You are what you read

I have a productivity hack for you – stop reading nonsense.

Make sure your media diet matches up with the type of information that is both interesting and helpful to you. Make sure it’s being written by professional journalists or industry practitioners who actually know what they’re talking about. Make sure the subject matter is meaningful and imparts some piece of knowledge that will be useful to you beyond just the day during which you read it.

Market updates throughout the day are a major distraction, unless you’re a professional trader, and even then they’re probably not particularly useful. But you still want to be informed about what’s happening in the market. A delicate balance is required – pay some attention but not too much. Read the news but don’t get carried away in thinking that a reaction to the news is necessary. Learn the issues people are talking about but don’t think the issues necessarily pertain to what you’re investing for, or what goals you’re looking to achieve. Time frames matter. Context matters.

Nobody said this would be easy.

A shortcut is to cultivate a regular group of sites and writers who are smart, informed, reasonable and worth paying attention to. I use Feedly Pro to do this and it helps a great deal. Another shortcut is to follow influencers on social media whose curation is purposeful.

Above all, remember that you are what you read. Your beliefs will be shaped by the information and opinion you come into contact with. All of us are susceptible, there are no exceptions. Once you understand this, you’ll become a more discerning consumer of content and you’ll waste a lot less time and energy staying up on what’s going on.

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