I’ve been lost in a haze of negativity lately. That’s not something I accept lightly. Whenever I feel like crap, I want to know why and what I can do to fix it. I believe our moods are largely related to the food and information we consume and the company we keep. I’ve been eating exceptionally well lately, there’s zero tension or negativity in my marriage or friendships. That leaves me with one culprit…the information I’m consuming. This comes as no surprise as all the market research I’ve been doing lately regarding my business has had me consuming way more content than normal. We all know too well that once you begin researching something or comparing yourself on the internet, it’s a black hole that never ends. I hadn’t realized yet that I’d entered that black hole, but I had. At the end of the day my research would leave me feeling drained, lost and inferior not motivated, informed and inspired. But I felt like I needed to be doing it.
Last week I got sick of waking up and going to bed in a thick grey haze of hopelessness. It was time to inventory of my input and decide what I could do without and how my time was best spent. Our input consumption becomes so routine in a short matter of time. News, radio, ads, websites, social media – they’re all a never ending source of influence on our brains that we don’t even realize is happening. I snapped out of the new routine I was creating last week and took a good, hard look at what I was taking in and why. And how it was making me feel.
- I cut myself off from a bunch of websites that were making me feel defeated.
- I unfollowed a ton of people on social media that were making me feel inferior.
- I stopped reading a bunch of educational articles I’d bookmarked that were making me feel more lost than informed.
- I sought out podcasts with topics that lift me up and motivate me.
- Finally, I reminded myself that my best ideas come when I’m unplugged and not tuned in to what everyone else is doing.
I immediately felt better. I’d taken back control of what was feeding my brain. We have the power to do that. To be intentional about what it is our minds consume. It’s not easy. There is a lot of noise these days that is coming at us from every direction, every second of the day. But we don’t have to subscribe to any of it. You can turn your notifications off. You can turn your tv off. You can unsubscribe from e-mails. Unfollow people on social media. Ask yourself why you’re consuming what you’re consuming and if it’s having a positive impact on your life. By doing so you take back control of your time and your thoughts.
Free up some space in your brain to think creatively and organically. Most of all, choose input that lifts you up and inspires you to be better. These are small, easy steps towards a radical change in our thinking. And in return a highly-likely increase in our productivity and outlook on life.
