I read this piece of advice in not one but two books – one of which is a classic on self-help and the other which might possibly come to be regarded as a classic in time to come.
Let me start with recounting the advice of the second book. The book is The Art of Thinking Clearly: Better Thinking Better Decisions by Rolf Dobelli. This book lists down the cognitive causes of the routine errors we make. In other words, we are programmed by our genes to make these errors on a routine basis. These are not monumental blunders caused by rashness, negligence or oversight. Such mistakes can be regarded as exceptions to the rule.
But Dobelli talks of the mistakes we are programmed to make because of our biological makeup. I highly recommend that you buy and read this book. It is of use to anyone whose work involves making important decisions such as CEOs, senior management executives, stock market traders, doctors and surgeons and so on. Decisions made by such people involve the fortunes of a lot of people and may also be matters of life and death.
The last chapter of the book is about news illusion – Why you shouldn’t read the news. Dobelli has practiced what he is preaching. In his own words –
Three years ago, I began an experiment. I stopped reading and listening to the news. I cancelled all newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Television and radio were disposed of. I deleted the news apps from my iPhone. I didn’t touch a single free newspaper and deliberately looked the other way when someone on a plane tried to offer me any such reading material. The first weeks were hard. Very hard. I was constantly afraid of missing something. But after a while, I had a new outlook. The result after three years: clearer thoughts, more valuable insights, better decisions, and much more time. And the best thing? I haven’t missed anything important. My social network – not Facebook, the one that exists in the real world consisting of flesh-and-blood friends and acquaintances – works as a news filter and keeps me in the loop.
Dobelli has explained his reasons why it is better to avoid the news. I cannot tell these reasons in this article as they involve concepts which Dobelli needed more than 300 pages to explain. The book itself is convincing, well written, clear and entertaining and – as I said earlier – has good chances of becoming an evergreen bestseller and classic.
So what must we read instead of or daily fix of news? In Dobelli’s words again –
I would predict that turning your back on news will benefit you as much as purging any of the other ninety-eight flaws we have covered in the pages of this book. Kick the habit – completely. Instead, read long background articles and books. Yes, nothing beats books for understanding the world.
The other book I want to talk about is How to Develop Self-Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie. In the last chapter of this book Dale Carnegie recommends that instead of reading the news we would be better served by reading the classics of Literature, Philosophy, Spirituality, Mythology and so on.
There is much more than just this that we can learn from these two above excellent books. For example – if you want to write and be an author Dale Carnegie has explained how Robert Louis Stevenson developed his writing style. Many other tips from the lives of successful people are to be found in this book on Public Speaking.
Speaking of classics, I might as well end with what the paragon of logic and clear thinking – Sherlock Holmes – has to say on this subject –
You see, I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge that might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that the little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend on it there comes a time when for every addition on knowledge you forget something you knew before. It is of the highest importance therefore not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
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