the why: Crossfit Media space

The CrossFit media space is a lot. I’m not sure how else to say that. Generally, it’s a good thing, but for my personal bandwidth? Yikes, no. My podcast queue was starting to look like a chaotic whiteboard; cluttered, overwhelming, and impossible to finish.

The issue for me isn’t just the volume; it’s the mismatch. I got tired of the “bait-and-switch.” I’ll click a title promising community insight, hoping to learn something, and suddenly I’m trapped in a 45-minute tangent. One minute I think I’m getting a pulse, and the next I’m listening to a political rant, or grown men discussing “male hardware”.

I love the humor, most times, but I have limited hours in the day. If I’m sitting down to learn about community stories or leadership, for example, I can’t afford to accidentally spend two hours on repetitive Games speculation or “bro-science” anatomy talks. Let me rephrase that. I don’t want to. 

the personal need of a filter

I realized I needed to protect my headspace. I needed a filter that matched my specific taste. So, I built a digital bouncer. I affectionately call it CF Cliffnotes.

It’s a custom workflow I whipped up. It acts as a personal curator, listening to the noise so I can focus on the signal.

how it works:

• The 24/7 Monitor: My custom agent sits on the digital sidelines, watching the entire ecosystem. The second a new episode drops, it grabs the audio before I even see the notification.
• The Vibe Check: This is where I programmed it to be ruthless. It scans the actual conversation; ignoring the clickbait title, the advertisements, sponsorships. If it detects (for example) politics, circular gossip, or “bro-science,” it shreds it immediately. I never even know the episode existed.
• The Cheat Sheet: If an episode actually contains value, the agent distills the 2-hour conversation into a single visual page.
• The 30-Second Audit: I don’t blind-listen anymore. I glance at the sheet.

If the graphic sparks my interest, it’s worth the deep dive, and I go to YouTube and hit play. If not, I got the value without spending an hour. Sometimes it’s not just “choice,” it’s a lack of time. 

I’m not just consuming less; I’m consuming better based on my interests. This was a fun way for me to geek out and use technology to solve a personal problem.

here’s a few fun examples:

what I love about it so far

The workflow completely severs that emotional cord. Alot of CrossFit media runs on beef. Who is fighting with who? What’s wrong today? The delivery mechanism for that is usually emotional ranting. But ……emotion doesn’t survive the “extraction”. When it distills a rant, it strips out the tone, the yelling, and the sarcasm. It just presents the argument. And usually, when you see a “hot take” written down in text, it looks silly. It’s effectively neutering their ability to trigger emotions. I get to keep my blood pressure down. And… no ads…. *grin*

Speed of learning is the ultimate time advantage. It strips a 2-hour podcast down to a graphic and if it only had three bullet points of actual substance, it’s mathematically proven that the show is 95% waste. When you look at the graphic and realize, “Wait, this whole episode was just them recapping an Instagram post from three days ago?“

Zero click regret. There is nothing worse than the feeling of finishing a 2-hour episode and realizing, “Wow, I learned absolutely nothing.” This tool eliminates the risk.

I cut out the empty calories, the artificial sweeteners, and the filler. Turns out, once you remove the junk, some of the the serving sizes is surprisingly small. Go figure. Those episodes up there? They were good! I decided not to watch one of them because…. *athena tapping head thinking*…. they were already preaching to the choir.

Cheers.