This is one of my favorites:

"If more information was the answer, then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs." - Derek Sivers

Humor aside, it's a critical idea for modern life:

Dopamine from information gathering is a dangerous drug.

In his 2012 bestseller, ​Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder​, author Nassim Taleb offered a sharp rebuke of the human tendency to gather more information at all costs (emphasis mine):

"Data is now plentiful thanks to connectivity; and the share of spuriousness in the data increases as one gets more immersed into it. A not well discussed property of data: it is toxic in large quantities—even in moderate quantities...

The more frequently you look at data, the more noise you are disproportionally likely to get (rather than the valuable part called the signal); hence the higher the noise to signal ratio..."

Taleb differentiates between two types of information:

• Signal: The meaningful, relevant information or data you want to detect.
• Noise: The unwanted, random, or irrelevant interference that obscures that information.

Taleb's core argument is that as you increase the frequency of observation (i.e. consume more data), you dramatically increase the relative proportion of noise.

Signal tends to be persistent and slow moving, while noise is constant and random. The signal won’t move much in more frequent observations, but you’ll capture a lot more noise.

In his example, if you look at any piece of data on different time intervals, you will experience a very different ratio of signal to noise:

• Yearly Observation: 50% signal, 50% noise
• Daily Observation: 5% signal, 95% noise
• Hourly Observation:  0.5% signal, 99.5% noise

He concludes that more data creates what he calls a Noise Bottleneck:

"This is hard to accept in the age of the internet. It has been very hard for me to explain that the more data you get, the less you know what’s going on..."

You think you know more, but you actually know less.

This is a particularly damning problem in a social media era where it’s easy to plug into the 24/7 IV drip of information that’s just noise masquerading as signal.

You know that person who watches the news for 10 hours a day but somehow seems to understand less about the world? That's the Noise Bottleneck in action.

Or maybe you know the person who tracks 50 variables to make investing decisions but somehow underperforms a simple index fund? That's the Noise Bottleneck.

Or maybe you're friends with a guy who meticulously tracks 800 nodes on his personal productivity system, but can't seem to get anything done? That's the Noise Bottleneck.

But as is typically the case with ideas I share in this newsletter, I think the concept of a Noise Bottleneck applies well beyond the realm of data consumption or information gathering...

I'm particularly interested in two adjacent applications:

1. The Creator Application

As a purveyor of ideas, I think the Noise Bottleneck provides a helpful lens through which to evaluate and establish a bar for what I share.

If a person were to consume 20% of the content I share, how knowledgeable would they be about the topics I care about?

If that same person were to now consume 80% of the content I share, would they be more knowledgeable or less knowledgeable?

In other words, am I creating a Noise Bottleneck with the incremental ideas, or am I maintaining a high signal bar?

I think this is a useful lens to consider whether or not you're a creator in the common sense of the word.

We are all creators in one way, shape, or form.

As a leader in your family, company, or community, you are a purveyor of ideas. Do those who "follow you" gain or lose from consuming progressively more of those ideas?

2. The Work Application

As a professional, I think the Noise Bottleneck provides a helpful lens through which to consider your focus.

If I were to work 50% as much as I do today, how much would I earn relative to my current level?

Think about that question deeply. It's tempting to come to a quick conclusion that you'd earn much less, but for most of us, we'd find ways to be hyper-productive during those working hours. We'd uncover efficiencies. We'd unlock new ways of working. We'd focus on the few things that really deliver results.

So, in some sense, you're suffering from a Noise Bottleneck when it comes to your own work. You're working more, but you're actually less productive.

Use the insights from that question analysis to think about ways you can make improvements today. Focus on the few things that really matter. Use the tools that are at your disposal. And if you continue to work at your current levels, think about how you can focus those efforts on the projects and opportunities that really matter.

The Noise Bottleneck is a trap we all fall into. More and more information. More and more data. But less and less impact.

The goal isn't to know everything. It's to know enough—and then act.

Your entire life will change when you stop looking for more information and start acting on the information you already have.

Dopamine from information gathering is a dangerous drug. Get your dopamine from action.