Why You Should Stop Watching The News
Cut it out. Improve your business. Improve your life.
“There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
7 Reasons Why You Should Stop Watching The News
The news is depressing
Many news outlets try to throw in a few positive or cute stories every now and then, but I’d estimate that the ratio of negative to positive stories for the vast majority of them is at least 9:1.
So every time you watch or read the news, you’re feeding yourself an overwhelming amount of negativity which infects your thoughts.
Napoleon Hill wrote about the power of our thoughts in Think and Grow Rich:
Our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and, by means with which no man is familiar, these “magnets” attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.
In other words, the predominant thoughts you allow into your mind actually affect your reality.
Knowing this, I’m not sure why anyone would subject themselves to all the negativity in the traditional news media.
Not when optimism is such a crucial ingredient to success in life and business.
If you really want your news fix, ditch the negative stuff and subscribe to some positive news sources instead.
The news is a poor representation of reality
At this point you might raise an objection:
“But Niall, you’re just ignoring the real issues, deluding yourself to believe that the world is all sunshine and rainbows. That’s not realistic!”
Yes, I guess you could say I’m deluding myself, but no more than those people who do watch the news. I’d argue that their view of the world is just as skewed, if not more so.
They’re led to believe that the world is a brutal and heartless place. All that bad news breeds fear and distrust. Aspiring entrepreneurs have the wind knocked out of them by daily reports of economic crisis and companies gone bust.
News consumption engenders the belief that failure lurks around every corner. Don’t take any risks, better to play it safe!
That’s not the world I want to live in.
In fact, it’s a world I can’t afford to live in when my goal is to build a successful online business.
Now I’m not advocating that you avert your eyes whenever you walk by a TV tuned to CNN, or recoil from every newspaper like a vampire from sunlight.
- What I am suggesting is that you stop going out of your way to invite all that negativity into your life in the first place.
