Your mental diet is everything you put into your head: what you read, what you watch, and what you listen to, and it shapes you just as much as your nutrition or your training. People obsess over their food and their workouts, but I rarely hear anyone talk about what they are feeding their mind. In this Physical Friday I explain why I went on a news blackout five years ago, the one question I ask about everything I consume, and how to upgrade your inputs one habit at a time.
Listen now: press play in the audio player above and follow along.
Your mental diet is everything you put into your head: the books you read, the shows you watch, the podcasts and talk radio you listen to, and the social media accounts you follow. Just as a nutritional diet builds your body and a physical diet of exercise builds your fitness, your mental diet builds your mindset and your view of the world. Most people manage the first two carefully and never think about the third, and it influences them just as much.
I believe it does, strongly. It has been said you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, and I see that play out constantly: around positive people your attitude rises, around negative people it sinks. Why would the same not be true of what you read, watch, and listen to? A steady feed of news, gossip, and political shouting produces a different view of the world than good books and educational podcasts.
I have been on a news blackout for about five years. The news became completely negative, and I could not find a way that it was healthy for my mind. The question I ask about everything I consume is simple: is this benefiting me in some way? When the answer for the news became a consistent no, I turned it off, and I have replaced that time with reading good books and listening to podcasts that teach me something.
Start with awareness, then replace one input at a time. If you listen to a political talk show on the drive home, try a podcast that teaches you something for just one week and see if you feel a difference. On social media, follow accounts full of motivation and education, and unfollow the ones that go negative. You do not need to overhaul everything overnight; one upgraded habit tends to pull the next one along.
My book club is on tomrowlandpodcast.com, and it lists the books I have read over the last few years. They are all positive, and a lot of them focus on leadership and business. Plenty of listeners read along and email me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com to talk about them, and if you have a suggestion for a positive book I should read, I genuinely want to hear it. If you are listening to podcasts to learn, you are already on the right path.
This is the process I used to overhaul what goes into my head, one input at a time.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play above.
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, and I have watched that work in both directions: positive people pull your attitude and opinions up, negative people drag them down. Your media works exactly the same way, because you spend more hours with it than with most of your friends. I make the full case for treating your feed like your social circle in the episode, so press play above.
About five years ago I simply stopped watching the news, and I have never regretted it. It is not that I do not care what happens; it is that the format had become pure negativity, and I could not find the benefit. The important things still reach me. What changed is what filled the space: books, podcasts, things that build instead of drain. I talk through how the blackout actually works day to day in the episode, so press play above.
Everybody says social media is negative, and some platforms certainly lean that way, but there is another side to it. You can build a feed that is full of motivation and education, accounts that make you better every time you open the app. The algorithm feeds you more of whatever you engage with, so engage deliberately. I share how I curate mine and when I hit unfollow in the episode, so press play above.
Just knowing there is such a thing as a mental diet puts you ahead of most people. Being aware of what you put into your head, and whether it benefits you, has been huge in my life.
So what are you watching? What are you reading? What are you listening to? Is it benefiting you? Press play above, and if you want a place to start, the book club is waiting on tomrowlandpodcast.com.
the mental diet · news blackout · Tom Rowland Podcast Book Club · tomrowlandpodcast.com · leadership and business books · positive social media · podcast@saltwaterexperience.com · you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen, where I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep me ready to fish, hunt, and live hard for the rest of my life.
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