You are already behind by not having read this post.

Lately, I have found an incredibly annoying pattern in social media—especially LinkedIn posts: the “you are already behind” posts, claiming that by not using product $XYZ you have already been beaten by the competition. These incendiary headlines are often followed up by a testimonial that the author used $XYZ to deliver 10-23x the amount of work he (yes, most of the time “he”) used to deliver. And, of course, the post ends with a special discount to try out product $XYZ.

I utterly despise this narrative; it is insincere, plays on people’s worries, and doesn’t actually deliver any solution. It’s plain and simply an ad for a product or a crowbar approach to paint the original poster as a thought leader who knows what the future holds.

Fun fact: in my whole career, I’ve always been told that I am behind the pack for not embracing certain products or technologies, and many passed me by without affecting my career or the products I built and sold at all.

• I didn’t replace web development with Flash/Silverlight.
• I didn’t go from the web into Second Life/Metaverse.
• I didn’t bet exclusively on Android or iOS.
• I didn’t build apps for Facebook/Myspace/WeChat exclusively.
• I didn’t bet on Crypto or Blockchain.

And yet, here I am, having had a good career and some money. I didn’t burn out and don’t really feel like I should have been one of the super early adopters failing to make an impact in the long run. I celebrate the successes of other people and fast implementers, but I also spent far too much time fixing what others innovated to work in production. There’s always a “but $PERSON uses $XYZ and delivers much faster and simpler than you do.” Well, let them. Remember that you are a professional, and you want to deliver great work, which takes time, effort, and quality thinking. So, demand that from your customers and especially from yourself.

So here’s my advice: don’t interact with posts like these, avoid people who post these, and instead find your own pace and peace of mind. You will be most effective when you are happy in achieving what you want to, not what a made-up market or competition demands from you. If I am already behind the people running against a wall, that’s actually a good thing.