One of the most useful books I have ever read is Essentialism, by Greg McKeown. It’s about how to more effectively deal with the overwhelming number of demands on your time. One of the most valuable sections teaches you to say “no” to things that are not the best possible use of your time. One of the key concepts in the book is teaching you how to separate “the vital few from the trivial many.” It’s a powerful concept and a phrase that I regularly return to.

It’s also an interesting lens through which to look at content. There is SO much content being created day after day, week after week, month after month. It overwhelms audiences. Whether through social media, email newsletters, websites, Netflix, or podcasts, there is always infinitely more content to choose from than there is time to consume it. Every day, when choosing what they will read, watch, or listen to, audiences must consciously or unconsciously filter the trivial many things offered to them into the vital few that they actually consume.

Here’s an interesting thought experiment… as a consumer, how can you be more conscious about choosing your vital few and make sure you’re not wasting huge amounts of time on the trivial many? My hunch is that if you really think about this, you will choose your vital few based on quality and value. In the context of how to choose content:

• Which content is better than the rest?
• Which content gives you the most useful information or the most satisfaction?
• Which content respects my limited time and consciously doesn’t waste it?

This leads to the ultimate question for content creators: how can you separate your work from the trivial many and become part of the vital few?

The answers to the consumer question are also the answers to the content creator question 🙂

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