Outgrowing Internet Posting

It's time for me to move away from posting on the Internet

Since Donald Trump won last month’s presidential election, there has been relentless focus on his curious cabinet choices and their ridiculous backgrounds in criminality, rank incompetence, and staggering unfitness for the positions that they have been nominated for. From a hopeless Kremlin lackey being tapped to be in charge of American intelligence to a sloppy drunkard and sexual profligate being the first choice to run the Pentagon, the incoming kakistocracy will be a boon to journalists and writers who are going to be feverishly covering every scandal coming out of the Trump White House in 2025 and beyond.

Good luck to all of them. I will not be religiously following the updates.

There are some people who are making the argument that the incoming Trump administration could spell the end of American democracy. Others are much more sanguine. The truth of the matter is that when I correctly suggested, weeks before the election, that Trump could be reelected because of his clever use of white supremacist politics that is inarguably effective with the American electorate, one thing I privately resolved is that I was not going to allow Trumpism to waste my time.

In spite of the country constantly being on fire with new Washington scandals every five minutes during the 2017-2021 period that Trump was in office the first time, barring the global pandemic that created all sorts of challenges and stole time from everybody, those four years contained some of the most monumental and transformative moments of my life where many personal and professional milestones were reached. This was precisely because I was focused on the things that mattered during that period. I turned 30 in 2019. By the time that Trump leaves office in 2029—assuming he doesn’t become America’s Robert Mugabe—I will be a few months away from turning 40. Time flies! There are so many personal and professional goals that I plan on completely pouring myself into, and commenting on Trumpist politics, or even regularly writing on the Internet, is nowhere to be found on my list of serious goals.

Last month, I deleted Twitter/X, and focused my social media microblogging on Bluesky. However, the truth of the matter is that I should have deleted all of my microblogging accounts, and I will be deleting my Bluesky account by the end of the month, too. The reality is that I have outgrown microblogging. I will also be stepping away from the monthly posts that I used to publish here on Substack. Throughout 2024, Cal Newport’s books and YouTube videos have been massively influential in convincing me about the importance of deep work, and it was only a matter of time before I retreated from being a contributor to the Internet to fully focus on doing much, much more. Now seems like the perfect time to do it, so I am out.

My message to anybody who cares: Do not fall for the cheap, nihilistic idea that Trump, or even American politics generally, is determinative of your destiny. You have the capacity to decide what kind of life you are going to have by setting goals and intently focusing on them. While it cannot be said that Washington has no effect on people’s lives, never relinquish your agency to politicians or prevailing political movements. I believe in a living God who supersedes politics.

This place will still remain live, but nobody will be able to sign up for new paid memberships. I will still be on LinkedIn professionally, if you want to connect with me there and follow my professorial career. I can also be reached by email.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a productive 2025.