People are often disturbed or shocked or both to find out that I very rarely read the paper, watch the news or listen to the radio. My assumption is that, since the media has no in-depth knowledge of anything, their watered down versions of information, fit for public consumption, have little value. If you really want to learn something, the newspaper, TV and radio are not reliable resources.

I just cracked open a new book, The 4-Hour Work Week, and have found that I have an co-conspirator ally in selective ignorance, the author, Timothy Ferriss:

I never watch the news and have bought one single newspaper in the last five years, in Stansted Airport in London, and only because it gave me a discount on a Diet Pepsi. (page 82)

In contrast to what you may think, Ferriss is not a waster. If all of his claims are true, he has managed to build a business that makes him $40,000 a month; has learned to speak Japanese, Chinese, German and Spanish; has won international tango competitions after six months of training; and has been a guest lecture at Princeton on entrepreneurship. To simplify, he’s done so by separating wheat from chaff; the general media falling into the latter category:

Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also practical. It is imperative that you learn to ignore or redirect all information and interruptions that are irrelevant, unimportant, or unactionable. Most are all three.

Lifestyle design is based on massive action — output. Increased output necessitates decreased input. Most information is time-consuming, negative, irrelevant to your goals, and outside of your influence. I challenge you to look at whatever you read or watched today and tell me that it wasn’t at least two of the four. (page 83)

So, to those who have asked, and will ask again, “Aren’t you going to read the paper?”, I say, “Aren’t you going to DO SOMETHING?”

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