I’m not lazy. And I’m not crazy. Just because we live in a real-time world, it doesn’t mean that everything has to happen at haute speed. As a marketing strategist, I argue that we often undervalue, or worse, ignore the opportunity to stop and think.

In fact, I’ve always told clients that if you don’t have the resources to do something well, don’t do it. Sometimes, the best decision is knowing when to say: Not yet, it’s not time to launch this or that.

It’s no different for me with LinkedIn. It’s not that I haven’t had a strategy, known who my audience is, or known what to say. It’s just that, as a sole proprietor of a growing business, I haven’t had the wherewithal to commit to a plan of social media action and follow through. Client work has come first, by necessity, leaving what feels like never enough time to chart my own course with care.

For me, the important considerations have been these:

• Am I prepared for the extra workload?
• Do I risk stretching myself too thin?
• Might quality suffer?

After all, a “set it and forget it” mentality doesn’t play on social media. Creating meaningful interactions requires precious time and energy. The last thing I want to do is refry beans like so many companies—posting third-party content that I’ve repurposed from somewhere else and calling it my own.

I opened Sailshaker in November 2015 and have had the following seas in my favor ever since—enormous swells of work rumbling below and then roaring past, moving this business forward. And for that I’m ever grateful.

But I thank Anemoi, the Greek god of wind, for this becalmed moment as we transition from one year to the next. Now, I can regroup and assess my heading for the journey to come. Because I have a better handle on the everyday, I’m in a better position to assume a meaningful ­monthly article without … well, drowning.  

(And you can be damned sure I’ll be monitoring engagement over the next year or so, lest I find myself expending the effort without seeing a demonstrable return.)

I promise I won’t be passing along the Same Old, Same Old. My goal will be to share what I’ve learned, introduce new ideas and unusually strong opinions, explain the benefits of working with a strategic partner, and ultimately, make you stop and think—even if it means featuring my own occasional missteps to drive a point home.

After all, I’d rather cut through the chop than contribute to a sea of sameness.

What about you? Ever feel like you’re making Noise rather than sharing Knowledge? Or that your content is falling on deaf ears? Maybe it’s time for us to stop and think, together.

Let’s hoist your sails!