Analog Action by Matt Ragland

I was on a call with a client last Tuesday who was frustrated. "Matt, I've been posting on Twitter every day for four months. My newsletter has 1,200 subscribers. What am I doing wrong?" I pulled up Sahil Bloom's account and showed her one specific tweet from October. The tweet itself got 40K impressions. Normal engagement. Nothing viral. But buried in the third comment—not even the tweet itself—was a single line: "I'll write more about this in next week's newsletter." That one tweet sent...

Last weekend was pretty perfect, Reader, I woke up early, read my Bible, did some journaling. Then went out and coached my boys’ flag football teams. We had lunch with the family, drove out to the beach for a hard workout with the GORUCK team, finished with a cold plunge, and capped it off with beer and barbecue. One of those days where I went to bed thinking, “Yeah. That’s it. That’s the life.” That's when I realized... I’ve described a day like that a hundred times. To friends. In my...

Hey Reader, ever notice how your best ideas show up at the worst times? You're in the shower. Driving. Halfway through a conversation. That's when your brain decides to hand you something brilliant. But here's where most people get stuck: they write it down, then immediately wonder "What do I do with this now?" Do I tag it? File it somewhere? Build a system around it? Connect it to other ideas? So instead of just capturing the thought, you start organizing. Adding friction. And pretty soon,...

Hey Reader, quick question… This fall I’ve been working with a group of newsletter writers to help them write more consistently, effectively, and turn more emails into sales. So if you have a newsletter and that sounds like something you would like—easier to write and more profitable—just click reply and let me know. 💡 One Big Idea The other day I took a selfie for social. It’s kinda surprising to me that these “natural” selfies still work, but even so they’re starting to feel played out....

Hey Reader, want to know the fastest way to lose your someone’s attention? Talk like you're trying to prove something instead of share something. A speaking coach just called me out on this, and now I can't unsee it in my own work. Here’s what he asked me… "Are you speaking to express or to impress?" Michael (more on him in a minute) helped me realized how often I'm performing instead of connecting. How many times I've stretched a story too long or kept talking just to sound smarter than I...

Hey Reader, sorry this is going out on Monday. Honestly, I thought this was already scheduled and was blissfully unaware until I logged on this morning. Hope you didn't miss me too much 😉 Ok now that we're passed me being late... have you ever received good advice but ignored it for years, even though it's exactly the sort of thing you need help with to achieve your goals? I was going through a stack of old note cards this week and found this one I wrote back in January 2021: "Make Your Own...

Hey Reader, remember a couple weeks ago when I struck out in slow pitch softball and pulled a muscle because I swung too hard? Well, last night I crushed one. I'm talking a no-doubter-out-of-the-park* home run that sailed over the outfielders' heads. And here's the wild part. I wasn't swinging any harder than when I struck out. I swung less hard! The difference? Everything was lined up. My feet, my hips, my shoulders, the bat... all moving together in one smooth motion. I caught the ball...