I've made a conscious choice since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic: stop reading the news. Instead, I've shifted my focus to newsletters, podcasts and books (I may still occasionally browse the NYT or WSJ).
It pains me to be misinformed, but it pains me, even more, to be obsessed with constantly being up to date. Not to mention the negative emotions associated with politics, violence, etc.
All in all, it's been a very liberating Here's my framework:
Books:
Read books that have been around for longer than three years. There will be enough feedback to figure out whether or not this book is timeless or won't be relevant in a few years.
Listen to Audiobooks for Biographies, Memoirs, History, and Social Psychology books.
Read the physical book for Philosophy, Economics, & Science.
Podcasts:
Listen to podcasts starting from the beginning. Research the "most popular shows" for each podcast and focus on the most valuable 20%.
Explore a new topic once a month, i.e. don't read a lot of history? Find the best history podcasts and change things up.
Newsletters:
Subscribe to weekly newsletters that focus on current events. Keeps you just as informed and also gives you the chance to have someone teach you something you didn't hear about in a conversation.
Set aside time every Sat/Sun morning to review all and skim. Many of the newsletters tend to have the same top 1-3 stories, benefit from the collective efforts of multiple people.
Why do this? It gives me the ability for positive, long-term thinking. It exposes me to new ideas, and gives me the greatest ability to learn as MUCH as possible as quickly as possible.
Next up: podcast recommendations!
Comments