You're struggling to keep up with the news cycle. How can you stay on top of it?

- Use digital resources at your disposal like setting up detailed news alerts or using AI tools like ChatGPT to help organize news stories in order of importance to your audiences. - Prioritize the news - it's impossible to stay on top of every story in town so pick the ones you will closely monitor and be ready to swap out stories at short notice. - Delegate news monitoring to team members, ensuring everyone can come together at least once a day for an editorial meeting. - Breathe! The news never stops but you must, otherwise you will crash and burn.

We pay for lots of entertainment content. We pay for expensive coffee. Why do we hesitate to pay for news? Journalism is expensive, but it's worth it.

Make time for tech and content breaks. Read news sources only, avoid "opinion" based content. It used to be that editorials were the exception not the rule. Now it seems that opinions matter more than facts. Try to read fact based sources and limit your exposure known violators. Vary what media you consume. Read more history as there is nothing new under the sun.

Realize that the media game is a game of chess while most consumers are "playing checkers". Media giants are moving pieces sideways and backwards. They are playing for eyeballs and ad dollars and valuations; facts may only get in the way. Most will publish what garners attention or advances their power & agenda. Either way the consumer is getting played as they are stuck in confirmation bias and being exploited. Know this and it will change everything you read or watch from here on. Remember FOX was sued for lying about the 2020 election, they paid the massive fine and are still lying because the game isn't about facts it's about money and advancing their power over their audience. This is a dangerous matter for everyone.

Argument is critical to life of a democratic republic. To have a true "argument" you must have three things. Thesis. Anti-thesis. Synthesis. All knowledge and societal advancement has come through this dialectic. We can't stop at two opposing points of view. We must synthesize new ideas together. That's how we all benefit from polemics. There is no day without night. There is no warmth without the cold. We need each other even though we may not agree. Read and discuss content through this lense and see if it helps.

If you grew up before the Internet you have known a simpler world. That world is a just a click of a power button away. All devices have an off button. Shut them all off and rediscover daydreaming, silence, freedom and peace of connecting with yourself and nature. If just for a day...an hour...or a minute.

When was the last time you read something that hit you in the gut? When was the last time you wrote something that did? What was the last article you read that you shared?