Stop reading and watching stuff so much! or don't.

What if we start looking at every bit of information as taking up space in our brain. Would that compel us to limit the information we absorb every day? Will limiting that intake help to process our other thoughts better? Simply put – if you read and think about only the stuff relevant to you, will you get better at thinking about it?

The idea of our brain functioning better by limiting information is like imagining a computer that might function faster and smoother if its RAM is cleared.

This sounds obvious but it must be questioned because of a competing hypothesis – that the most successful ideas are collaborative in nature – those that make connections through different disciplines, instead of being sourced from in-depth knowledge of one field only. And for that to happen, either you must have decent knowledge of different disciplines or you must team up with those who have that knowledge.

We already have the concept of information taking up space in an abstract way, when for example we say ‘my mind is too full of ____ right now’. And if we have to think about it physiologically, we can imagine ideas and memories stored as connections between neurons. Each connection holding the link to one or more memories. These connections will take up space (even though our brain tends to compact and convert memories into small fragments).

From the literature on meditation and mindfulness, an idea emerges that perhaps practicing those skills makes the brain better at processing huge amounts of information. Which means even if your mind is filled up to the brim with new information everyday, being mindful and meditating will help file it away or dump it in a better way. This might be true but there still remains a role for feeding the brain relevant material only - to reduce the load that it has to process.

Also, we have limited time on our hands. And we don’t even know how much of it we have.

Perhaps the ideal way would be to limit your reading and information intake to only that which is relevant to your work and interests (limit the interests too!) and get really good at what you do. And then collaborate with people who are good with an entirely different knowledge area. I guess this is how they build mega-structures like aircraft carriers, oil refineries and do complex surgeries.

Interestingly, it is said that Bill Gates sets aside two weeks in a year solely for the purpose of reading books and articles collected (and selected) over the year. The reason he does that is to be able to form better connections between the various topics he reads. It’s easier for the brain to connect a topic that’s fresh in the memory with the one it’s reading right now rather than one which was read 6 months ago. In a way, he’s limiting his information intake while simultaneously exploring different disciplines to form new connections and ideas. Smart.