Fernanda M. recently shared something that caught my attention: "Sometimes the LinkedIn screen and personal branding strategies make us forget physical reality. Behind every post about 'success,' 'launch,' or 'learning,' there is a real person." That line lands because it is true in a way we all recognize but rarely say out loud.

Fernanda goes further, describing someone "holding their breath on the other side of the screen," closing a laptop on Friday with tense shoulders and a mind full of open tabs. And then she draws the boundary many of us need to hear: "The purpose of our work can't be only moving metrics. There has to be something more."

I want to expand on what Fernanda is pointing to, not as a productivity hack, but as a more honest way to work, create, and lead. Because the internet loves results, but results always have a body attached to them.

The invisible body behind the post

LinkedIn is built for visibility. We post highlights, lessons, wins, career moves. Even when we are being "authentic," we often curate the shape of that authenticity.

Fernanda is reminding us of something simple: every post is made by a nervous system.

Behind every "launch" is someone swallowing stress.

Behind every "lesson learned" is someone recovering from a mistake.

Behind every "big week" is someone whose body kept the score.

The problem is not LinkedIn itself. The problem is what happens when our day-to-day reality gets flattened into performance signals:

impressions
likes
conversion rates
pipeline influenced
story views
velocity

Metrics are not evil. They are useful. But when metrics become the only language, we lose track of the person in the chair.

When "personal branding" forgets the person

Fernanda mentions personal branding strategies as a kind of screen. I read that as: the more we focus on the external story, the easier it is to ignore the internal cost.

Personal branding is often sold as control: define your niche, plan your content, show up consistently, optimize your positioning. All good advice, until the system turns you into a machine.

Here are a few ways that shows up:

1) You start performing competence

You might be learning in real time, but you feel pressure to sound certain. Over time, that tension becomes physical: tight jaw, shallow breathing, the sense that you are always "on."

2) You over-interpret engagement

A low-like post feels like rejection. A high-like post creates fear of not matching it next time. You are no longer writing to communicate. You are writing to avoid a dip.

3) You confuse output with value

You start believing your value is what you shipped this week, posted this week, or proved this week.

Fernanda's point that "there has to be something more" is, to me, a corrective to this whole dynamic.

The "something more": meaning, kindness, and humane technology

Fernanda names her "something more" in very grounded terms: she tried to bring order to chaos, tried to be kind when it was easier to be sharp, and tried to make technology "a little more human."

That is not soft. That is the actual work.

Order in the chaos is a human service

In many roles, especially operations, product, customer success, engineering, and marketing, a huge part of the job is absorbing complexity so others can move.

Putting order into chaos can look like:

writing the doc nobody asked for but everybody needs
clarifying what "done" means
reducing handoff confusion
naming tradeoffs instead of hiding them

You may not get a celebratory post out of it. But you reduce stress in the system. That matters.

Kindness is a performance strategy that does not hurt people

Fernanda says she tried to be kind when it was easier to be curt. That is a leadership move, even if you do not have the title.

A small example I keep coming back to: you can say, "This is wrong" or you can say, "I think we are solving a different problem than the one we agreed on. Can we realign?"

Both communicate. One escalates the nervous system. The other protects it.

Making technology more human is a real craft

If you build or manage tech, you have daily opportunities to reduce friction for real people:

clearer error messages
fewer steps in a workflow
defaults that prevent mistakes
accessible design
respectful notifications

Humane tech is not only about big ethical debates. It is also about the micro-moments that decide whether a user feels stupid, stressed, or supported.

Metrics are tools, not the purpose

Fernanda's line, "The purpose of our work can't be only moving metrics," is not anti-business. It is anti-reduction.

Metrics answer: "Is this working?"
Purpose answers: "Working toward what, and at what cost?"

If you are a creator, a marketer, or a founder, try this quick reframing:

Replace "What did this get?" with "What did this give?"

Yes, look at the data. But also ask:

Did this help someone name their experience?
Did this reduce confusion?
Did this make a hard decision easier?
Did this invite a healthier conversation?

If you are leading a team, broaden the dashboard:

cycle time and quality, yes
but also burnout signals, rework, meeting load, clarity, and psychological safety

Because a team can hit numbers while quietly falling apart.

A Friday practice: closing the laptop without carrying it home

Fernanda offers a compassionate permission slip: "If you end this week tired, don't judge yourself." Then the line that should be posted on every monitor: "Breathe. Rest. The strategy can wait until Monday."

To make that real, here is a simple end-of-week shutdown ritual you can try in 10 minutes:

1) Name what was true this week (2 minutes)

Write three bullets:

One thing you completed
One thing you learned
One thing you carried

That last one matters because it honors effort that did not turn into a neat outcome.

2) Close the tabs intentionally (3 minutes)

Pick the top 3 open loops and write the next action for each. Not the whole plan, just the next action.

Example:

"Send agenda for Monday standup"
"Draft two lines for the client update"
"Review bug report and assign owner"

3) Choose a kinder story (2 minutes)

Instead of "I did not do enough," try: "I did what I could with the time and energy I had."

4) Create a boundary cue (3 minutes)

One physical action that signals done:

shut down the computer fully
put the laptop in a drawer
change clothes
step outside for 5 minutes

You are teaching your body that work ends. That is not laziness. That is recovery.

The most underrated professional skill: remembering you are a person

Fernanda's post is a reminder that the person who stands up from the chair matters more than the spreadsheet, the content calendar, or the KPI.

If you are exhausted, the answer is not always to optimize harder. Sometimes the answer is to breathe, rest, and let Monday handle Monday.

And if you are doing well right now, take Fernanda's message as a prompt to look around: who on your team is holding their breath? Who is closing the laptop with tense shoulders? What could you do to make the system kinder?

Because the best work is not just effective. It is humane.

This blog post expands on a viral LinkedIn post by Fernanda M.. View the original LinkedIn post →