work together so you're never in a rut alone.

💫 When You're Ready to Stop Bullying Yourself Back Into Motivation

If I had to sum up this whole approach, it would be this: when you're in a content rut, the answer is typically not to push harder, my friend. It's usually to make your content feel safer, lighter, more simple, and more supportive again.

I think that a lot of us try to bully ourselves back into getting motivated. And that approach just makes me feel worse. I don't know about you.

One of the most helpful parts of that reset is looking at your content with a little more neutrality and less emotion. That's where the data perspective comes in, and that's exactly why I created the Instagram Analytics Tracker.

But listen, if you know deep down that what you really need isn't just tips to get out of a rut, but ongoing support and a community that gets it, I'd love to welcome you into The Content Coven. It's where we protect our creativity together, celebrate the messy middle, and make content feel lighter.

Which one of these 10 things resonated most with you? Save this post for the next time you're in a content rut, and let me know in the comments what you're gonna try first.