Hey Time Dorks!
Connor here. Before we dive in, I have a quick ask.
For the past five years, I’ve helped leaders and teams at companies like YouTube, L’Oréal, and Squarespace create healthy, high-performance work cultures—but lately I’ve been feeling called to go deeper with individuals.
As part of this exploration, I’m doing market research and want to have 1:1 conversations with driven professionals who:
- Struggle to focus because your attention is constantly being pulled in different directions
- Feel exhausted but wired—your brain won’t shut off, even when you’re off the clock
- Know what habits would make you feel better, but you struggle to follow through long enough to see real change
- Are doing well in your career, but something feels “off,” like you’re not fully living up to your potential
…if this sounds like you, then I’d love to chat.
👉 Click here to book a 1:1 call
This is not a sales call—just a space to discuss focus, energy optimization, stress management, and reclaiming control of your time. I’d love to hear your story and share what I’ve learned.
Now onto this week’s tactic…
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Something to Try
We all feel some pressure to be responsible, informed citizens. I certainly do. In some ways, it’s inspiring. It shows we want a better world, and also that we want to have discussions with the right knowledge.
Wherever you are on the political spectrum, it seems pretty uncontroversial to say we’re living in pretty wild times. Our brains are also wired to seek out bad news. Want more disaster and controversy? It’s only a tap away.
We can feel a little guilty when it feels like we’re not informed enough. At the same time, there’s a whole industry which thrives off that guilt. Even our most responsible news sources have a bottom-line that relies on hooking us in. Push notifications. Attention-grabbing headlines. Viral videos.
News overdose is real.
It’s exhausting. It’s distracting. It can also leave us feeling a little helpless.
News, in its own way, is an Infinity Pool – those endless sources of content. Refresh or change websites and there’s always more to read, all of which seems urgent. Infinity Pools leech our attention from what matters. You know what else is urgent? You.
I’m not telling you to stick your head in the sand and pretend everything’s A-OK. A lot of the time, it’s not. But the deeper you sink into Infinity Pools, the less time you have for what matters to you. This includes the changes we’d like to make in the world.
If you’re motivated by activism, then switching off to the news gives you more space to decide what actions you want to take. It’s counterintuitive, I know, but it works for me. It might also work for you.
HOW TO IGNORE THE NEWS
If you want to reset your relationship to the breaking news cycle, try these three steps:
1) Decide on your information diet
Choose how much you want to consume. It could be an hour a day, or just fifteen minutes. Then choose quality over quantity. Of course this means quality news sources, but also quality stories as well. Analysis can be more useful than breaking news, which means waiting a little while after the event.
A careful diet means you’ll be conscious and intentional with what and how much news you’re consuming.
Personally, I like the in-print weekend editions of my favorite newspaper. I get to enjoy in-depth stories, not just a barrage of headlines.
2) Pick a time or place where you can catch up with the news
I read my paper on Sunday mornings over a fresh cup of coffee. When the coffee’s done, so am I, and so I only read my favorite sections. I no longer try to be a hero by reading it front-to-back.
Think of it like making a plan with a friend (one that doesn’t run on for too long…). Create some boundaries with where and when you consume the news so that you’re not dragged in.
Do it regularly and you’ll build a habit. You’ll get the satisfaction of staying informed, while also setting limits on your news consumption.
3) Ditch digital and go analog
Call me old-fashioned, but I love the feeling of holding an actual newspaper. It also takes me away from the Infinity Pool aspects of digital news. No more scrolling, no more endless content.
Buying a paper means I’m also supporting my favorite news outlet with my wallet. Good journalism is more important than ever. Let’s back it.
If you do enjoy reading news on your phone, computer, or tablet, you can curate the articles you read with an app like Pocket. By saving interesting articles into a read-later app, you can return to them on your own time and not get carried away by the urge to read every interesting article as soon you see it.
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With so much happening in the world today, it feels more important than ever to stay informed. However, it’s just as important to do so in a way that – let’s put this bluntly – doesn’t make us feel like crap all the time.
Sure, we want to be responsible and read the news, but we have to read the news responsibly.
Leave something in the tank for the positive things in your life. A new project. Your family. Your daily Highlight. Weed out the distractions, like too much news, which can take away from those things.
Let me know if you give this a try.
Talk soon,
Connor
P.S. In case you’re interested, this book goes a lot deeper: The Information Diet: The Case for Conscious Consumption, by Clay A. Johnson
