Put yourself on an Information Diet
We’ve all been on lock down since the second or third week of March – almost 3 months as the country and the world continues to battle with the Coronavirus pandemic.
For those of us lucky enough to be safe and well, what impact has these past few months had?
Are we thriving or surviving?
The government have done a lot to cushion the financial and economic blow of the lock down. Not perfect by all means, but more people have been helped than hindered.
What about our mental state? Has lock down put us into a vortex of downers, anxiety, depression? Or have we taken time to reflect on the important things in life, be grateful for what we have, make plans for the future?
Even if you’re someone who has taken time to look at your business, give it a thorough MOT, started to implement new systems and processes………..have you found yourself jumping to the World Wide Web for the answers? Have you spent more time browsing on social channels for inspiration? And have you found yourself feeling overwhelmed, inferior, behind the curve?
If you have, you have most likely fallen into the Comparison Trap. You’ve been looking to others in your field or to business gurus and high achievers and you now feel that you have SOOOOO much to do to get close to their achievements.
There is nothing wrong with looking for inspiration for certain sources. But don’t let that turn into staring and admiration, without coming away with a small nugget of something you can research further or implement straightaway.
This is where an “Information Diet” can really help.
What is an “Information Diet”?
For me, there are two basic principles:
1 – Attention with intention
You can decide to look at social media with intention and home in on certain connections to find inspiration, tips or ideas. You can decide to stay away from the “feed” or “home” parts of the social channel and look only at certain profiles for recent posts.
There are different ways of achieving this but making this a habit is the key.
List out the profiles you always find most interesting or inspiring. Maybe unfollow others for a while. Or simply visit these profiles only to see what you can find that may be useful to you.
2 – Total fasting
This option means taking a complete break from all social media. This may be for a few days only but ideally for at least a full week.
Fear of missing out? This is bound to be a factor in pulling you back. But ask yourself honestly……………how much do you see every day that you are glad you didn’t miss, that gave you something that could change things completely for you. If you’re honest, the answer is “not much”.
Spend time away from social letting the right side of your brain kick in, the creative mind where all the good stuff happens. You’ll be amazed at how much you can get clarity on with a page and a pen, or a whiteboard and marker!
Other benefits of an information diet
Stay in your lane
This is something I’ve heard Gary Vaynerchuk say. It’s about sticking to what you do best………for now anyway………..build a solid foundation for that first and grow your business from there. All other options and shiny stuff can wait. Getting away from the huge volume of info and data thrown at us daily means we get time to focus on where we’ve had the best results and make this even better!
Go deeper not wider
Some businesses thrive on social by shooting for lots of connections and followers. Others don’t widen their net so much. Each to their own and their are pros and cons to each strategy.
For me personally, I like the idea of not spreading myself too thin. I like to go deeper with clients rather than sharing our resources widely over an ever expanding client base or needing more resources to feed the business beast.
Stepping away from social media can help with deepening your existing relationships, freeing up time to talk to your clients and customers, find out what they really need and want.
Getting under the skin
This goes hand in hand with the ‘deeper not wider’ approach and involves getting a chance to find out how your own business ticks…………and being really honest about it. You might want to bring in a coach or mentor to help with this part and get the ‘warts and all’ feedback that your business may benefit from hearing.
Outcome – Purpose – Action
Taking an information diet and making active choices on what you want from social media can really help you business rather than hinder it.
Next time you find yourself browsing mindlessly, stop………..take a breath……………look away from the screen and ask yourself 3 questions:
- What outcome am I trying to achieve here?
- Why am I trying to achieve it? What’s the purpose?
- What action do I need to take RIGHT NOW to start going in that direction
This can help refocus your mind to the job you set out to do. It gives you hyperfocus.
I’ve decided to take an information diet this weekend by deleting my Instagram account permanently. I just find the platform doesn’t serve me well, leads to the comparison trap due to the nature of most of the content on there, has a few too many crafty adverts, and too many posts that aren’t 100% genuine…………in my opinion.
Could you benefit from taking an Information Diet?
Why not try it out and see how much you can move forward without all the junk data every day?