The Low Information Diet and Creativity

I looked at the calendar recently and noticed that over a quarter of the year has passed. If I were on schedule with 52 Short Stories, that would mean that I would have completed at least 13 short stories, and probably should be closer to 15 right now. As I write these words, I have just completed the eleventh. I believe that is what they call being behind schedule.

I could carry on about how things have been very hectic with traveling, professional and personal obligations, but that would be disingenuous. When I set out to write 52 short stories in a year, I knew that these kinds of situations would arise, so to act blindsided by them now would be whining. Instead, I looked for ways to rectify the situation by increasing my productivity.

I like working with goals that have fixed time limits and are either easily measurable, or are absolutes (either you did it, or you didn’t). However, most goals, as laudable as they may be, require more time or resources. Run for an hour twice a week for two months. Spend one hour per week practicing Spanish. Read fifty pages per day for a month. Etc. All of these take time, and while they can definitely produce results, taking up more time is the last thing I need to be doing right now. So, I looked for a productivity goal that would actually increase my time, and settled on a technique that I’ve been wanting to try for well over a year now: a low-information diet.

Tim Ferriss’ best-selling book, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, opened up a whole new world to a lot of people in terms of productivity, world travel, working philosophies, mini-retirements, investment strategies and much more. At best, it’s a guide to achieving a rich lifestyle free of traditional constraints. At worst, it’s an entertaining read. One of the many things that Tim advocates in the book is a low information diet. Rather than go into great detail about what it is, I will allow you to read Tim’s explanation or simply say that it’s basically the practice of eliminating a large number of inputs.

I am an information junkie. A few years ago I used to read four different newspapers. Now, it’s worse. I’m subscribed to the RSS feeds of more than four newspapers, in addition to a number of other sites and blogs. Also, at any given time I am reading between one and four books. I no longer have cable, but when I did, either CNN or Sports Center was always chattering away in the background – now I just get my fix when I’m visiting someone who does have cable. All this is to say, I have always spent large amounts of time consuming information.

The idea of a low information diet is that all of this is cut out, and that information that is truly important will eventually find its way back to you.

One of my biggest concerns in implementing a low information diet is not that I won’t know what’s going on in the world – although that might happen – but rather that I have always found inspiration in the information I consume. I have said before that I think inspiration can be drawn from any source, even one as mundane as a newspaper article. So, my biggest concern is, if I go on a low information diet, with the express purpose of creating more time to work on creative pursuits, will the well of creativity go dry making the extra time useless?

I don’t know the answer to that question, but I figure that there is only one way to find out. For the rest of the month, I will be on a low information diet. I will not read my RSS reader. I will not read any new books. I will not check Twitter, Facebook or any other social network except if I’m alerted of a direct message. I will not watch any television unless it is in a social setting. I will check personal email only once per day.

In May I will report back on how this mini-experiment goes. If it’s going well, I may extend it. If it’s not, then I will chuck it and look for another way to create time.

Have you ever tried something similar? If so, how did it go? If not, have you ever considered it and decided against it?