What you consume
the medium is the message
When discussing topics like finance, business and self-help kind of things, I find myself parroting ideas and opinions from books, articles or podcasts I’ve listened to.
Sometimes, I completely throw away context.
This, I found out, was as a result of no or little reflection on what I’ve consumed. In Arthur Schopenhauer’s words, I was reading myself stupid.
For a long time, I had suffered from consuming bite-sized junk content. However, as time went on, I believe I am consuming better content. The next problem, which of course is better than the previous one, is not having my thinking done by others for me.
Consuming better content is a result of having a better content diet.
Thinking better is a result of not only consuming better but also as a result of reflecting on what has been consumed.
It is not enough to consume and assume the point of the author, we should do the rigorous work of having an opinion.
“Doing the work required to hold an opinion means you can argue against yourself better than others can.”
One way I’ve discovered to help reflect and truly understand what I consume is the content consumption diary.
It entails:
Writing down what form of content I consumed (e.g. podcast, video or article)
What I learnt - new things I did not know before
What I already knew before - does this content confirm or disprove what I already knew?
Is there anything I can apply immediately to my life right now to experiment or make it better?
What to further read on as a result.
The obvious deterrent from doing this is my dilettante nature. However, to really understand and chew over what I consume, this really helps. It also reduces the amount of content one consumes considerably.
An easier option is to ponder on these questions after consuming content instead of writing it down.
Remember, the medium is the message.