N/N/N Edition 15. Infobesity

(4 min read)

Last week's post was interrupted for some self-care vacation time that had me staring at waves, clouds, mountain tops, and swaying palm trees in Hawaii. And, of course, the proverbial conversations with strangers from across the world at the poolside bar. ?

I love when you can have a conversation about current events and gain unique perspectives from people from different walks and locations. It is a reality check to speak to the locals about how they endured COVID, shutdowns, and an economy dependent on tourism. It was refreshing to detox from digital media and read a book or two or three. It makes for a beautiful segue for today's newsletter on "infobesity".

Early in our development, we coined the term "infobesity" to describe what we believe is a new kind of disease?impacting humanity. Effectively, infobesity is?the overload of too much information.?The advent of "always-on" media, which arguably started with the creation of CNN?forced programming to become a 24/7 proposition.?The need to fill that time created endless amounts of content looking for an audience.?Hence the rise of sensationalism, clickbait, and endless coverage of death and carnage.?Attention-grabbing modalities have become the norm for better or worse.

Add in social media and unintended consequences and you have our current environment.?Twitter represents the global stream of consciousness that is now transitioning to an individual tech billionaire owner.?Facebook represents a social graph with algorithms?squarely centered on the idea of attention, without regard to the type of attention - owned by a tech billionaire with superior voting rights.?LinkedIn, once the habitat of social?business professionalism?is now turning into an extreme?mixture?of social injustice, self-promotion, and or aggressive clickbait streams geared to PT Barnum-like solicitations - owned by a mega tech corporation.??The once stoic media company that curated our daily news is no longer in charge. They are shadows of their former selves, but?still, fight?on to remain?relevant in the geopolitical firestorms shaping our society and culture.?

It feels like we are witnessing?the realization of Tomorrow Never Dies, a James Bond movie released in 1997, where Elliot Carver (Jonathan Price) is a media mogul obsessed with manipulating world events into World War III.?A reality that seems to invade our TV and news feeds every minute on the minute.?

So, how do we navigate this new world of endless infobesity? A stream, like water, will always find a way to progress. It will flow over, through, and around the obstacles to continue its path?forward.?We can attempt to block it, dam it, recourse it, but the?currents of a stream demand that we find new ways to engage with it.??To harness it and embrace it.?

This is where we believe owning your narrative is the remote control for managing the?always-on-infobesity challenge we all face.?Understanding your Northstar, how to best communicate that, and on what stream is now the?quest.?The noise is loud.?The want to find something to believe?in is high.?The need to find someone you can trust as a source of truth has never been greater.?

Do you fit in or stand out??Does what you have to say matter or is it just part of the noise of?the current rushing by?the rocks and shorelines on its pathway towards some hopeful?destination??Some people will require a guide to navigate this new world of infobesity.?Some will just do what they have always done and get by.?And some will come to realize they need a new playbook - a playbook that reflects something they can own - their own destiny.?And, it will look more like a squiggly?stream than a static straight line from point A to point B.?

NOW

We are in the early stages of creating the concept we call Narrative Worth. It sits in the betweenness of Net and Self Worth. It is in fact, the red thread that binds the two worths together. It is in effect, your expression and how you show up in the world. Do you have a sense of what your Narrative Worth is?

NEW

What are you going to do to own your stream??And, what is the best stream to own for the second half of the year? ?

NEXT

What we are reading, listening and viewing:??

Humans at Work, The Art, and Practice of Creating the Hybrid Workplace,?by Anna Tavis and Stela Lupushor.?

Tomorrow Never Dies, James Bond on YouTube.?

Living in more than one world, How Peter Drucker's Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life,?Bruce Rosenstein

My Speech at the recent Catalyst Constellations Catalyst Empowerment Summit on Narrative Worth Powers Your Purpose.

The Payoff?

Infobesity is going to be with us for a while.?There are digital detoxes being prescribed as a solution for this new disease and that is one way to address the issue.?But, we believe there is a better way and that is to own your approach to navigating the endless streams of information. Embrace it.?Design your own playbook, one that is true to you.???And, if you can get a chance to star at the waves, clouds and mountain tops do it. You deserve a mental break from the relentless infobesity that is 2022.

Drop us a note at?[email protected]?or share your reinvention update to our?LI page,??IG page, or Twitter page?@TheNarrativePB.

Thanks for reading and please share this newsletter with your friends and colleagues.?