Welcome to 2026!

I can’t believe we’re already here…I mean I was just at the DMV the other day and wishing everyone a “Happy New Year” without realizing it was in a day or so. Now, the kids are jumping around and stuffing themselves with snacks after fighting to stay awake a few minutes past midnight…but back to what you’re here for.

Here are the five things that I’ll be mainly harping on here this year:

1. Internally rooting your identity. Yeah, this one has been the core element since the beginning of this newsletter.

2. Self-mastery and advocation. Mainly tips and topics to get you with that whole “1% better everyday” so that you can try them out yourself.

3. Critical thinking and philosophy. This one is new but only in the sense that I will be exploring it from this angle (Nietszche, Bonhoeffer, Schopenhauer, etc.).

4. Content creation, AI, and how the two collide. I've been on a tear on this for the past few months, and I’m pretty sure that something’s gonna give this year. It’s a work-in-progress and my views are constantly evolving as I tinker with it.

5. Digital footprinting. The name of this newsletter up until the end of 2025 was “The Digital Heirloom” because I’m writing this for people who want to leave a lasting impression both personally and professionally, but I also realized that it implies that something already ended…

And that’s it. “Digitally Decoupled” is officially live! That’s what this newsletter is all about — building a body of work that shares how I’m reorienting myself towards being orthogonal to the increasingly extractive environment that we’ve been operating in for the past few decades.

All this to say that if you’re here, I hope that it sheds light on the underpinnings of our society. It’s not meant to be an evisceration or a critique of what we’ve been told. It’s to make you aware that we’ve only been taught the rules of the game to maintain the system, not advance in it.

Being out here is the best chance that any of us have at playing it better.

Here’s to a better year than 2025!

Let’s start with a digital diagnostic exercise…

Fire up your internet browser incognito and ask AI (Gemini, Copilot, etc.) who you are.

The larger your footprint, the more information it will pull up and summarize about you. If the description isn’t you, then you’ve got some work to do (if you choose, I’m just here to show you how I’m doing it).

Here’s what happens when I ask “who is Vince Mao” in Google AI Mode incognito:

At least I’m number two. That’s not bad for a guy who started working on expanding his internet presence three years ago.

I’ll expand more on how I’ve stamped my identity onto the digital space next time.

Share what you discover from doing this yourself in the comments below!