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Intentional Knowledge: Selective Ignorance
Ignorance indeed is bliss, if practised selectively. News, people, topics, projects can drain a lot of our energy, and most of us seep into everything knowledgeable, thinking it’s the right thing to do.
The unlimited amount of information available on news sites, podcasts, social media can overwhelm anyone. One has to cultivate an intentional approach to one’s content consumption, work and relationships.
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Too Much Information, Too Little Time
While our brain has about a million GB of space, the real limitation or constraint is the time and mental energy. We do not really know how much physical energy we require just to do some mental work.
We need to focus on selective information, actively deciding to not engage in junk news consumption, and other mentally draining activities, saving our mental bandwidth for things we want to focus on.
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Selective Ignorance: Saying No To Stuff
- Though we would like to, we cannot learn everything and do everything.
- We need to be selective in our choices while consuming content from diverse sources, provided we find it enjoyable and worthwhile.
- We have to say no to a thousand things to be able to focus on what truly matters and to cut out the noise.
- Focusing selectively helps in removing distractions, reducing stress, and improving concentration.
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Selective Ignorance: The How
Though it requires time and practice, one can start selective ignorance by pruning unproductive and boring activities, negativity, unhealthy choices, and irrelevant content.
We need to find the right balance between the stuff we like and what we find useful, leaving out the tedious and draining tasks, choices and activities.
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Cultivating Selective Ignorance
- Choose the right information sources, moving towards joy and positivity.
2. Avoid conversations that drain us and move towards stimulating ones. - Cut back on the harmful, useless, negative and time-wasting social media content, unfollowing the toxic people.
- Start a journal and reflect on your personal growth and learning journey.
- Try to enjoy life and have fun, as much can be learned through play.
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"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge".
Daniel J. Boorstin
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