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 nutritional diets and physical diets, but almost nobody talks about the mental one. If you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, why would you not also be the average of what you consume? In this Physical Friday I share how I cleaned up my own mental diet, including a five-year news blackout.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Your mental diet is what you are putting into your head: what you are reading, what you are watching, and what you are listening to. People are aware of how important a good nutritional diet and a good physical diet are, but I do not hear many people talking about the mental one — and it has as much impact on who you become as either of the others.
It has been said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, and I believe it — around positive people, your mindset and attitudes shift positive; around negative people, they go downhill. If that is true of people, why would it not also be true of what you read, listen to, and watch? If your inputs are news, gossip, and reality shows, you will have a different view of the world than someone feeding on good books and educational podcasts.
I have been on a news blackout for about the last five years. It just seems completely negative, and not something that is healthy for my mind overall. I am not telling anyone what to do — to each his own — but cutting it out has been one of the most noticeable improvements in my own mental diet.
One question: is this benefiting me in some way? If I catch myself watching a reality show or some gossip thing and the answer is no, I just turn it off. Over the years I have replaced those things with reading a good book, listening to a podcast, or watching something educational rather than purely entertainment.
Absolutely. Certain platforms seem more negative than others, but there is another side to social media: accounts full of motivation and education instead of bad mojo. I try to follow only positive accounts, and when one goes negative I simply unfollow. You curate the feed, the feed shapes you — so curate it on purpose.
The book club on tomrowlandpodcast.com has all the books I have read over the last few years — a whole bunch of them, all very positive, with a lot on leadership and business. A lot of listeners read along and email me about them at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com, and sometimes we even talk about the books on the show.
On Physical Friday we cover the nutritional diet and the physical diet all the time — what you eat and how you train. But the third diet, the mental one, gets ignored, and it might shape your life more than either of the others. Just being aware that a mental diet exists is huge. Press play in the player above for the full episode.
If you have a habit of listening to a political talk show on the drive home, try this for one week: swap it for a podcast that teaches you something. Try to learn something on the way home and just see if it makes a difference. What I know will make a difference is being aware of what you are putting into your head and whether it is benefiting you. I explain how this played out in my own life in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Here are the steps I walk through in the episode, exactly as I applied them in my own life.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
You are listening to this podcast to learn something, which means you are already on the right path — extend that further and the positive inputs compound. The mental diet has been huge in my life.
If you want a starting point, hit the book club at tomrowlandpodcast.com, and if you have suggestions for more positive books, I am always interested in reading them — send them to podcast@saltwaterexperience.com. The mental diet: what are you watching, what are you reading, what are you listening to, and is it benefiting you? Press play in the player above.
mental diet · book club · news blackout · positive mindset · social media habits · leadership books · podcasts · Physical Friday · Saltwater Experience
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. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the workouts, nutrition, sleep, and mindset practices that keep me ready for long days on the water — practical fitness for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and anyone who wants to stay in the game for life.
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