The thing you want to know, whatever is pulling you to check the internet or turn on the television news or check your email:
What changes when you know it?
Not for the world, or the country, or your community. Not next week or next month or next year.
How does it change things for you in terms of what you’re doing?
How does it change what you need to focus on? How does it change your mission and your purpose? How does it change your desired outcomes? How does it change the actions you need to take today to get what you want?
Also:
What’s the cost to you of checking for that information?
How much time have you spent updating your feed, checking in, checking back, scrolling, reacting, responding?
It might take only two minutes to check an email, flip on the news, check the latest headline or make a phone call, but your investment is not just the two minutes of time it takes for that one task.
Email, social media, news sites are designed to keep you hooked. Two minutes easily becomes twenty minutes.
Even if it was two minutes, it takes at least twenty minutes to recover from every interruption and get back on track.
There’s also an energetic cost of checking.
How will knowing impact your mood, your energy levels, your ability to focus on your work?
If the outcome is different from what you wanted it to be, will it send you spiraling into anger, frustration, and anxiety?
If the outcome is what you wanted, will it send you off into celebration while you forget about your priorities?
Other than potentially satisfying your need to know, how does checking for that information help you do your work?
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