It's easy to follow the advice that knowledge is power. However, as a result of our obsessions with "knowing everything," we often forget that getting lost in information can have a negative effect on our ability to think critically and process what we know about the world around us. While there's nothing wrong with gaining new knowledge, the danger of becoming overwhelmed by information can prove detrimental to our health and well-being.
We at BestforSuccess share this concern with you — so we've compiled some great online articles you can read below on how to approach new information in your life.
1. Value the Quality of Information over its Quantity
In his article for Digital Nomad Investor , entrepreneur and life coach Mike Daley shares how the amount of information we consume can potentially affect how we make decisions. He posits that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to choosing which information to follow — especially if you are looking to improve your decision-making abilities. According to Daley, it's more important that an individual has "a small set of high quality inputs" than "a large set of average or low quality inputs." That's because the right kind of knowledge fuels our well-being, while excessive information consumption can be harmful instead.
2. Learn to Value Knowing When You Don't Know
Knowing when you don't know how to do something, or where to go for the best information, is a valuable skill that we can use in both our personal and professional lives. In his article for Medium , self-proclaimed "semi-reformed information junkie" Joe Rogan explains how learning to embrace uncertainty can help us make better decisions about what we know or need to learn. As Rogan puts it: "The most important skill you can develop as a human being is knowing how much you don't know, because that's what leads you to start learning."
3. Be Willing to Admit You Don't Have All the Answers
In his article for Smarter Every Day , psychologist and neuroscientist Dr. Joe Dispenza shares a quote from Albert Einstein: "The distinction between those who are wise and those who are not, is not based on whether they know a lot of information or not, it's about being willing to admit you don't have all the answers." As Dispenza explains in his article: "The problem is that our minds are wired to seek certainty, which can actually cause us to question our own knowledge. I'm a firm believer in the saying 'knowledge is power' and this is especially true when you know that you don't know everything."
4. Learn to Question Your Information Sources
In his article for Lifehacker , entrepreneur and blogger Kevin Huang shares how he first started questioning the information he was taking in. According to Huang: "I wanted to learn more about information sources so I could understand them better. This process is as important as it is personal, since [as we are] constantly doing research we cannot trust our own judgment." Huang calls this stubbornly clinging onto beliefs "a barrier to understanding," which ultimately can make us ill-informed in our own lives and careers. This is because our beliefs often affect what we do, or don't do, in our daily lives.
5. Begin to Believe Your Information is Right, Even when it's Not
Knowing that information can lie and still be accurate, is a fact that many people ignore. As Business Insider's Robbie Allen explains in his article: "This isn't a new idea — philosophers and scientists have been talking about the 'deceptive' nature of information for centuries — but in an age when Internet rumors are now second only to government conspiracy theories in terms of comprehensiveness and exposure, it's taking on renewed importance.
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