Confessions of an Information Junkie

(Photo credit: SCY/Pixabay)

I have a confession to make. I am an information junkie. If there is something to learn (that interests me), I jump in (until another squirrel runs by, that is). Over the last few years, that was politics. I became a newsfeed junkie and found myself losing all objectivity. The pursuit of truth became my addiction. Then it happened, I realized truth was what others wanted me to believe. I had to take action.

The constant barrage of information (misinformation) and search like-mindedness was shouting GROUPTHINK! The biases I held deeply in my soul were eating me alive. I had to reprogram myself to think by switching sensory inputs and adopt a more stoic approach of stepping back, reflecting, and finding peace in the storm. I switched from news feeds to music. But, the biggest change made was to "stop" thinking and start moving. I put my body into motion. The change has helped me regroup and begin to think for myself.

So how does my addiction and self-treatment related to leadership? I believe that leadership is action. We must put our body into motion not just our head. We need to experience things ourselves before we really learn. It is also my belief that decision making is a collaborative experience. Very rarely is a decision made that doesn't involve other people in some fashion or another. As I get older, I have come to realize that very few, if any, truths exist. Science is built on proving and/or disproving this or that. Someone contends this and another contradicts that. It is up to me to do the thinking by putting my whole body into action.

I found Joseph Riggio's TEDxReset talk "The Aesthetics of Decision Making" somewhat complementary to this thought. Check it out yourself.

Wildland Fire Leadership Challenge - Digging a Little Deeper
Contemplate the following:

• Are you enlisting your senses to make decisions? 
• Are you blindly following or critically thinking? 
• What mechanism are you using to filter information to enhance your decision making? 
• Have you taken time to do self-reflection to identify your biases?

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About the Author: Pam McDonald is a writer/editor for BLM Wildland Fire Training and Workforce Development and member of the NWCG Leadership Subcommittee. The expressions are those of the author.