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We no longer are challenged by having enough information...instead, the challenge is what to do with the information.
How can we figure out what is true and/or applicable to our lives?!? We must make betterdecisions.
I was inspired to write this article because of a great newsletter I read this week:Check Your Pulse by Sari Azout. In short, we are in the process of watching a new business category evolve and emerge: Curation.
Sari was sharing the experience of reading another great newsletter, Curators Are the New Creators The Business Model of Good Taste by Gaby Goldberg.
I believe that both Sari and Gaby are spot on in their assessment of the opportunity in front of us.
Personally, I am already within 30 days of launching my own community aiming to do almost exactly what they are describing. The Values Based Mindset Experience (coming 1/4/21) is a private coaching community that will deliver curated content, education and coaching to execute on a values based mindset. I must admit that I am very reassured and inspired to have found these articles after I had already begun work on creating this community.
Why does this matter to you? I am not sure if it does. This will only be valuable to you if you choose to make intentional decisions.
Here is a question for you to consider: Are you using information (the constant and overwhelming deluge of it) to intentionally and measurably improve your life (personally and professionally), or, are you just consuming it and thus becoming the product that the global media companies are selling to others?
Another question: How are you using media? If it is to entertain yourself you are guaranteed to have success. If you are looking to find out more about subjects you are interested in there might be a problem if you don't have an intentional strategy about how you will find that information. Meaning this: If you are relying on the 'tech' to find out the information you might not be getting all of what you want and, over time, you might be getting less and less of it in reality.
This is where curation comes into play. My clients are looking to use me, as a trusted source, to help them gain more control over their mindset and their ability to increasingly operate with intention and improved execution in all aspects of their lives...even though they always find me through my work helping business owners.
I believe that you need to have at least two models for curation at work in your life:
First, you need to be aware of how you are accessing the information you desire and become the 'master and commander' of your own learning efforts.
Secondly, become a really good 'talent scout' for other curators that you can evaluate to see if they can become a trusted source.
I am doing both and finding increased success in living a life of my own design instead of being a pawn of big tech/media. In my role as a curator/coach for my clients and for my own sanity, I have to be able to both gather information, organize and provide context for its use and disseminate it effectively. This is absolutely true for you personally.
Here is how you apply this better (I believe):
- Read non-fiction books. The process of reading a book allows you to have a better context to understand the entire process of the author's thinking. This is indispensable.
- Start following your favorite authors if they are on social media and evaluate what content is affecting their viewpoints. If you come across something good (I would never have found the two writers I shared above if I wasn't a consistent reader of Katelyn Donnely great blog Declarative Statements)...make sure you take some time to investigate further do decide what to do: Add them to your trusted curators, or, shuffle them back into the pack of content creators.
I can only promise you one thing: If you start intentionally making decisions about what information you seek out and, specifically, what context you will organize and then apply it to your life...you will be more focused and less stressed. The structures that you apply to your decision making processes (mindset) will, over time, make life far more palatable.
Each and every day I work with the best humans I know: people driven to do the courageous and difficult job of executing a life defined and measured by their values. I do this through individual coaching with high performers that own their own businesses, group coaching with select small businesses and an upcoming (1/4/21) private community coaching experience.
All of these relationships begin the same way: with a conversation about who you are and what your values mean to you. From there, helping you move forward on your quest to live a life of less regret is the greatest gift I can experience professionally.