It’s a new year! Many make resolutions this time of year. May I suggest something you shouldn’t do? Don’t stay in your echo chamber this year. Yes, you! The reality is it’s all of us young and old. However, the older we get, the worse it gets. I want to be an informed Grammy.
The internet has become very compartmentalized and now, more than ever, people don’t leave the area where they are comfortable. There is so much information and it becomes amazingly easy to stay where we are sheltered from differing opinions, reinforcing the same ideas from various sources over and over. There are statistics all over google that demonstrate how we pigeonhole ourselves with our apps, social media and clicks. Our phones tell us where to go next based on complicated algorithms that every company uses to keep us spending our time with them.
Unfortunately, we can’t grow if we don’t expose ourselves to a more varied diet of information. We don’t have to agree with any of it, but it allows our mind to grow and even challenges our own ideas. Growth happens with disruption, there is no getting away from this fact.
Start by reading articles on Medium or Reddit that are different than your usual fare. Push yourself to try new things and it can start with just reading about or watching others doing new things.
This new year’s resolution could be one you won’t fail at because you simply expose yourself to innovative ideas. There are no set accomplishments (such as losing ten pounds) that must be met. Who knows the things you will learn or try this year? That first novella you may decide to write won’t be perfect. But guess what? You will have done it! Every path starts somewhere.
Making this a year of growth by getting out of your echo chamber will be the best decision you will have made! Set a goal that you will expose yourself to one new thing or one new idea every day on your technology. Confuse those algorithms that are telling you where to go next. I dare you!
Join me on my journey, it will be rewarding and fun!
Gifted Grammy 