unPLUG, disCONNECT, reCHARGE

3 Big Changes (you can also make) for 2025

Merry Christmas everyone!

I returned recently from 5 days in the Patagonian mountains with no phone, internet or electronics. Just the wife and I. Chillin in a cabin, driving an old beat up car with no GPS and going out to restaurants with only cash in the pocket - like we used to do it, in the ‘olden days.’

During that time, I had space to…think…and feel. Which led to some realisations.

One is how angry I had become toward the end of the year. The other is how desensitised I’d become to the world around me. Being ‘on’ and ‘connected’ all the time has a cost, that’s not only physical, but deeply psychological and emotional. You don’t register it until you take a moment to actually recharge. In the same way that fasting makes you re-appreciate the subtle flavors of food and drink and energise you, a screen-fast will both make you re-appreciate the physical world around you, and show you how much these things drain you.

The third realisation is…a bit longer.

If it bleeds it leads.

Coming back online feels strange. Almost otherwordly. The noise of the screen in contrast to reality sans-screen feels a bit like having been asleep and dreaming, only to be woken up abruptly by an alarm - mid dream. It’s not a nice feeling.

These social networks - which really are just social news & media nowadays - suck you into their vortex. Yes, there is alot of great content (if you curate and dig) and they are the primary means of building an audience and online business, but they are specifically designed to capture our attention and engage us. This makes them echo-chambers of rage and madness, beacuse these specific states capture attention and engage our limbic-brains the most.

“If it bleeds it leads” will always be true, whether that was to do with the town gossip, the newspaper, the television or now the computer and smartphone screens.

Every week there’s something new to be pissed off about. Last week it was monkeys exagerrating about Quantum computing, this week it’s a shitstorm surrounding the H1B visa program and all the immigrants taking advantage of it. For what it’s worth, this is extremely important for Western civilisation and my stance (even as a non-American) is that all forms of immigration (legal or illegal) should be significantly restricted in order to preserve the last vestiges of American culture.

But that’s not the point here. The point that while this is certainly an important topic, had I not turned my phone on, I’d have never known. Furthermore, my opinion on this matter is of no real consequence, but somehow, I am sucked into the conversation and compelled to put my opinion out there. And therein lies the danger. Whether the topic or discussion is important or not, it sucks you in. It’s a vortex fed and fueled by our most precious non-physical life-blood: attention and energy.

I’m not saying that it is - BUT - if there was some ‘grand consipiracy’ to drain us all of our vitality, it would certainly look and feel alot like these devices becoming time, energy and attention-consuming appendages that we carry around 24/7.

News is only useful in doses, and even then, only for people who can actually use it. We all know that watching TV, day in, day out, will fry your brain and turn you into a vegetable - you probably have some boomer uncle that fits this description - but the truth is that social media has become largely the same and the more we consume it, the more we fry our own brains - possibly to an even greater degree than the TV watchers because your phone and comuter are interactive, so you can actually engage.

This opens up an entire rabbit hole of a discussion on Simulacra, but I won’t go into it here other than to link you to a peice by

THE LETHAL TEXT

SACRAMENT, MALEFICE, SORCERY

Ultimately, the digital umibilical chord that keeps us connected to the cacophany of noise slowly turns our brains into mush and in turn drives us mad. I sense it towards the end of every year when my patience has run thin and I get sucked into stupid debates about things that tecnically do matter, but really, had I not been on X, I’d be entirely oblivious to, and thus would not matter. I’m literally this guy, which is embarrasing:

It’s all quite a strange phenomenon and had I not made the decision to develop a business and livelihood (as an Author for example) associated to an online persona - I’d very likely just delete all this shit and go Uncle Ted (sans the need to bomb anyone).

But alas, for the time being, my bed has been made, so I will remain ‘connected’ - although for 2025 onwards, I will take measures to minimise my exposure to the noise.

Those measures I will list out below both for some ‘public accountability’ and as a prompt for you, the reader. I suspect that many of you will find them useful in your own lives.

Commitments for 2025

1. More Time Off

Switching off - and I mean really switching off, not just taking time away from what you’re doing - is truly underrated, and criminally under-practiced. I say this unironically as I type on a keyboard, in front of a 27 inch screen, LARPing with my blue-light blocking glasses on.

But seriously. I’ve been “on” for years now - something I’m sure you can all relate to. You’d be amazed by how much simpler life feels, and how much sharper both your mind & senses become when you distance yourself from any and all screens. The following note from

BONESAW

comes to mind:

The difference between a carnivore (for example a lion) and a herbivore (for example a cow) also comes to mind. The former lives in a state of deep rest, interespersed with intense sprints and bursts. The latter is in a constant state of grazing and moving - never fully rested, and never truly intense.

This forces me to ask myself - have I been living more like a lion or cow? And what does the answer to that question really say about me?

It’s time to make some changes. While I’ve seriously considered nuking my X & Substack, I won’t for now. Instead here’s my plan for 2025:

1. Turn off ALL screens after dark. I’ve done a bit of this in 2024, but not been strict. I find myself cheating, whether with my red-light glasses, the red-lights around the house, or the red shift on my phone. The trouble is that the content keeps me “on” - which is the crux of the problem. So no more screens!

2. Rebuild my physical library. Even if it means I have to print essays and articles out, the goal is to minimise screen time but satiate my curiosity and desire to read.

3. Take some time to really switch off, mid-way through the year as well as at the end. The mistake I’ve made in the past is leaving too long. Better to rest when you don’t need it, than reach a state of burn out unexpectedly. I’ve been meaning to do a Vipassana retreat for some time. 2025 is the year.

2. Do Less. Savor More.

This is something I’ve always struggled with, and somewhat related to the above.

Since I was young I’ve had an insatiable hunger for knowledge, for action, for experiences, for travel, for love, for sex, for great food, music, books, podcasts, stories and for experiencing all that life has to offer.

The upside is that it’s driven me to build businesses, to write millions of words on Bitcoin and other topics, to produce a 530 page book on Bushido, to have visited 50 countries, read hundreds of books and listened to on average 80hrs a week of audiobooks and podcasts for a decade straight.

The downside…if I’m being perfectly honest, is that I don’t know how much of it I truly ever savored. The younger me might have said: “enough”, but the older me says “not enough.”

Perhaps this is me getting a little older and less able to keep the same pace. Perhaps I’m realising that it’s impossible to get to it all (my list of things to read and places to go grows faster than I can tick things off), or maybe I’ve tried so much at the buffet of life that I now want to focus more on the things I really enjoy.

The truth is probably a mix of all these things. So this coming year, I’m going to take a leaf out of the more sophistocated European approach to living and do a little less while savoring a little more.

It’s going to be a hard habit to break, but I will report back later in the year.

3. Less politics, more produce

I hestitate to call it the most important, but I do think this may be the toughest of all. X and Substack are my socials of choice, and like I said, they’ve basically become news channels. Substack somewhat less thanks to its long form nature and the kinds of thinkers it attracts - but nonetheless, the topics I spend my time reading about most revolve around the (very important) politics of the day.

The trouble is, when politics finds you, it devours you - especially if you’re (a) someone who cares deeply, and (b) someone who has a strong opinion about things.

Unfortunately I fit in both of those categories, and while I generally pride myself on the accuracy of my political positions, the truth is that nothing I say online is really going to have a meaningful impact. That tweet, proving someone is wrong or stupid, didn’t change anyone’s opinion, no matter how ‘accurate’ it was. If anything, it just opened me up to another round of tit-for-tat, pulling me further into the vortex of nonsense, and farther from what I actually have to do.

Enough of this bullshit. It’s time to make some changes:

1. I will be more private and reserved online, especially with regards to my political opinions. This doesn’t mean I will change, but I can certainly change the way I communicate.

2. Mute words and topics that start “trending” on X. The goal here is to avoid, as much as possible, the “news”, politics and current affairs, which in turn should have me engaging less, and thus being more intentional with my attention.

3. I’m going to replace the philosophy and politics podcasts, books and articles with history, entrepreneurship and fiction. The best way to be a builder is to be in “build mode” and the best way to do this is with stories and lessons from great figures, founders and conquerors of history.

Politics is and will always be important to me, but what matters now is building and producing things of value. If I do that right, a decade from now I can make a real impact in the political world - not as a commentator on X, but as an actual leader with resources. Until then it’s all just a distraction.

My promise to you, and myself, is that I’m going to focus more. I don’t want to know about what Trump, Kamala or Biden did or said. I want to know what Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs or Henry Ford did and said in the pursuit of building their empires, and what Alexander, Caesar and Napoloen thought and said as they sought to conquer their corner of the Earth.

That’s where the value lies.

Bonus: More Kindness, less anger

This is less of a fourth pillar and more of an expected outcome from making the committments outlined above.

Online, specifically short form content, can be really polarising - not only for the person reading it, but for the person producing or writing it. I get caught in this trap often, and find myself coming off like more of an asshole than is necessary.

Yes I have strong views, but similar to my political views - they don’t really need to be expressed through a megaphone all of the time. In fact, considering that I’m not a ‘news reporter’ - I struggle to see why I need to express these views publicly anyway - especially if they anger me. Why feed the beast?

It’s true that the beast wants to be fed, so it compells you engage by baiting you into anger. But it’s also true that I am the one who chooses whether or not to feed it, so despite it’s siren call, I can choose to ignore or focus on the things that do matter and do not drive me to anger. The result of this, will be more kindness.

Coda

So to sum up.

These devices consume us and being plugged into all the stuff (whether it’s useless or useful, true or false) drains the hell out of you.

1. Time OFF, not just time away, matters.

2. Quality trumps quantity

3. Productivity trumps politics

I have some more recharging to do, and a bunch of anger to dissapate, but I’m committed to making the necessary changes here for a better, more fulfilling and productive 2025.

If you came this far, I want to thank you for your attention and I hope this was useful. If it was, feel free to, subsrivbe, share and leave a comment to tell me why.

I also want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and the best for the New Year ahead!

Let’s all make 2025 the best yet, as we turn a new corner and begin the journey toward a new Golden Age!

Aleksandar Svetski

Buy: The Bushido of Bitcoin on Amazon