Mindful Consumption

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TIMESTAMPS
00:00-1:25 The infinite content flood
1:25-2:13 The philosophy of mindful consumption
1:25-4:14 Fake productivity (and how to end it)
4:14-6:52 How to consume with intention
6:52-8:32 Why to take notes
8:32-13:13 How to take SMART notes
13:13-17:50 Archiving your notes
17:50-20:28 Revisit your knowledge
20:28-21:22 Final word

This video is sponsored by Brilliant.

Image used by Hohamina on Freepik

[sorenpx]

This video reminds me of a passage from The Count of Monte Cristo, spoken by the Abbe Faria to Edmond Dantes when the two were together in prison:

"I had nearly five thousand volumes in my library at Rome; but after reading them over many times, I found out that with one hundred and fifty well-chosen books a man possesses, if not a complete summary of all human knowledge, at least all that a man need really know. I devoted three years of my life to reading and studying these one hundred and fifty volumes, till I knew them nearly by heart; so that since I have been in prison, a very slight effort of memory has enabled me to recall their contents as readily as though the pages were open before me."

I have thought about it many times over the years and have wondered if perhaps it is better to spend one's life reading more narrowly but deeply, rather than trying to read as much as possible but reading shallowly.

[Corredephd]

Stopped the video half way through and will come back to it when I'm sitting on my desk with pen and paper. Saved to my watch later too. This will be a gem.

[gobi]

The content flood is insane, I was going crazy because I have no idea what to consume because everything is so good. Looking forward to watching this! Thanks!

I completely agree… "Intelligenti pauca". I recently read Byung Chul Han, and he said that we should not confuse information with meaning. You can have an immense amount of information (even good information), but it does not necessarily constitute meaning. On the contrary, you can have little information and still construct something that holds meaning. Along the same lines, it is worth remembering some classics (like Seneca and Epictetus), who suggested reading few books (but good ones).

[sandrasshelf]

I’m so guilty of doing this: watching courses, reading self-help books, binge watching the YouTube gurus, etc. And then feel so empty and stuck even more. I’ve been forcing myself to take notes and decrease the amount of people videos/tiktoks I “binge”.

Thank you! Great video as always. It’s not lost on me that I’ve watched this video as well 😅

[jackwebb]

I use obsidian to store my favourite quotes and I bought a book stand because of you bro 😂

[thecastaways]

As someone with a deep interest in political philosophy, I invest 70% of my time online into educational or edutainment videos around the topics I enjoy: anthropology, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, politics, etc.
The first step to managing your consumption is knowing what, and which content creators are worth your time.
Thanks Odysseas for sharing your methods, I’m slowly acclimating to using Obsidian now because of some of your videos. 😊

[moira_marques]

Here he is: my favorite reader on YouTube! Thank you for the insightful tips and inspiration to learn and put learning to practice, Odysseas!

[JohnCarlosMartinez]

Some of the most insightful stuff on YouTube. Practically and when implemented, effective.

[chipresmusic]

So far since I've watched this, the last 2 days I've been more aware of how I interact with the plethora of content available. I've taken up the advice of notetaking, and wow this is great so far. Luckily, I know how to use Notion so I can organize my notes well. I think that it is selfish to hoard all the information you learn from videos and books in your brain, and not share it. Using this Notion moving forward as my archive for not just Youtube videos, but books, and even movies that I believe left an impact on me. I hope to share my thoughts and notes, condensed in an order of importance, with someone, someday. This allows for the transfer of information from one generation to the next.
Thank you.

[rohanbidi]

Through my readings one of the ideas that really hit home was that of "Deep Work" by Cal Newport. You have covered it in your own way in another video. And for me it's the ideal way to mindfully consume the educational and practical content. For eg, when I get notified of your upload, I don't necessarily watch it right away (which is a compliment 😉), I will watch it only when I'm in that window in my schedule where I'm "working deep" - no distractions, full attention, maximum absorption.

[SubLuminary]

Hey Odysseas, I just want to say that you have gotten me into the world of Classical literature and now I want to stay here forever. I’m learning so many cool things with all of your different strategies and tips and tricks and I’d just really like to say thank you for that. Have an awesome day :D

[IsmaelKizito]

It took me a while to find the time to finally watched this one from my saved to watch later. It was worth every second of it. It is all common sense but not common practice. I particularly like the fact you took the time to explain why it is important to watch your media consumption. You did it without the bullet points and buzzwords new subscriber

[TheRebelDuck]

Sometimes, a video hits at the needed time. Thank-you

[DanJiang]

You have been a beautiful calm voice in the digital chatter we live in. Really appreciating your voice and your Obsidian setup video helped me massively, a big part of my setup are all ideas from your video. So thank you!

[mikejaydavies]

This video resonated a lot with me. I had it playing while I opened Obsidian and made a quick note about some thoughts from watching it. Probably want to go over it at least one more time, but it was good to put your theories into practice!

[Kakhaufan]

I think I stumbled across your channel for the second time now. While I did not have any dislike for your content upon my first stumbling upon, it also did not captivate me. This second time, I grew more fond of your rather quickly content. But it is only now in this moment that I am realising that actually your content deeply resonates with me. I have tried in the last few weeks to decrease my consumption of media, decrease my exposure to hyperstimulating and focus on more interesting things - though I never knew before that all the media I was consuming actually wasn't that interesting to me! It was mostly background noise, the feeling of *something* happening. Only now can I actually appreciate your content because I freed some space in my mind to reflect on it.

So to summarize: Thank you and keep doing what you're doing.

[HibaKHALDI-jn]

Thank you! This came at the right time, I've been struggling with mindless consumption without any real impact, I just wanted to go from consumption to creation..
i toke notes on what you said and it was very helpful (and weirdly calming 😅)
All the luck ❤

[kadithya]

Your videos are so insightful, when you told me to be more enganging i got up brought a book and pen wrote down notes, and you are hit home with the mindless consumption of content.Keep doing great work.

[mibnyasser]

I can now say with full confidence that you are my favorite YouTuber.

We are so similar that your insights get through my mind flawlessly.

Keep inspiring, Odysseas ✍🏻