When one of the world’s top F1 drivers publicly calls social media a “waste of time and energy”, it’s worth paying attention.
In this solo episode, I break down Lando Norris’ decision to step away from social media – not because of burnout, but as a strategic move to protect his focus and performance.
I explore what makes this such a powerful decision, especially for introverts and high-performers, and how you can apply the same thinking to your own energy habits.
I’m sharing:
- Why stepping back isn’t weakness, but next-level self-awareness
- The hidden cost of being “always on” (especially for introverts)
- A framework to replace low-return habits with high-impact energy boosters
- A 3-step “Lando-inspired” challenge to audit your own social media usage.
This episode is for you if you’re ready to protect your energy like it’s your most valuable asset and learn from one of the world’s highest performers.
LINKS AND RESOURCES:
◾️Lando Norris
◾️McLaren Racing
CONNECT WITH EMMA-LOUISE:
Website: https://theambitiousintrovert.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmalouparkes/
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If you are an introvert who is serious about reaching your potential, then you sit up and listen when a world class Formula One driver calls social media a quote, unquote waste of time and energy.
This month it was all over the news that British racing driver Lando Norris, who drives for McLaren Formula One, has stepped away from social media.
Now, Formula One is obviously, you know, even if you’re a fan, you appreciate that, it is known for talent, precision, speed and handling pressure, all really great qualities that we can hone in our lives and careers.
So Lando stepped away from socials because he said he just doesn’t enjoy it. He just doesn’t feel the need to be on there and he wants to focus on a better use of his time doing more productive activities.
I want to talk about this in this episode and share with you how he did it, why he did it and what you can learn from it as an ambitious introvert, which I suspect Lando Norris also is just from his demeanour and the way he speaks in interviews.
Now, the important key piece here is this wasn’t some kind of burnout. He’s done this as a strategic energy decision to help him jump from where he currently sits—number two in the world—to hopefully number one in the world by the end of the season.
Stay tuned to find out how.
Hi, I’m Emma Louise and welcome back to this solo episode of the Ambitious Introvert podcast, which, as you can probably tell from the intro, I am very, very passionate about.
I love when there is something really timely and relevant that I can jump on and share with you guys. And the fact that this has been in the news this week of recording in late May is perfect.
So, as I said, whether you’re a Formula One fan or not, you understand the premise. World class athletes drive in world class cars round very difficult racing circuits at very, very high speeds to try and come first. You get the idea.
Now, it’s often seen as a very masculine sport. It’s seen as quite extroverted. There is a lot of pomp and ceremony around Formula One. There’s a lot around the hospitality, around the celebrations, etc.
But actually it’s a sport that is probably very well suited to introverts because, yes, you have team radio while you’re driving, but you’re driving alone. You are essentially, yes, part of a team, but as you’re out there on the track, you are alone.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few of the drivers were actually introverts.
So let’s get into what Lando Norris said, what he’s doing, how I believe it’s gonna help him and how you can adopt some of the same things.
So this is an absolute quiet power move because in Lando’s own words, let’s take it one by one. He said social media is a time and energy drain.
Therefore something has happened here to make him realise that he’s had the self-awareness that when he’s finished scrolling socials, he’s thought that was a waste of time or, “Ugh, I just don’t feel that great now.”
And that is the key to making any kind of change.
Now remember, a lot of people will use social media for hours each day and feel amazing because they’re extroverts. They’re getting all those dopamine hits and it’s not draining and flooding their system the way it does for introverts.
They are loving all of the stimulus. They’re loving connecting with hosts and hosts of people in a short space of time. It’s giving them life. It’s doing the opposite of what it’s doing to us.
So what I think is really powerful about this is that Lando, as you know, number two driver in the world at the moment, is someone that is expected in this day and age to have a platform.
We expect our athletes to also be celebrities, to be connecting with people. In fact, he has almost 10 million followers on Instagram. He has a huge platform.
And also to remember that a high amount of his income will come from sponsorships. Many, many Formula One drivers get paid a lot of money to sponsor brands and of course tied into that will be them sharing that on their social media.
So him actually stepping away from it is really quite a big deal.
Now I appreciate that. Well, maybe some of you, but not all of you are driving billion dollar cars and trying to win Formula One races.
But you are managing your energy every day in high stakes roles…
So this is where I want you to really take some time and think about your own social media usage. Even if, like my former client, you’re going, this isn’t for me, I don’t use it very often. I like 15 minutes a day maximum.
I would still highly, highly recommend that you just take five minutes and listen to this and maybe make some notes and see how you feel at the end of it and see if you want to change anything. And if you don’t and you’re happy with your social media usage, that is fantastic.
But remember that social media is designed by literally the smartest brains in the world and they want to keep you on there for as long as possible so that they can charge advertisers more to show you their adverts.
Now that is the society we live in. And I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, but that is what happens.
No social media platform wants you to leave the platform. That’s why they developed the Infinite Scroll. Because if any of you remember, you used to get to the end on Facebook, you were caught up, you’d seen everything.
That doesn’t happen now. You can keep going and going and going and going and going and they will always find things to show you.
So this is why it’s so important for us to self audit or, if clients are working with me, to do an audit together to really understand our usage and see if it does align with what feels good to us.
So the first question I would say to ask is think about your social media. Think about how you feel when you’re finished. Do you feel energised or do you feel drained?
And that might be a really hard question to answer because for many people, social media is just embedded in the daily fabric of our lives. You might be pulling it out when you’re in a queue, in a line, in a store.
You might just do it while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil. You might scroll while you’re watching Netflix in the evening or whatever. You might be doing it at times that you’re not really paying attention. It’s this automatic habit.
But really try to think about it. Really try to notice when you’re finished. Sit just for 10 seconds and think, how do I feel? Do I feel energised or do I feel drained?
And then think about, which ties in with that, are you using it with intention or is it using you? Are you doing it because it’s a habit? Are you doing it because that icon has been in the same place on your phone for three years and your thumb just goes there?
Because you have a neural pathway that when you see your phone, you flick Instagram or you flick Facebook.
Are you using it with intention? Are you going, right, I am going to spend this much time a day maximum on social media because I’ve got other things that are more important to me?
Are you saying I’m not going to use social media around my partner, I’m not going to use it around my kids, I’m not going to use it in the bedroom, I’m only going to use it in certain areas of the house or at certain times of day?
Those things can all be really, really helpful in us creating these boundaries. Where like I say, it’s not about never doing something, but it’s about doing it in a way that works for us and works for our energy.
And so I’m going to leave you with three Lando-inspired swaps that you could make. If this has piqued your interest and you think, do you know what, I would really love to at least look at reducing my social media and to see what else I could put in there instead and to see how I feel.
Even if you commit to doing it for two weeks and then see if you feel any different at the end of it.
So number one is if you’re going to scroll for 15 minutes, exercise for 15 minutes. Even if it’s just going for a walk. Even if it’s tidying the house but doing so in a crazy fast way because you want to burn some calories. Even if it is doing some stretching.
There are so many things that you could effectively do in 15 minutes a day that are going to have a massive impact on your body. So instead of 15 minutes of scrolling, try 15 minutes of moving.
Number two, instead of going down an Instagram rabbit hole and like I say, that infinite scroll that just keeps going and going, think instead, right now, I’m not going to go on Instagram. I’m going to read one chapter of a book.
And choose a book that you either really love or is really interesting to you or is going to help you towards your goal. If you’re building a business, choose a business book. If you are looking to work on your mindset, choose a book about positivity. Whatever the thing is, and just read a chapter of that.
When you find yourself being pulled towards social media and then instead of swiping and just mindlessly opening—like I say, which it’s designed to make us do—there’s no shame around it, but we have to put the mechanisms in place to stop that.
So shuffle your apps. Hide your apps on a different screen in a different position. You will be amazed how often you go to open them and go, oh, it’s not there anymore. Because those neural pathways are strong and you need to create new ones that when you get your thumb out, you do something else instead.
So for this one, scramble your apps and then when you find yourself going to hit it, I want you to take five minutes and just journal.
Journal about your next goal. Journal about something you’re grateful for. Journal about something you want to achieve. Journal about how you want to feel today.
There are so many things and writing is so cathartic and it really helps us to reconnect with ourselves.
So those are my three tips that I really think will make a huge difference.
I am not anti social media, but I am anti mindless social media because I believe that to reach our potential—which for Lando Norris is getting from number two in the world to number one in the world, so big potential—but for any of us to reach our potential, we can’t be mindlessly doing things that drain our time and energy.
It’s not possible to get the results that we want. We need to make intentional changes. And it’s not a bad thing and it’s not discipline and we’re not missing out because we’re choosing for our future.
So I think Lando’s social media exit is a perfect case study for aligned performance in protecting his energy.
And as I say, this is why I do energy audits with all of my private clients when we start working together. Because we find things like social media as huge leaks that they can very easily and quickly rectify and have a massive difference in their energy and their performance.
So I would love to know, which of the three swaps are you going to try?
I would love to hear from you on Instagram @emmalouparkes. Or you can always email me and let me know: hello@theambitiousintrovert.com
But even in just two weeks, even if you just did one shift with your socials, I believe you’ll see a massive, massive impact in your energy and your performance and you’ll be off to a flying start.
Thank you so much for tuning in and I’ll see you in the next episode.
Thank you for tuning in into this week’s episode. I hope that you’re feeling expanded to what’s possible for you, motivated to take action and inspired about how you can start to own your energy.
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