At our recent Express Employment Professionals Leadership Academy retreat we had a concept thrown our way.  In order to grow into our vision we must continue to stay focused on gathering, processing, and sharing the right information on a regular basis.  The process basically focuses on what topics we should be staying informed about, utilizing tools to harvest and process related information, and then sharing it with others.  The name of this is Rivers of Information.

As I build my “river” I found several resources that I’d never heard of and several that I enjoyed but never quite made time for.  After loading them into a nifty app (Inoreader) I get approximately 50 short summaries of news articles shot my way day.  When I have a moment of down time I reach for my phone, open the app, and then quickly scan the articles.  If one’s not of interest I swipe left and don’t see it again.  If it is interesting and I want more info I swipe down and get to read the full article.  If it’s worth saving I can email it from the app.  If it’s something I want to save I can transfer it right to EverNote.  Pretty awesome!  Throw in a folder of a few daily emails I receive and I’m finding myself processing more information than ever.

Some of the info and news are focused on what’s going on in the economy and in the workforce while there’s also much focused on self improvement and stoicism.  And that’s what leads me to today’s blog topic.

Over the past few days it’s really hit me just how much differently I’m processing information and living my life based on what I’m taking in each day.  If I’m focused on goofing off and games I feel happy, but when I’m sticking to a diet of business information and self improvement I am more confident and more joyful.  Over the past few days I’ve found the concepts presented are floating into my head more and more often and I’m more cognizant of the choices I’m making with my time and focus.  Thanks to the rivers of information I’ve started a habit that’s keeping me more focused on what I should be focused on and more joyful as a result.  How awesome is that?

Thanks!!!

PS:  Below are some of my favorite rivers.  If you have other ideas that I should check out I’d appreciate you shooting them my way.  Thanks!!!

• • WSJ Real Time Economics:   https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/
  •  Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank:   https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/fedgazette/
• • Daily Stoic:   https://dailystoic.com/
  • Granted (Adam Grant):  https://us3.campaign-archive.com/?u=a63d6b9b98ca61bee8d6e4953&id=584ac8ada7
  • James Clear (Atomic Habits):   https://jamesclear.com/newsletter
  • Harvard Business Review:   https://hbr.org/
  • Designing Your Life:   http://designingyour.life/articles/
  • Daniel Pink:   https://www.danpink.com/pinkcast/  Online, Bi-weekly email
  • MIT Technology Review:   https://www.technologyreview.com/ 
  • National Parks Traveler