We’re living in a world of information overload.
Over 4 million blog posts are published every day.
There are more than 800,000 podcasts and more than 30 million podcast episodes available.
Countless emails land in our inbox daily with ‘COVID-19’ or ‘webinar’ somewhere
in the subject line.
A 12-year-old with an internet connection today has more access to information than
Bill Clinton had during his term in the White House.
But too much of anything is simply too much, and trying to keep up with all of this information
can be exhausting.
But here’s the thing.
We shouldn’t be trying to keep up at all.
Instead of keeping up, we should leverage information to level up.
Find the Signal in the Noise.
Here’s how you can cut through the noise and find the proverbial signal.
What are your goals?
Is it short-term marketing success?
Is it long-term financial success?
Is it optimal health, or an optimal romantic relationship?
Whatever steps you’re taking, you need to have a directional lighthouse you’re moving
towards to help you chart your course.
If it’s financial success, shortlist a number of people that have attained the kind of wealth
that you too are aspiring to.
Did they come from similar beginnings as yours?
Was their success based on the quality of their decisions or did they benefit from chance
shocks to the global economic, social or political system, or just plain luck that they’ve
been milking ever since?
An inheritance, or maybe a lucky investment early on in life?
If so, then they may not be the most believable people, but rather riding the coat-tails of
circumstance.
Seek out people whose circumstances, as much as it is possible, best align with yours when
they were in your position.
If you don’t have access to said believable people, seek out their recommendations through
blog posts or podcast episodes they’ve been featured in.
Sure, you could just review book recommendations on Amazon, but you don’t know anything about
the people providing these recommendations.
They might be flush with cash, or on the same journey as you, so we really don’t know
if they are in a position to judge whether or not the advice provided is credible, actionable
or valuable.
This is why seeking out believable people is key.
You want to look for believable people whose outcomes are a byproduct of decisions they
made, and continue to make.
A quick search for ‘Warren Buffet’s favourite finance books’ reveals in an article, the
Benjamin Graham classic The Intelligent Investor, a book Buffet picked up when he was just 19.
I’d repeat this for a handful of people whose opinions are believable and credible
in this space, and identify the book or content that everybody seems to be on the same page
about.
It turns out that Tim Ferriss and Bill Gates are also huge fans of Graham’s book.
Applying the same thinking leads me to conclude the following:
For a philosophy book: Most great thinkers recommend Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations.
For a tech business model newsletter: Many tech luminaries are subscribed to Ben Thompson’s
Stratechery.
For a decision-making podcast: Many high-stakes decision makers listen to Shane Parrish’s
The Knowledge Project.
If it becomes apparent that the book or material doesn’t apply to your unique circumstances,
know when to fold ‘em and move on to other material.
If it’s a book, try the ‘100 minus your age’ rule.
If I’m 36, then that’s 64 pages I should read before determining whether or not it’s
worth my reading the rest of the book.
If by this point, I’m not getting any value…time to fold.
Just because it worked for someone else, it doesn’t mean that it’ll work for you.
Everybody’s circumstances are different, and a book that was written in the 1940s may
no longer be relevant today.
As such, you’ll want to extract key insights, find ways to test them in your own life, determine
whether or not they’re worth doubling down on or discarding.
The faster you do this the faster you can hone in on practices that are beneficial to
you, and the faster you can reach your goals.