Slow Your Roll With Scrolling...

The news and information cycle has been a 24-hour thing for some time now. We are inundated, it just keeps coming at us. Even when we go to check emails, there are always stories scrolling in front of our eyes for us to read, before we can even open our email. If you’re like me, sometimes you lose 20 minutes before reading your first email of the day. If you love to learn, these days are wonderful. At some point we have to stop scrolling and skimming and read one item at a time. Bookmark or save something. It’s all very addictive, tiresome, and hard on the eyes. You say to yourself, "I’ll go back and read what I saved later." But...you don't.

Scrolling Syndrome …
Another day comes and reading what you saved is on your to-do list. But because you hate to miss anything, you decide to go online and check for anything new. Big mistake. One scroll after another and your window of opportunity for reading what you've collected is gone. But on the other hand, you've gathered more useful information.

My Brain Goes In Overdrive ...
This bad habit is in direct conflict with the creative universe of radio. Mulling something over is an important part of the process. But the non-stop influx of information keeps coming in waves. You get it in Google Alerts and alerts keep going off on your laptop and cell phone from the sites you signed up for. It's too much temptation not to scroll, scan, and stash away.

Control Your Urges ...
You've got to discipline yourself to know when enough is enough. A person can spend an entire day gathering content every 15 seconds and never get a minute's rest to comprehend and apply some thought to building an idea. Don't let your sense of "Real Time" acceleration blind you to the necessities of thinking, planning, and executing. It's up to you to control technology and the waves of information sent your way. You need to take the time to thoroughly read, ponder, allow for inspiration, and come up with ideas on how to use what you've learned.

In The Blink Of An Eye ...
You've got to put down the mouse, stop touching the screen, and get to work on creating something useful in your radio journey as a programmer or on-air personality. Hours can pass by scanning and saving information to various folders. Collecting tidbits is no good if all you do is collect and never read.

Slow Your Roll …
Radio and other audio media platforms are about human reaction to sounds, dreams, and life. It's about striking the right balance between gathering information, reading it, and then formulating ideas on how to best put it out in the universe for listeners. As my grandmother used to say, "Finish what's on your plate first, then you can go back for seconds.”