“He that would perfect himself in any art whatsoever, let him betake himself to the reading of some sure and certain work upon his art many times over; for to read many books upon your art produceth confusion rather than learning.”
-Old Saying
A 2024 version of that quote would simply state…
You need fewer, deeper inputs.
In fact, try fewer, deeper relationships too.
In a world of excess, less and better is better.
More makes more of a mess.
In 1800, the wisdom was not to read ‘too many’ books.
In 2018, every guru on the internet told you they read 5 books a day…
In 2018, I feel for that BS and accumulated a bookshelf full of ideas that I didn’t retain.
But I fit in with the current culture where we completely inverted the wisdom for ‘virtue signaling’ intelligence.
Wayne Dyer says a book like the Tao Te Ching can be ‘read in a day but studied for lifetime.’
Find people in a day that you want to be friends with for life.
Find ideas in a day that you want to study and practice for a lifetime.
Fewer and deeper was the path until the fake gurus inverted the path for us.
Return to the quote at the beginning and take the first step to decrease your inputs to the very best.
Maybe that means you unsubscribe from a few newsletters.
Maybe you unsubscribe from this one…
Maybe you take 15 books back to Half Priced Books or Goodwill.
Maybe you ignore the advice and continue over to Tiktok, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and crush 2 podcasts before lunch…