If we are what we consume then understanding what to consume, how to consume and the cumulative effect of our consumption is a key component of our growth.
In the last few blogs and pods I’ve been discussing the importance of creativity and the relationship between consumption and creativity. Building on that train of thought here I want to discuss how to analyze or plan what we are consuming.
With my business partner I run a wellbeing and performance business called Outliers Wellbeing, through this business we offer a range of services from 1 to 1 exec coaching to large scale wellbeing programmes. But that’s the side hustle, my main gig [for now] is in technology, I’m a cloud architect [ cloud as in computers not weather ] and this means I interact with a whole host of different technologies. On a regular occasion I rub shoulders with the world of data, specifically big data.
It’s from this world of big data that I want to steal a model, called the 3V’s, this model is designed to help people understand the type of data operation they are working with, the V’s are characteristics of a data operation.
The 3Vs are Volume, Velocity, Variety.
Volume = The amount of data coming into the system.
Velocity = how fast data is coming into the system.
Variety = the variety of different data types that come into the system.
For our purposes let’s assume the system is our brain, or more, perhaps our soul. Understanding what and why stuff is making it into our heads is important. So i would propose that this model could be used to help analyze what you are consuming;
Volume, alludes to the amount of stuff you are allowing into your body and head, be it music, tv, drugs, alcohol, food etc. Are you consuming the correct volume of the things you need to consume to realize the growth you want to see
Velocity is how fast we are absorbing stuff, for me a good example here is reading. I could read a book really fast, but I’m unlikely to fully absorb the content of this book. If I slowed the velocity down and allowed myself to absorb more of the book I would grow more. Where in life do you need to slow your consumption down? Or speed it up?
Variety, I’ve previously done a podcast talking all about echo chambers, without variety in what we consume we will live in an echo chamber. Our creativity and growth will suffer as a result. A core ingredient here is divergence from our normal, how are you breaking out of your echo chamber and consuming a variety of social media accounts, foods, people, books, podcasts etc…
That model works but when thinking about this a bit more I want to add another V, Value, when we have evaluated our consumption we need to sit back and think about the value we are getting from all this consumption.
Value, think of the value equation, cost – benefits=value, everything has a cost, a cost in your health, time or wealth. Think about 10 minutes on social media, you are exchanging 10 mins of your life for what? Cheap dopamine. So what’s the value?
There may be exceptions to that social media rule, you could be using it to network and build your relationships or wealth for example…
Think about the major ways you are spending your time, are you seeing value from that investment?
We are what we consume, so if we have a goal or an ambition to be creative we need to understand how what we are consuming is moving us towards that goal.
I offer the 4Vs as a way to map or analyze your consumption, but remember having a goal to work towards needs to be clearly outlined first otherwise you may find it hard to analyze your consumption.
GBx
Dave
I would love to hear in the comments, what do you think is the most valuable thing you are consuming currently?
Check this episode of the Podcast on Youtube here – https://youtu.be/Hglh2uHEcgA
