Author: Seth Werkheiser

TEN SNOWY MILES

Woke up to a few inches of snow outside my window, and thought of how difficult it’ll be to walk10 miles. Sidewalks filled with snow and ice slow down my walking pace, and sometimes forces me into the road, which isn’t ideal.

This photo was from my first walk, around 9:11am. I had a Zoom call at 10am, and knew I had to get some distance in before that. It was just 0.5 miles, but every bit helps for later in the day.

It’s a Saturday, so town is pretty quiet, aside from snow blowers and plow trucks.

I walked through the college campus twice. Doubled back on some streets. Slipped a few times, but never fell.

The photo above was from my 2nd walk of the day, at 1:17pm, just after an hour-long live stream I did on Substack talking about Break Up With Social Media Day.

After this walk I was at 4.46 miles for the day, with 5.54 miles to go.

My third walk of the day was my longest. When I set out at 4:17pm it was 33°F, but 84% humidity, so I felt comfortable wearing my new shorts (Path Projects, sooo nice).

The photo above was at 4:34pm, with the sun setting nicely.

By 5:07pm there was a good amount of steam fog, where moisture evaporates off the snow. Can’t really tell from this photo, but it was wonderful.

This walk was 4.17 miles in one hour and 15 minutes, which brought me to 8.55 miles for the day.

I stopped at my house, grabbed something to drink, and checked my mileage: just 1.4 miles to go. I went back out for my fourth walk of the day, which took about 30 minutes, bringing me to 10.1 miles total.

Total walking time was three hours, six minutes.

According to my Apple Health app that’s 24,628 steps.

So 17 days into the new year I’m at 177.3 miles, about 10.4 miles per day.

I LOVE MY JOB

I wrote recently, “I felt a pang in my stomach, of how I’m not writing and publishing enough, or sending enough newsletters every week.”

That’s especially true for this blog, but I’ve been posting every day over on my Social Media Escape Club site.

And setting up interviews. And planning things out. Raising rates on my sales pages. Sending video messages to people. I talked on the phone for FIVE HOURS the other night with my best friend.

Just now I hosted an hour long Zoom call with a special guest and it was lovely. The right people came together into the right space to be together for this one magical moment that we’ll never have again.

Afterwards I got an email from our guest, saying “Your gang is a hoot.”

I love my job.

BRING THIS BACK

I see this quite a bit. People posting photos of old tech, old gear, things from the 90s, colorful iMacs – “bring this back.”

Yes, do it. You don’t need permission. You don’t need the OK. Just fucking do it.

Write in cursive, buy a Polaroid camera, make a mix tape, burn a CD, buy a VCR from the thrift store, get a skateboard, collect old magazines.

No app, no platform, no techbro is gonna deliver this to you on a plate, so make the retro tech 90 worship life that you’re craving.

READING MORE IN 2026

I finally have a “books I wanna read list” finally (below), and also built a little tracker in Notion to so I retain more of what I do read in a given year.

So it worked out nicely that Josh Spector just shared an easy way to read more in the new year:

When you go to watch YouTube videos or scroll your social feed, pick up a book and read for 5 minutes first. Connecting a thing you want to do more of to a thing you already do too much of is a great way to build a new (and improved) habit.

On my list for 2026:

  • Darth Plagueis Star Wars
  • Revenge of the Sith Star Wars: Episode III
  • Attack of the Clones Star Wars Episode II
  • Star Wars Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade.
  • Supremacy by Parmy Olson
  • Empire of AI by Karen Hao
  • Careless People by Sarah Wynne-Williams
  • Irresistible by Adam Alter
  • Enshitification by Cory Doctorow
  • Mood Machine by Liz Peli

Favorites I read in 2025:

  • Unreasonable Hospitality
  • Four Thousand Weeks
  • Your attention is sacred—except on social media by Amelia Hruby, PhD