What you allow into your mind makes a difference in your life, positive or negative. “You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.” Austin Kleon, writing in Steal Like An Artist.“
We’ve all heard the old saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” If we fill our minds with mental garbage, there will be negative results in our lives.
News is an example of “garbage in.” It is designed to grab our attention by focusing on negative events. Watching the news puts me in a negative, fearful attitude. It gives me an unrealistically negative understanding of my community.
The Manager Chooses What the Consumer Consumes
David Sparks, aka MacSparky, writes about how we all wear the hats of Maker, Manager, and Consumer. The Maker creates, and the Consumer consumes.
The Manager is responsible for determining what the Maker will make and what the Consumer will consume.
The Manager needs to make intentional choices about what the Consumer will consume. Too often, the Consumer blunders around without direction, following whatever grabs his attention.
Unintentional consumption is frequently a waste of time and attention and often has negative consequences. Media is intentionally designed to grab our attention and keep us hooked for as long as possible to increase the revenue of media sources.
It’s all too easy to get caught up in mindless web surfing, linked YouTube videos, or Facebook. Before we know it, we’ve been sucked down the rabbit hole and have lost our focus on what we were doing and spent an hour or more in mindless wandering.
We need to adopt the perspective of a curator, stepping back from the raging river and starting to make intentional decisions about what information we want to fill our minds.”
Tiago Forte, Building a Second Brain.
That’s not to say that “mindless wandering” is always a negative. Occasionally, we need that to relax and let our subconscious creative minds work. But it is a negative when that happens unintentionally and distracts us from the important work we intend to do.
The Manager Chooses the Sources of Information to Fill Our Minds With
We want to intentionally choose what we fill our minds with, not wander aimlessly. We need to select our sources of information carefully.
What are potential sources of information, and how should we evaluate and manage them?
• News sources. It’s good to be informed about critical current events, but it’s too easy to be obsessed with news.
About 20 years ago, I recognized that TV news put me in a negative mood and stopped watching it. Instead, I’ve learned about important events “through the grapevine.” When I want to learn more about a news event, I can intentionally seek news sources to learn more. There’s no reason to allow my mind to be filled with daily negative news headlines.
Another option would be to seek an unbiased source of news that you can periodically check, but only for a defined length of time. Set a timer so you don’t spend too much time.
• RSS Feeds. Many of us use RSS feeds to automatically send articles or blog posts to apps that collect them in one location, like Readwise Read or Reeder.
It’s easy to get carried away and overload these apps with too many sources. Carefully select what sources you want to include. Don’t be afraid to delete sources you determine to be nonproductive.
My reader app includes selected blogs about my hobbies (hiking and computer war games), writing, some Apple tech news, and all things MacSparky.
Before adding a new blog to my feed, I scan articles to see if it’s the kind of blog that will benefit me. I don’t want political opinions or negative tech industry gossip if I’m looking for Apple tech news. I don’t want exposure to negative attitudes like outrage culture or a mindset that seeks to suppress anyone who disagrees with the author.
• Books. As I read sources, I collect a list of books I’m potentially interested in reading. I try to alternate between non-fiction reading for learning and fiction for entertainment and enjoyment. I’ve read nonfiction books about productivity, Stoic philosophy, and related topics in the past year. My fiction tends to be historical fiction.
• A morning routine that includes intentional reading. I have a morning routine I follow every day. It includes reading articles collected by my RSS reader, reading fifteen random highlights I have made from those gathered in the Readwise service, and reading from two daily readers, The Daily Stoic and Daily Creative.
I encourage you to choose your reading sources and set up a system that helps you stay current with those sources. If you set up a morning routine, select the sources that resonate with you — it shouldn’t look exactly like mine.
Intentionally Fill Your Mind with Value
What we allow into our minds significantly impacts our lives. The saying “garbage in, garbage out” holds true – if we fill our minds with negative and harmful content, we will experience negative results. News, in particular, can be a source of mental garbage, as it overly focuses on negative events and instills fear and negativity in us.
As the manager of our minds, we must make intentional choices about what we consume. Mindless web surfing and unintentional media consumption can waste time and attention, distracting us from important tasks.
Instead, we should adopt a curator’s perspective, choosing carefully what information we let in. This includes evaluating and managing our sources of information, such as news sources, RSS feeds, and books.
Selecting sources that add value to our lives and align with our goals and values is important. By intentionally filling our minds with good material and cutting out unintentional consumption, we can cultivate a positive and happy outlook on life.
If a source adds value, keep it. If it doesn’t add value or is overly negative, discard it.