Do I miss opportunities because I’m not on social media? Probably.

But I miss opportunities when I don’t go to the book event on a Tuesday night, or grab lunch at a small establishment after a run.

I’m not at a coffee shop in Brooklyn right now, I didn’t see a band last night in Nashville, I’m not meeting a friend at their office in LA tomorrow. I don’t have billboards, a podcast, a book, or an active YouTube channel.

As Ryan Holiday writes in “The Discipline Required To Create The Life You Want,”

“When an opportunity comes along or I’m faced with a decision, I ask myself: Will this get me closer to that ideal or further away? Will it give me more of the days I actually want to have, or fewer of them?”

All these social media platforms are an opportunity, just like going to a networking event, or being a guest on a podcast. Each has their own risk and reward.

But if we remove the time and energy required for these opportunities (the things we’re told we should do), we’re left with our work.

I got that Ryan Holiday link from Mario Fraioli’s Morning Shakeout newsletter. Mario coaches athletes, has sent a newsletter every week for over 10 years, and posts an occasional podcast.

“I’ve been approached about helping to build out coaching collectives, gotten offers to partner with more brands and events, and been given plenty of unsolicited advice about how to expand my coaching business or make the morning shakeout bigger than just a newsletter and occasional podcast. I say thanks but no thanks to every single one of these inquiries because the tradeoffs just aren’t worth it to me. Bigger isn’t always better, and oftentimes more is just more. I’m not a rich man by any stretch, but I have the discipline to say no, because I know that what I have is enough.”

Saying no to most opportunities is hard, but it leaves you the opportunity to make better work.

Some people are buying CDs in 2026 and taking photos on film cameras that were made in the 80s. Some people are setting up tiny video rental libraries.

Some people are setting up static websites, making zines, and starting their own publishing companies.

Not everyone is going down this path, but some people are. You’re not trying to reach everybody, so the work you’re doing and the tools you’re using don’t need to look like what everyone else is using.

If you’ve set up an account on Shopify and ran away in terror, you’re not alone.

I don’t wanna build segments, or drip campaigns.

If you’ve tried to “go live” or make vertical content for social media platforms, you know the feeling of “this isn’t for me,” and that’s okay.

It’s a big world out there, and you don’t need everyone, you just need some people.

Bring your favorite digital or analog tool(s) to the party, and tell us why you love ’em. We’ll gasp with delight, take detailed notes, and probably walk away with half a dozen new things to try out when we’re done.

​Come talk about your favorite:

• ​Website builder
• ​Accounting or bookkeeping software
• ​Label maker
• ​Podcast mixer
• ​Project management app
• ​Scanner
• ​Whatever tool you use that you actually love talking about.

​No pressure to have the fanciest or most expensive gear. If it makes your work easier, it counts, and it can probably help other people with their work and that’s what we strive for around here.

Monday, September 21 at 9:00 AM EDT → https://luma.com/c9k8h7k8

Thursday, September 24 at 2:00 PM EDT → https://luma.com/loxyn418

The esteemed Amelia Hruby Phd. joined us again for our Thursday Escape Pod Zoom call (see upcoming calls here), and it was a delight.

To prep for such events I like to see what my guests have been up to, but how do you find out about someone when they don’t have social media? Well, you check out their website, of course!

Sure, I don’t know what Amelia had for breakfast, or which TV show she was watching (things we usually see on social media), but I got to see the highlights. The big stuff. The main messages.

How many times have we see awards and accolades plastered on someone’s social media feed, but zero mention of such accomplishments on their own website? I was delighted to see that Amelia’s Off the Grid podcast has been downloaded 250,000 times (she told us on the call it just passed 300,000)!

Remember, a website is yours. You control the branding and the vibe and the layout. You don’t need to fit yourself into platforms that limit your reach in order to let everyone know what you’re doing, and how you’re doing it.

Give the right people (the creative director, the podcast host, the community facilitators on a Zoom call, the potential client or new fan) what they need when they finally get to your website.

I’ve had an iPhone since 2008 or so, but with every passing year I lose interest in keeping up. This from Chris Gayomali is pretty spot on:

I hate that we are all like “our phones make us feel awful” and Apple is like “here is more phone and now it’s $2000”

And yet, “just over half of U.S. adults say they spend too much time on their smartphone,” according to a Pew Research Center survey from May and June 2026.” (via Pixel Envy)

Part of breaking up with Google becomes abstract. Sure, you can say you’re not going to use Google Search anymore, but what about SEO?! How will people find your site if you don’t optimize your website for the random search traffic that the biggest search engine might send your way?

I’m not trying to get everyone on my Escape Pod Zoom calls. I’m trying to keep the people who keep showing up – those are my people! So I try to recognize where conversations are going, or themes that keep coming up. Those become future blog posts, or sometimes future Escape Pod Zoom calls.

Think less about reaching everyone, and think about reaching one specific person. Literally.

For your next post, don’t write for everyone. Instead, write to one specific person who might need it, and then send it to them directly a few days later.

On a recent Escape Pod call, we got talking about resisting the all of nothing approach to doing a thing.

Specifically, if you’re burning out at work, you don’t need to rage quit. Instead, rest for five minutes. That small dose of rest won’t fix everything, but as my guest brought up, if you do it for five minutes, you’ll want more.

Once we start down the road of “hey, this feels nice,” we start to make time for the thing that feels nice.

When I’m frustrated with something on the computer, I go for a five minute walk. And that five minutes usually turns into ten, which is ten good minutes away from the screen. Those ten minutes won’t get me to a 10 mile run, but they’re 10 minutes that’ll get me there eventually.

Think about how you could spend five (or 10) minutes on the thing you’d rather be doing. Again, it might not be the final version of the big thing you’d rather be doing, but what are the smaller bits and pieces you could do instead? What actions, even for just five minutes, help build the foundation of the thing you want?

​Host of the Off The Grid Podcast, author of Your Attention is Sacred Except on Social Media, and founder of Softer Sounds Studio, Amelia Hruby returns as a special guest!

​We’ll talk about writing books, working without social media, leaving Substack for Ghost, and so much more.

​One third interview, then two thirds open Q&A; this is a communal and interactive Escape Pod, so bring your questions and ideas for Amelia!

Thursday, September 10 at 2:00 PM EDT → https://luma.com/365eysla