The Chaos of Content Consumption
What book are you reading? What threads are you following? Which podcast or audio book are you listening to? How many “Self Help”, “Personal Development”, “Leadership”, or other type of educational content sources have you consumed in the past 3 months? If you are the kind of person who opened this article, then you are probably counting them off, naming each of them out loud as you extend another finger for each of them. Five? Fifteen? Twenty? I personally listen to at least one new podcast episode per week so that I can share it with my leadership team. That is twelve podcasts alone, over the past 3 months. Along with binge watching Bob Proctor on YouTube, listening to Think and Grow Rich for the sixth or seventh time, and the daily articles posted on LinkedIn, it can quickly lead to content overload and just like a sponge that has soaked up every drop of water possible, the rest runs off and goes right down the drain.
In today’s environment, where there is so much valuable content so readily available it is easy to get swept away in the overload, or “chaos” of content consumption and potentially waste the valuable time that you are spending, with great intentions, on consuming it in the first place. So where is the balance? Where is the fine line of learning and growing vs reaching maximum capacity and losing valuable information “down the drain”?
In an effort to maximize the return on the time I spent consuming personal development content, I used to take notes. I would listen to the same podcast 2-3 times and dive deep, crafting pages of scribbled notes. Eventually, I ended up with a collection of random pages and there was no rhyme or reason to them. I would struggle to find the notes from the episode or guest I had wanted to locate. I found that I had reached maximum capacity and I needed a way to organize my learnings so I could not only ensure that I gained something from the educational source, but I was able to store it for future use.
Being a “solution-oriented” person, I decided to create a journal that is versatile enough to be used for most any educational content consumption. The user can label it and it can easily be filed away under topic or method of delivery. I have found that when I take the time to utilize the journal, I am able to make the most of the content and increase the ROI from the time I spent consuming it. Recording the method of delivery, host, guest, and topic. Action tracking such as following them on social media platforms. Listing books, resources, publications, case studies. Adding new quotes and key takeaways that I will implement. Lastly, sharing with at least 2 people and any follow up actions that I have deemed necessary as a result.
This journal has been a great tool for me, and you can download the FREE PDF here for yourself.
Keep learning! Keep growing! And remember, YOU are OUTSTANDING!
Jay Graves is a proven leader, building successful teams throughout the past 30+ years. Jay has successfully led teams across multiple professions from military, police, fitness business owner/operator, corporate leader in single and multi-unit/multi-state markets. Jay began writing articles to share with his team leaders as part of his own personal development plan and continues to share his learnings with the desire to contribute to the development of leaders around the world. Jay is a speaker, author, and coach. He recently published his first book, “Line of Departure, Outstanding Starts Here”, which is available on Amazon. To learn more about Jay or to contact him visit www.jayfgraves.com, LinkedIn, or email jay@jayfgraves.com.