By Chris Cochran
I’ve been a current affairs and news junkie for most of my life. Since I was about 10 years old, I found myself driven to know what’s going on in the world daily or weekly. It was easier to do before the internet exploded our access to vast information resources and created even greater volumes of content producers. That’s not an inherently bad development – just a challenge to be met.
Pre-internet, our reliance on professional gatekeepers and journalists was uncomplicated and accepted, and generally there was a level of trust that these professionals were giving us the important news of the day that we should know about. That perspective has changed. As a recent New Yorker article explores, many people now say they don’t trust the news media.
My challenge these days is how to stay focused and informed daily without succumbing to the overwhelming volume of information, the firehose of knowledge that the internet, for good or bad, has unleashed on us (not to mention cable TV). And without missing what’s truly important. Social media has also expanded that volume in many positive and negative ways, but we still only have 24 hours a day to work with, and only 2/3 of that if you factor in a decent night’s sleep.
Like a lot of us, I’ve established a daily routine for reviewing news and information sources that I trust – those that give me the best overview of areas in which I want or need to stay informed. Some are free and some I opt to pay for. Others may require a free soft registration. My list regularly evolves — expanding or contracting depending on my needs, new things I discover through conversations with clients or professional colleagues, or utilizing information tools that aggregate information and save me time.
My goal is to have unbiased sources in my daily briefing – or at least those I consider unbiased. Our information and political environments today frequently blur that distinction. I try to keep my daily briefing an “opinion free” zone — I’m mostly interested in facts. Opinion does creep in of course – shall we call that opinion creep? There are definitely some (many?) blurred lines between reporting and opinions, but many resources get it right. When I want opinion, that’s easy to find elsewhere.
Here are my Top 10 Morning Briefing resources (in no particular order):
- Morning Brew daily newsletter – mostly business news
- Associated Press (AP) Morning Wire email
- Reuters Daily Briefing email
- Headline news and business emails from New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times
- Bloomberg’s “5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day” email
- I might also scan headlines from the Financial Times and Washington Post as time permits
- BeSpacific – daily email focusing on law, technology and knowledge discovery topics
- Google Alerts I’ve created on designated topics as they arrive in my inbox
- Quick scan of my professional Twitter account
- Scan of LinkedIn notifications – good source of what peers are thinking, reading, and doing
Does that look like a lot? I’ve allotted about 1.5 hours of my daily work schedule to review these each day and respond to any if appropriate. There’s frequently some overlap within these resources, so I can skip ahead when I come across duplicate story topics. It’s the first thing I do in the morning after pouring the first of several cups of coffee. A joyful routine for me.
Do you have a daily current awareness routine? What are your go-to resources for staying on top of the issues relevant to you and/or your business and clients? Please share in the comments section below.
An Inquiring Mind 