“You are what you eat.” We hear this phrase throughout life, and the concept is pretty simple. Fill your body with unhealthy things and you’ll be unhealthy. People understand and apply this to phrase to physical health, but what about our creative minds? What are you filling your mind with?
We have moved from a world of limited access to information to one with limitless informational options, endless choices, and few boundaries. However, the result is that now it’s easy to be “busy” consuming information and still gain nothing of value. With the web at your fingertips all day, everyday, you have access to an incredible amount of information. Some of it is valuable. Much of it is junk food. Know the difference and fight to keep your information diet in check.
Use the access technology provides to high quality information to your advantage. Skip the junk food, and instead opt for sources of creative inspiration and intellectual stimulation. Fill your mind with brilliant ideas. Read digital books. Find brilliance on the web on sites like codeacademy, khan academy, Ted, or Seth Godin. And then, sure, mix in a little junk food, but keep it in check. The more big, brilliant, creative, original ideas you put into your brain, the more you’ll get back out. At the end of the day, that is what you are going to be measured on – your ability to output something of worth.
As you go through your day, periodically evaluate your activity. Are you lost in your inbox? Are you consumed with status updates? If you aren’t creating something, are you at least preparing yourself to do so? Are you using your time or wasting it? Is your information diet healthy and nutritious or filled with junk.
Remember, you are what you eat.
