We’ve reached a weird point where people assume that if you’re quiet online, you’ve gone silent in life.
Miss a few posts and the messages start rolling in:
“You still doing photography?”
“Y’all still running the landscaping business?”
“Everything okay?”
Let me provide an update:
Everything is fine, challenging for sure, but real work doesn’t make noise until it’s finished, and I no longer have the habit of providing updates the way I used to online. There was a time when I’d post every move, lift session, and major thought inside the Fraternity of Excellence, or on X…
I don’t do that anymore, but it doesn’t mean all the projects I am working on or my goals have slid or regressed. It means I don’t have the time or want to make the time to provide a look into my world; this may change later in life, but in this phase, I’m not interested in doing that.
Behind the Scenes Isn’t Laziness
In photography, the final image gets all the glory.
The perfectly timed shot, the colors, the emotion, people see that and think you got lucky. They don’t see the 200 other frames, the hours of editing, the gear setup, or the patience it takes to catch one second that tells a story.
It’s the same in landscaping…
Folks drive by a property and say, “Wow, that looks great!” without realizing we were there at sunrise, covered in dirt, sweating through our clothes before 10 am, and fixing irrigation problems no one will ever know existed.
That’s the beauty of good work, it disappears into the background and improves life.
But online?
The algorithm doesn’t reward patience; it rewards noise.
Post daily -> Be seen → Stay “relevant.”
The problem is, most people are so focused on being seen that they’ve stopped doing anything worth seeing.
Real Progress Happens in Private
I’ve learned this the hard way.
There have been times when I posted daily photos, podcasts, and articles, but I felt I wasn’t actually building anything. Then there are weeks, like this one, where I barely post a thing…
Yet behind the scenes, the gears are grinding, new systems are being built, clients are being served, and future projects are being mapped out.
Silence online doesn’t equal stagnation; sometimes, it’s a sign that someone’s leveling up.
You can’t hear the sound of roots growing, but one day, the tree is unshakable.
Stop Performing, Start Producing
If your worth or progress is tied to the likes, comments, and shares, you’re not building, you’re performing, and the performance eventually burns you out, because the applause fades faster than the hunger to create.
When editing photos, I’m not thinking about how it’ll perform on Instagram…
I’m not considering whether it’ll go viral on YouTube when we're laying pavers in the heat.
I don’t think about the screens, I think about the people, clients, community, and kids who’ll see their faces on a banner and feel proud.
That’s production, and life happening offline.
The Proof Is Coming, Just Not Yet
The internet moves fast, but real results don’t.
When you’re focused on the craft, the foundation, and the mission, there are seasons where the world doesn’t hear from you, but when they do, it’s undeniable.
So if you’ve been quiet lately, don’t apologize.
If you’ve been grinding in private, don’t doubt yourself.
And if people mistake your silence for inactivity, let them talk.
When the work finally drops, the reveal hits, and the world sees what you’ve been building, they’ll understand that the best things in life don’t come from scrolling but from doing.
- Zac Small
I never doubted you for a minute.