I’ve got to get “back to the basics” on my information diet.
That realization… has been something I’ve know for quite some time and…. I’ve kicked the decision “down the road”… but fighting against the “current flow”… to manage all the information I intake from Books, Newsprint and Podcasts. I’ll now have to make a “terrifying decision” (haha as a Book and Media Studies Minor) to choose to “not see” the full scope of the discussion by trusting that the sources I do consider do as much as possible to remain unbiased.
I’ve taken pride in my ability to consider so many sources but now… all those sources make me “feel bad” about myself since I can’t possibly keep up with everything I want to intake. It’s not my full time job… it doesn’t put food on the table (it actually very much does from my perspective but… that’s another topic)… it’s overwhelming is what I should say in the simplest form.
I “know this” and “know it well” but I try to remain as neutral from egotistical thoughts when I assess myself and my surroundings (which includes the information I enable access to my “self”… which is whatever version of self I believe I am when intaking that information as “data”… which is what our brains overall are doing… but most of us don’t know it or… don’t want to because it does get a bit freaky to think we’re closer to robots than we may want to know haha… but at the same time we’re not and that’s what makes us so “human” :-)!!).
Anyway basically I’ve read a book on how to control your information diet and all of the considerations we should have on it… and still I “fail”…. so now it’s time to apply the key revelation of the book… hard choices must be made… we cannot know everything and based on my performance team’s comments… I simply have to “do the best” that I can to set up the expected outcomes that I want (based on the info I had at the time I made said decision)…. this means I have to “throw out” great podcasts/books that add significant value to my life but…. not consistently (say 1 out of 10 episodes)… to focus on the ones that add consistent value with consistency (say 8.5–9.5/10 episiodes)…. it’s a slippery slope when working this way because it potentially breeds bias or unconcious biases very very quickly.
However, I trust myself to know when I’m being biased/ignorant with my information intake. I’ll have to “be brave” and go forward with that courage in my own abilities… otherwise I’m simply “stuck trying to decide” what to enable as information for my brain. It’s become a bit stressful and doesn’t help me out to be present and focused on the goals I’ve set for my “life” based on what I know “today”….
There will be more to come on this one! Hope you appreciate that…. keep up the good fight everyone… that’s just doing your best everyday with the information you have at the time. It takes will power, presence and targeted focus… that will often times mean saying “no” more than saying “yes” to some loved ones/co-workers (to generalize the discussion)… and those “no” moments… can be very hard on us emotionally and mentally.
