Return on words
Einstein said that we live in an age characterized by profusion of means and confusion of ends.
I think it could equally be said that society today is characterized by "profusion of media and confusion of message."
The media is not the message; in fact, the media obscures, even eclipses, the message.
Some people call it "TMI" for Too Much Information, others call it the Age of Information Overload.
The bottom line for all of us, who are mortals and therefore have a limited amount of time to spend on Earth, is that we need to get a clear RETURN ON INFORMATION.
Since information is mostly words (spoken on the radio or TV, or printed in newspapers, magazines and books), then the ultimate criteria by which to judge the usefulness of a media outlet is "return on words."
How does it work?
Easy: just estimate the number of words of a newspaper or magazine article you are about to read. Then, after reading it, think of how your life can be improved by USING the information you just read.
The "return" here is the improved quality of life.
The number of words used by the writer of the newspaper or magazine article, shows roughly the amount of life you have sacrificed in order to read that article. If you spent 10 minutes reading it, then your life -- whether you die at age 60 or 90 -- is shorter by 10 minutes.
Here's another example of "return on words":
The best book to figure out what the new economy is all about is Revolutionary Wealth, by Alvin and Heidi Toffler. I recommend it to all parents who care about the future -- that is, where they and their children will spend the rest of their lives.
The above paragraph contains about 45 words, yet the return can be enormous if you indeed decide to buy the book (as I did) and read it carefully in order to prepare for the future.
The success secret here is that we have to protect and save our time by judging every newspaper, magazine and book we are reading by using the rigorous "return on words" test.
People who don't use that test will be easily deceived by reporters, authors, consultants, etc. who will continually offer low-value information that is not even relevant to helping a person achieve his / her goals in life.
I think it could equally be said that society today is characterized by "profusion of media and confusion of message."
The media is not the message; in fact, the media obscures, even eclipses, the message.
Some people call it "TMI" for Too Much Information, others call it the Age of Information Overload.
The bottom line for all of us, who are mortals and therefore have a limited amount of time to spend on Earth, is that we need to get a clear RETURN ON INFORMATION.
Since information is mostly words (spoken on the radio or TV, or printed in newspapers, magazines and books), then the ultimate criteria by which to judge the usefulness of a media outlet is "return on words."
How does it work?
Easy: just estimate the number of words of a newspaper or magazine article you are about to read. Then, after reading it, think of how your life can be improved by USING the information you just read.
The "return" here is the improved quality of life.
The number of words used by the writer of the newspaper or magazine article, shows roughly the amount of life you have sacrificed in order to read that article. If you spent 10 minutes reading it, then your life -- whether you die at age 60 or 90 -- is shorter by 10 minutes.
Here's another example of "return on words":
The best book to figure out what the new economy is all about is Revolutionary Wealth, by Alvin and Heidi Toffler. I recommend it to all parents who care about the future -- that is, where they and their children will spend the rest of their lives.
The above paragraph contains about 45 words, yet the return can be enormous if you indeed decide to buy the book (as I did) and read it carefully in order to prepare for the future.
The success secret here is that we have to protect and save our time by judging every newspaper, magazine and book we are reading by using the rigorous "return on words" test.
People who don't use that test will be easily deceived by reporters, authors, consultants, etc. who will continually offer low-value information that is not even relevant to helping a person achieve his / her goals in life.
posted by Super Peter at 11:52 PM
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