More Social, Less Media. More Life, Less FinTech.
Eliminating is how you achieve a more purposeful existence with your health, with social media, and even with your finances.
As of writing this, I am 95 days alcohol free. Having desired to eliminate alcohol from my life for a while, I finally rooted it out on February 6, 2025. I expected to feel better physically and mentally, but immediately I realized that by simply eliminating something that does not serve you ricochets through every aspect of your life.
Self-improvement advice often focuses on adding—what can we buy, who can we hire, what can we make/produce/consume, what morning rituals can we add—the idea that by adding more things and habits in our day we will improve our life. Very little self-improvement conversation concerns itself with the idea of removing things from our life to help build meaning and fulfillment.
But I’m here to tell you, ruthlessly eliminating things that do not serve your purpose and help you become the best version of yourself is much more impactful than adding the latest “productivity hack”. Three months sober and I’ve started asking the question “what else can I eliminate?” Immediately, I turned to technology, and my use of it. This is another area where we are often adding tools and machines that will somehow make us more “efficient.”
Over the past few weeks, I've been refining my thoughts on technology use, especially since my online business relies entirely on it. My main focus was evaluating my optional social media habits, which often feel necessary due to habit, social pressure, or marketing. After assessing each tech tool in my personal and business life, I created a set of rules to guide my future social media use for both personal and professional purposes.
Now, I typically write about money—and it turns out, these same principles of intentionality and evaluation can directly apply to how you manage your finances. It’s no coincidence that being thoughtful about your approach to technology mirrors the mindfulness needed to navigate your financial decisions effectively. Here are some the guardrails I created to force more intentional use of social media and financial decisions.
Rule #1: Stick to long-form content; skip short-form posting or scrolling.
I genuinely enjoy consuming and producing long-form content. Places like Substack and YouTube allow me to dive deeper into ideas, write and film something substantial, and connect with an audience that values depth over snippets.
The accounts I have on Instagram and X have lately started to feel more like chores than creative outlets. The constant churn of quick hits and endless scrolling just isn’t satisfying—simply logging on feels tedious, draining, and pulls me away from the kind of work I actually care about. I’d rather pour my energy into platforms that reward thoughtfulness than fight the noise of ones that thrive on fleeting attention. (Not to mention, particularly on Instagram, the ads are relentless. It makes me feel like a capitalist pawn whose only value is to consume products and services as they come to me uninvited on my feed.)
RULE #1 & Your Finances: Stick to long-term planning & skip the short-term “hacks.”
Just as I’m choosing to invest my time and energy in long-form content that offers depth and value, you can apply the same principle to your financial decisions by focusing on long-term investments and strategies rather than chasing short-term financial “hits”.
Skip the equivalent of financial scrolling—impulse purchases, trendy get-rich-quick schemes, or constant checking of stock prices—and instead commit to building wealth through thoughtful, substantial choices like diversified portfolios, retirement planning, or learning about personal finance in depth. The relentless ads on platforms like Instagram mirror the barrage of flashy financial products or services that promise instant gratification but often drain your resources. By prioritizing a “long-form” approach to money, you avoid the noise of fleeting financial distractions and focus on what truly grows your wealth over time.
Oh and while you’re at it, pick a few institutions to hold your money, and eliminate the rest. Just as I recommend selecting the social media platforms you can engage in most effectively, do the same with your money—your time and energy will thank you.
Rule #2: Post only from my desktop, never phone apps.
I have deleted all social media apps from my phone. There is no need for me to interrupt my day, or whatever activity I am in the midst of doing so I can check social media or post something.
I was fooling myself before doing this, as I thought I had complete control over my habits. However, for a few days after eliminating the apps, I would mindlessly go to my phone and look to open X or Instagram. I have no clue why—I didn’t have anything I wanted to post, or anything specific to check; it was Pavlovian. The worst part was I would be in the middle of doing a high-quality activity like cooking, filming, writing, gardening, or reading, and without thinking would pick up my phone to open an app.
RULE #2 & Your Finances: Manage your money only from a desktop, never phone apps.
There is no reason you need to be accessing your investments or bank accounts regularly from your phone apps. There is no need to check your stock portfolio in the middle of your day unplanned, there is zero need to shift savings around unscheduled. These habits are not making your more “productive” or improving your finances. They—just as social media—interrupt whatever you are doing at that moment with activity that just happened to pop into your brain.
Sure, there are times you need to deposit a check or pay someone using a mobile app, but generally—reviewing your investments, paying your bills, and all things related to the overall management of your finances can and should be done at your computer (at a specific time, as discussed below.)
Rule #3: Limit posting frequency for my chosen platforms.
My dad would always say “empty barrels make the most noise” when I was a kid (I was a chatty child). It seems this could easily apply to social media.
How often have we subscribed or followed someone only to have our entire inbox or newsfeed overtaken by their “content”? Sure, we are in a race to be top-of-mind, but not top of mind to annoy. By limiting my posting frequency, I will choose quality over quantity; posting things that are worth saying and hearing or watching. Additionally, I will conserve my mental bandwidth—life should be full of a lot more than just posting on social media.
Rule #3 & Your Finances: Focus on quality over quantity.
Just as I’m opting to limit how often I post to focus on quality over quantity, you can limit how frequently you make financial moves or chase new opportunities. Instead of constantly reacting to every market fluctuation, trendy investment fad, or impulse spending urge—akin to flooding your feed with noise—prioritize deliberate, high-value financial decisions.
Think of it as conserving your financial bandwidth: invest in fewer, well-researched opportunities, like index funds or a carefully planned budget, rather than scattering your resources across countless small, hasty transactions (often completed on your phone). Empty financial strategies made in haste without thoughtful planning are wasting your energy and do not help you in the long-term. Instead, a slow and intentional approach builds lasting wealth without the clutter.
Rule #4: Batch-create and schedule all content in advance; no spontaneous posts.
I set up a routine for posting that does not eat into my mornings where I do a lot of my writing and filming, or my afternoons when I’m working on the farm, performing household chores, or just spending my time living my actual life away from technology. I batch create and schedule as much as possible at specific times during the day and week. This actually leads to better content because I’m not just ad hoc posting whatever has popped into my mind at a particular moment.
This is another means of limiting my mental bandwidth. Just like interrupting activities to check my phone, I do not want to be interrupting my activities to focus on sharing. In the past, I would go on long walks in my village and take all these photos—only to interrupt my solitude to share the beauty.
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with sharing the most beautiful place I live in, but do I really need to do it in that EXACT moment? Can it not wait until a time when I’m curating thoughtfully what I should share with others?
Rule #4 & Your Finances: Avoid impulsive money decisions.
You do not need to be checking anything related to your finances daily or most of the time even weekly—especially your investments. Select a day and time each week that you will regularly to do any financial management tasks and avoid doing anything financial related at any other times. For example, perhaps you choose “money Monday” after lunch to manage your finances each week. At this time, you review and pay bills, look over your spending for the last week or so, and periodically check your investments. There is no need to ad hoc pay bills as you receive them (set as much as possible on auto-pay), or do unplanned financial tasks like checking your stocks.
Remove this stressor and thought process from your mind, giving yourself more room and mental space to focus on other things (like growing your money through your business, spending time with your family, or just any other high-quality leisure activity that does not require using a phone or technology).
Rule #5: Keep it simple. If it’s not easy to write, film, or capture with my phone or digital camera, it doesn’t get made.
I’ve gone through various methods of creating content. I’ve bought countless devices, lights, microphones, etc. Spending hours trying to capture the “perfect” reel b-roll is not how I want to live my life. While curation is important—I don’t want to mindlessly generate content because I can’t be bothered with creating quality—the purpose of my sharing is not to make the most beautiful reel or to pretend I have the most expensive filming studio. It’s to share ideas, advice, my life, and connect with people—wasting time trying to make the perfect production is a rat race I am not interested in running.
Rule #5 & Your Finances: Your strategies should be easy to understand and simple to implement.
Just as I’m choosing to keep content creation straightforward by using basic tools and avoiding overcomplicated setups, you can simplify your financial life by sticking to strategies and tools that are easy to understand and manage. Forget chasing the “perfect” financial setup—overpriced investment platforms, complex trading schemes, or constantly upgrading to the latest budgeting app with all the bells and whistles. Instead, focus on the essentials that get the job done: a simple savings account, a low-cost index fund, or a basic budgeting method that doesn’t require hours of tweaking. The goal isn’t to impress anyone with a flashy financial portfolio—it’s to build wealth, secure your future, and live your life without getting bogged down in a money-management rat race.
Ultimately, what these rules are designed to do is calibrate how I spend my time. Whether it’s eliminating unnecessary scrolling on social media, or firming up how I manage my finances, the goal is that my time is allocated thoughtfully; so I can write and film things that are insightful, helpful, and share a real part of my life. I don’t want to interrupt people with noise and I want to stop interrupting my own life to think about or post on social media. I want to live my life, and then share the parts that might be interesting or helpful to others.
Simplicity is the best strategy of them all—everything you do when it comes to your finances (and life) should be something you understand and does not require a huge amount of time or emotional resources.
Title Credit: My para planner’s daughter came up with the title “More Social. Less Media.” I thought it was genius!