Just Be And You Are

I like to call this the strip experiment, and it is extremely revealing. For a few weeks, strip away anything you don't absolutely need to function, live, survive. I specifically mean all media; TV, movies, video games, books, magazines, newspapers, even the internet (unless, of course, you need it for work). Why would you do this? Because there are so many things influencing you right now that you may not even know what you really want. Think about a group of friends deciding where to eat. When the question, "where should we go?", comes up, the majority of the group is bound to say, "It doesn't matter", while a few people will make their preferences known. The indifferent folks actually do know what they want but there's just too much decision-making noise for them to even realize it. This isn't about groupthink or being introverted or extroverted, it's about filtering a boatload of information at once. Myriad restaurant options, what the group can afford, location, service, mood, etc. Note that when the choices are narrowed down, everyone has an opinion.

It's the same with life. We're bombarded by a multitude of choices daily and the media is constantly trying to influence each of those decisions. Forget subliminality. Marketing gurus don't need it. They're human too and their job is to key in on what drives the human psyche. It's scary how good they are at what they do. When you eliminate these influences even for a short period of time, you start seeing a different world. A world where the most important choice is whether you listen to this media noise or not. The clarity of thinking alone is remarkable and even more importantly, you start prioritizing your activities. This isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle change. You may even go back to TV (or books or magazines and so on), but on your terms. You trust what you're feeling and follow your gut more. Beware, you might get more work done, be more productive, assertive, self-assured, and more fully in the present. These are only some of the symptoms, so try it out and find out for yourself. Somewhere along the way you made a choice to check out that show and it drew you in. It's your choice to not watch it. Step out of that box, literally. Barry Schwartz writes an excellent book about this topic called The Paradox of Choice. He gave a talk on TED in 2006 that summarizes his message really well. Go to 8:00 for the reason why so many choices are bad for us and to 15:00 for the secret to happiness.