Recently, I was consuming local news in excess because a negative incident shocked me.
News is a way to keep yourself updated. But the problem starts when you get obsessed with something. You absorb content for hours every day. You want to know every detail.
The amount of negative information I was consuming made me low and unhappy. I was picking up signs of threat and suspicion around me.
So, I read a book today, about self-development. I felt optimistic and happy. Just the opposite of how I was feeling yesterday.
It made me think that all of us are consumers. We are constantly consuming something, either consciously or subconsciously.
If you consume positive information, you will feel optimistic. However, you will feel miserable if you focus on negative things around you.
Your behaviour is based on what you constantly feed to your brain.
Every day, you feed your brain with a set of information. It updates your mood according to that data. The content you consume will create your mindset and habits.
Whenever I am around my friends, we joke and make fun of each other. Just the usual stuff people do around their friends. The mood lightens up, and everyone feels good. Even if something wrong happens in my life, I enjoy the time with my friends.
Most people use their smartphones for 5-6 hours daily. But what do they use it for?
They spend most of their time and energy reading about celebrities and adverse events happening around the world.
If you do that, you are not only wasting your time; you are feeding your brain with malicious data.
You should be careful about what you feed to your mind. The information you digest once or twice doesn't matter much, but what you constantly consume matters.
If you keep repeating the same pattern, it will become a habit.
If instead of spending one-hour reading news and celebrity gossip, you spend 10 mins reading it and the rest of 50 mins watching something creative or funny. It will make you happier.
You don't have a shortage of time; you spend most of it on things that give low-value returns. You can spend that time learning new skills, watching something funny and listening to audiobooks.
But you don't. Because you let minor distractions control your focus and energy.
You might start your day in a perfect mood. But someone in a traffic line can ruin your day. Similarly, a family member or a colleague can affect your day if they are in a bad mood.
The thing is, you are sensitive to the events happening around you. People around you influence your behaviour.
Interacting with someone with high energy will lighten up your day. It may even lift your energy. However, if you interact with someone rude or cynical, the energy inside you shifts. Your voice and body language will change.
What You Obsess About, Is What You Get
A few years ago, I read "Think and Grow Rich". There was a chapter about visualization. The concept was that if you visualize something repeatedly, the universe will conspire with you to achieve your goals.
One famous example is Jim Carrey. He got $10 million for "Dumb and Dumber" because he visualized it for years.
Maybe visualization works; maybe it doesn't. What I believe is if you think about something obsessively for days, weeks and years, your mind will find a way to make it happen.
If you join a discord group of gamers, they consistently discuss strategies to enhance their gameplay.
If you join a group of youtube creators, they regularly brainstorm ways to create viral content.
If you join a group of writers, they discuss strategies to improve their content.
And that's how they get ideas about creating engaging content.
They focus excessively on their goals. Their mind starts figuring out ways to make it happen.
Poor people obsess about the limitations around them. They believe that it's impossible to get out of the trap of poverty. I know this because I know a lot of people with that mindset.
But maybe, it's not the limitation of their skills or their ability to earn that's keeping them poor. Maybe, it's their mindset that's keeping them poor.
If instead of thinking about how you are trapped in a situation forever, you think about 10 ways to improve your life daily, you can come up with dozens of unique strategies to improve your life. These strategies will work in your situation because you are obsessed with finding a way out of your problem.
Rework Your Situation
Driving your car daily creates a positive feedback loop that you can operate your vehicle easily. You can do it while listening to music or texting. You are feeding your mind that you can multitask while driving.
However, if you have an accident, you create a negative feedback loop that driving while texting is risky. It will make you anxious next time.
It means your mindset is not fixed. You can change it because of an adverse event.
Or you can build it slowly the way you want to.
You can rethink your situation.
Just because you are tired after an exercise doesn't mean you should never work out again. When you exercise again, you grow stronger.
If you go broke, it doesn't mean you are incapable of making money again. Instead, when you make money next time, you are wiser and know where you should invest and where not to.
Usually, when you think about a problem, it helps you solve it. But sometimes, you overthink it and create situations that are not out there.
For example, if you enjoy your work, it creates a positive feedback loop that you are good at. You can do your job effectively. But you will lose interest and quit if you constantly think about how hard your job is.
Thinking is a tool you can use for your benefit. And the ability to turn your thoughts from negative to positive is a skill you can develop over time.