Big Concept
A ‘content diet’ is the stream of information that you are exposed to in the modern age, from social media, to journal articles, to podcasts and television, to people you talk to in the department, to your friends.
This section is about making sure that what enters your brain is substance, not fluff. With the world moving faster than ever, it’s hard to stay on top of everything going on. Taking action to make sure you stay informed will ensure that you keep moving in the right direction.
It may be helpful to remove low-value noise while amplifying high-signal content relevant to your specific career direction. In a PhD, it’s easy to get pulled in a million directions, but here are some strategies to harness your focus and clean your information stream of any debris.
Key Components
1. Digital Detox & Focus Architecture (or Keeping Out the Bad)
• Distraction Management ◦ Strategic use of software blocking tools, which shut down distractions while you’re trying to get work done. These can really remove all possibility of going to distracting apps or websites. (examples include Opal and Freedom) ◦ Time-boxing techniques help mixing hard work and dedicated break time (Pomodoro/tomato timers) ◦ Schedule blocking for content intake. Set aside 30 minutes in the beginning purely for scrolling, to help scratch the itch. ◦ Starting the day with looking through relevant journals can help spark insight and inspiration. ◦ Environment design to reduce distraction or context switching. Lower stressful surroundings to improve focus.
2. High-Signal Source Cultivation (or Bringing In the Good)
• Research-Adjacent Content ◦ Field-specific journals with targeted alerts ◦ Google Scholar with keyword alerts ◦ Conference proceedings digests ◦ Lab/research group newsletters from target institutions • Industry Intelligence ◦ Company research publications or media announcements ◦ Industry-specific newsletters ◦ Analyst reports in your domain ◦ Patent monitoring in your field • Career Development Channels ◦ Curated social feeds (LinkedIn/X "following" tab only, try to follow leaders in the space ) ◦ Subject-matter expert podcasts ◦ Quality Substacks/newsletters by leaders in your field ◦ Alumni network updates
3. Information Processing Systems
• Content Organization ◦ RSS feed curation strategies (Feedly) ◦ Reading queue management (Pocket, Instapaper) ◦ Knowledge management systems (Notion, Obsidian) ◦ Citation/reference management optimization • Synthesis Methods ◦ Note-taking frameworks for different content types ◦ Weekly reflection and connection practice ◦ Monthly knowledge synthesis routine ◦ Quarterly career intelligence review
Accountability Exercise:
- Look at Your Content Diet:
Track all information sources for one week, rating each for signal-to-noise ratio and career relevance.
List them either in a spreadsheet or on a piece of paper and give them a score of 1-4 for how useful they are to you and how many minutes you spend on each one per week (be honest with yourself here, this is critical!)
- Cut Ruthlessly
- Digital Time Budget:
- High-Value Feed Construction:
Identify and eliminate your bottom 20% of information sources from the scores above, based on how you feel about the time/value ratio.
If something takes a lot of time, and doesn’t do anything to move you closer to your goals, axe it. You’ll miss it at first, then be incredibly happy you got away from it.
Create a realistic time blocking schedule for your intake, and keep in mind that anything you spend an hour a day on, becomes ~6% of your waking entire life, so only give hours to things that are worth that large of a slice of your life.
Build a targeted RSS feed with 10-15 sources directly relevant to your career direction. Feedly is a great, free option for pulling information from various sources and bringing them into one place for reading. When you click into something like Feedly, you can lock yourself into only that one realm of thought, with no distractions.