PROTECT THE 20%...
I was on a cross-country flight recently and learned a lesson that had nothing to do with aviation.
The night before, I had done what I always do before a long trip. I plugged in my phone, my iPad, and my battery pack so everything would be fully charged for an early morning departure.
Or so I thought.
The next morning, as I climbed into the cockpit, I realized I had plugged all the USB ends in, but never plugged the multi-power unit into the wall.
Every device I depended on was in the red.
Less than 20%.
In a 1940's airplane with limited charging options, it's just not good.
Suddenly, 20% felt incredibly valuable.
Every decision mattered.
Opening an app wasn't just opening an app. Answering a text wasn't just answering a text. Pulling up a social media feed wasn't just killing a few minutes.
Every tap came with a question:
Is this worth spending battery on?
Because the battery I spent scrolling at 0900. might be the battery I needed hours later to pull weather. To find an alternate airport. To solve a problem I couldn't yet see coming.
The awareness changed everything.
And somewhere over the miles that day, I realized how rarely we think this way about our lives.
I often tell my clients to imagine they wake up every morning with a battery. Not a phone battery—a life battery. A limited amount of attention, energy, creativity, patience, emotional bandwidth, and presence.
Yet most of us spend it as if there's an outlet around every corner.
We hand pieces of it to things that don't deserve it.
A comment from a stranger.
An argument we replay in our minds.
A news story we can't control.
A comparison that leaves us feeling less than.
A notification that interrupts a perfectly good moment.
A hundred tiny withdrawals from an account we rarely bother to monitor.
Then we wonder why we feel exhausted.
Why we don't have energy for the people we love.
Why we can't seem to focus on the dream that's been calling us.
Why the things that matter most keep getting pushed to tomorrow.
A few months ago, I stepped away from social media for more than three months.
What I found wasn't some profound revelation.
It was a reminder. Life was still there waiting for me.
The conversations around the dinner table.
The book that had been sitting dogeared at chapter 1 for a month.
The sunset. The people I love. The projects that light me up.
The quiet moments where ideas have room to arrive.
And perhaps most importantly, I remembered something I think many of us have forgotten.
Not everything that drains us deserves us.
There are things in this world that function more like a solar panel than a battery drain.
A walk outside. A deep conversation. A good laugh.
Creating something meaningful.
Adventure. Purpose. Love.
The warmth of the sun on your face.
The feeling that you're exactly where you're supposed to be.
Those things don't merely consume energy.
They create it.
The older I get, the less interested I become in managing my time and the more interested I become in protecting my battery.
Because attention is life.
What receives your attention receives your days.
And what receives your days eventually becomes your life.
So today, I have a question for you.
If you woke up knowing you only had 20% left, what would you spend it on?
And perhaps even more importantly—
What would you stop giving it away to?
Spend some time with that question.
The answer might tell you everything you need to know.
For me, it led back to social media.
A few days ago, I asked my social media community what they thought about it these days.
The responses surprised me.
Not because people dislike it. In fact, many told me they genuinely enjoy the content. They appreciate the stories, the flying adventures, the lessons, and the connection.
What surprised me was how many people quietly admitted they're tired.
Not angry. Not bitter. Just tired.
Tired of wondering what's real.
Tired of feeling pulled in a thousand directions.
Tired of giving away pieces of their attention and not feeling like they're getting much in return.
And I understood exactly what they meant.
Years ago, I lost a large platform and eventually rebuilt SkyTalkDoc from zero to more than 27,000 followers organically. Anyone who has ever built something online knows the amount of energy that requires.
Part of me doesn't want to leave before the miracle.
Before the book reaches everyone it's meant to reach.
Before all the seeds planted over the years have had a chance to bloom.
I want people to have a place to land.
But I've also realized that what I value most has never been the platform itself.
It's the connection.
It's the ideas.
It's the stories.
It's the opportunity to encourage someone, challenge someone, or remind them of something they already know deep down but may have forgotten.
And increasingly, I find that those conversations happen better here.
In words.
In longer thoughts.
In stories that don't fit inside a reel.
In a format that allows us to slow down instead of speed up.
So while I don't know exactly what the future of social media looks like for me, I do know this:
If I'm going to spend my battery somewhere, I want it to be in places that create energy rather than consume it.
Places that feel more like a solar panel than a drain.
Places where we can think a little deeper.
Connect a little more honestly.
And remember what matters.
Thank you for spending a few minutes of your battery here with me today.
I'm grateful you're here.
Do you know your Primal Wound?
Because once you do… it changes everything.