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.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
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.
- 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.
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge".
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.
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.
RELATED IDEAS
Next time you experience a tip-of-the-tongue state, don't retrieve the information from memory. Instead, look up the correct answer. Repeat it a few times or write it down to help with encoding.
People that experience the tip-of-the-tongue state often suffer from incorrect practice time. Instead of learning the correct work, they are learning the mistake itself. For example, some music students who claim to practice diligently can get worse over time. This is because they keep on repeating the same mistakes, instead of using deliberate practice. They actually train themselves to make mistakes.
Altered states of consciousness can only be defined if there is an understanding of an ordinary state of consciousness.
While scientists can't agree on a clear definition, altered states of consciousness are nevertheless essential to understanding the human mind.
Just like the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, where the preferred porridge has to be neither too hot nor too cold, and the preferred bed has to be neither too soft nor too hard, we have to find our sweet spot which has the right amount of stress, anxiety, challenge and thrill, while not being paralyzing or life-sucking.
Demanding jobs carry with them worry, stress and anxiety, but not having anything to worry about in a job is also detrimental to our well-being.
❤️ Brainstash Inc.