Analog Action by Matt Ragland

Hey Reader, I was standing in Ryan Holiday’s bookstore in Bastrop, Texas a couple months ago—a place called The Painted Porch—when I picked up a book titled Rules for a Knight. The book is a final letter written in 1483 from a knight to his children, penned the day before his eventual death in the Battle of Slaughter Bridge. And I can tell you with near certainty that Amazon would never have recommended it to me based on my purchase history. It wouldn’t show up in an Audible suggestion. No...

Hey Reader, We’re planning year-end assessments for our oldest this week. He’s in fifth grade, we homeschool, and part of the process is figuring out where he stands compared to other kids his age. So my wife and I did what we do—talk about it in 3 minute bursts between meals, diapers, baseball practice, laundry, and bedtime. We talked about what should a ten-year-old actually know at the end of fifth grade? And more importantly… does the answer to that question even matter the way it used...

Hey Reader, So I'm adding a calendar invite to a webinar email—the kinda thing that should take about 30 seconds—and I get hit with one of those "You've reached your plan limit" notifications. They're asking me for $29/month to make calendar invites. I built my own version in an hour. That kicked off a weekend where I ended up building two web apps with Claude Code even though I have minimal coding experience. You might not have the same problems to solve as I do, but what I'm sharing today...

Hey Reader, I’ve been thinking about my word for 2026. I pick one every year, not as a goal but like a North Star. It needs to be something I can come back to when I feel stuck, hesitant, or tempted to overcomplicate things that don’t need it. This year’s word surprised me a little: Dumb. Not careless or reckless and definitely not irresponsible. Just less clever and strategic. Less interested in winning the imaginary argument in my head before actually doing the thing. 💡 One Big Idea: Be...

Hey Reader, I flipped back through my bullet journal this weekend and saw all the blank spaces. I gotta be honest, my first thought was "Man, I'm already falling behind." Then I actually counted... 11 entries out of 16 possible days. That's 68%. Before I counted, I was focused entirely on the 5 blank pages. They felt like proof I wasn't consistent. But 11 days? That's more than I've journaled in other months and way more than the 0 days I'd have if I'd given up. 💡 One Big Idea: 68% Is Elite...

Hey Reader, just a heads up that I'm hosting a free webinar on Monday about how to build "stackable" offers in your creator business. One of the biggest mistakes that I see creator businesses make is only having one offer—that could be an affordable template for $29 or one-on-one coaching for $2,000. On Monday, January 12th at 1pm ET, I will show you how to avoid the One-Offer Trap and create a series of offers that scales from low to high on your core idea. This means you don't have to come...

Hey Reader, it's time for my 2025 annual review! If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I do these every year. And if you’re here just to see how my year went in my own words, I really appreciate you. Thanks for being here. I’m sharing this because I believe there’s something in here that might resonate with you as you get to the end of the year. Maybe it’ll make you pause and reflect on what you’re doing—how you’re living as a person, entrepreneur, creator, parent, or spouse. If...