Episode 23 – no need for news 

• I am looking at the latest edition of the Economist right next to me
• In fact, it just popped thru the mail slot of my friends house yesterday where I am staying the weekend
• It has a nice colorful cover with a catchy headline – Trump’s America
• And I am tempted
• Luckily I have to much other work to do, so I don’t even have the time to peek into it
• But years ago I was an avid reader
• I would devour every article of the Economist
• I appreciated the critical, and yes, often liberal, perspective it provided
• But it also gave me a great overview of what was going on in the world
• Short articles on key developments
• Longer articles on more prominent matters
• The economist travelled with me everywhere, even to the gym
• And it provided me with conversation topics at dinner parties
• I was able to chime in with comments when the topics revolved around world events
• Today I am still interested in the world,
• But I cant keep up anymore at dinners and events
• Yup – I am pretty much in the dark when it comes to news
• Years ago – I would have told you:
  • You need to keep informed
  • This is your world and its your responsibility to know whats going on in the world
  • You will be a better educated person if you do
• And so on
• So what changed?
• I haven’t only eliminated the Economist – although I still appreciate the magazine
• I also don’t watch TV anymore.
• I sometimes listen to NPR when it happens to be on in the car, but rarely
• I get NY Times alerts on my phone and that is how I know if something major happened
• But the main reason is that I just don’t have time
• It was a chore to keep up with it
• Let me tell you – the Economist comes weekly and the articles are not People’magazine style – they are well-written and you need to focus if you want to get anything out of it
• I realize I put undue pressure on myself but that’s me – when I do something I go for it 100%. No dilly dally
• and then – when the magazines piled up on my living room table, I began to collect them
• later, later – I will catch up
• well I am sure you know how that goes
• I finally took them to work and put them on the give-away table
• And the thing is – I didn’t miss them
• I didn’t miss the news
• Yes, I feel a little in the dark
• But I also feel free
• My time is freed up
• You see reading the news was an activity that didn’t add much value to my life
• Does that sounds a little selfish – possible but lets take the statements from earlier and evaluate them
  • You need to keep informed
    • I think the need to keep informed needs to be decided by each person individually and it should be based on your interests
    • I inform myself on things that I feel I need to know in order to accomplish my goals
    • Informing to me is not just an activity in itself without connection – it needs to have purpose
    • News by themselves don’t have purpose
    • But if you are a political writer or journalist – news are critical to you
    • So – back to point one – its decided on an individual level – not via a blank statement
  • This is your world and its your responsibility to know whats going on in the world
    • To this I would say that that action trumps everything
    • Information is one thing
    • But what are you doing about it?
    • My motives with news feeds were purely for consumption
    • I wasn’t thinking of going to Syria and help fight in the war
    • If you are planning to contribute in the world – then applause to you and please stay informed as a means of inspiration
    • But for most people this is not the case
    • Consuming doesn’t add any value to the lives of others until you apply the knowledge in some way
  • You will be a better educated person if you do
    • I would argue and say that education is a little bit to strong here
    • Will you be better informed? Yes
    • Able to contribute to conversations? Yes
    • But really – all this news reading is not so glamourous – what happens is you mostly form opinions about topics and events in your head. You take sides, you decide to agree with some things and not with others
    • Unless your social circle is very politically active where you are constantly challenged to speak about political events, you have very few opportunities to utter them
    • And that’s what I found
    • I was informed, but was I better educated? Not really
    • To call it education I think you really have to take a deep dive into political and economic affairs

• You don’t have to follow my path
• For me – my focus is on other areas
• News don’t add much value to my goals and objectives
• I don’t suggest this to everyone
• Instead, I want to give you the following guideline:
• When it comes to news and political and current affairs – I suggest you apply what we have talked about in previous episodes
• focus on your goals, and focus on what is of importance to you
• think how it fits into your life and your journey
• everything you do should somehow connect to your purpose
• so always ask yourself – what are my motives with this?
• If you are just trying to keep up with your friends, then think about whether or not this is the right motive
• If its not making you happy inside, you are doing it as a means to an end – then it may not be the right thing
• For some people, news, especially negative news, is a form of distraction
• Distraction away from their issues
• A form of creating unnecessary drama in their lifes
• Maybe using it as a form to draw attention
• “Whoa, have you heard, and how can this be, etc”
• You want to fill your body and your mind with that is good for you, not what is good for your friends and other people
• if you are passionate about staying engaged with world events – then do so
• but remember – the world is huge
• your next question should be – what specifically is it that interests me
• I would suggest to narrow your focus down –
• There were sections in the Economist I either struggled thru because I felt I had to, or somethings guiltily skipped
• But I always inhaled the European news – very obvious why
• Find your focus
  • Is it a specific country you are interested in?
  • Or a certain conflict, such as a war
  • Is it the community you live in, or the religion you follow
  • Are elections coming up and you want to stay informed on the candidates?
• Don’t just blindly consume
  • Narrow your focus
  • This will also help you with the education part we talked about
  • Diving deep will help you become educated about your area of interest

• And lastly I want you to keep in mind – the news is a business. Papers, tv stations, websites, everyone is trying to make some money.
• Narrowing your focus will help with that.
• Pick one or 2 news sources that you trust unless you need more for your work

END