Left, Left, No Your Other Left

This past week I was reviewing the latest recommendation from Bruce Mau's "The Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" which states "Read only left-hand pages. Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our 'noodle.'" Although in concept, generally speaking, I agree with this idea, the suggestion is not practical or helpful.

If I am reading something, I mean I actually take the time to focus on it, it deserves my full attention and I deserve to understand and comprehend the contents in total. Reading half of it can only lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings. I do agree in the idea of reducing the amount of information that I take in on a daily basis. How much "information" do I really need? Much that comes my way is not information in so much as it is gossip, hearsay, trivia, extra details, etc. There is also news that I am bombarded with through the media that has little to no impact on my daily life but I am to believe that I HAVE to know this information. No, I don't.

Since it seems that I have limited absorption ability when is comes to the amount of information put in front of me, I choose to restrict, censor and/or block the bombardment. For starters, I no longer read the newspaper. I also do not watch or listen to the news in the evening before I go to bed. I want my head clear thinking about what I accomplished today and what I want to accomplish tomorrow. It is much more difficult for me to do that if my head is filled up with details of events that I most likely already read earlier in the day on cnn.com. I have seen some suggestions of banning all new completely. I have found that difficult so I limit the amount of news I'm exposed to instead.

The other way I can reduce information overload is by avoiding gossipy conversations. They are pointless. Walk away. Clear your head. Stick to what matters. The final way I try to make room for my thoughts is through meditating every day. I am for 15-30 minutes once or twice a day but even 5 minutes sitting quietly with no TV, radio, iPod, or external stimulus can be very helpful.

Ultimately, the goal is to leave and/or create room in my head for my thoughts. After all, it is my life. My thoughts should be a major player. But often my thoughts are soft and end up drowned out by everything else that is going on around me. My thoughts create the images I paint, the blogs I write, the business ideas I pursue, even the relationships I want to nurture. My thoughts are core. I want to hear them. To do so, I have to stop and listen to them.

This week I will examine the next recommendation from Bruce Mau which is "Make new words. Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions."