There’s an invisible, yet powerful villain that’s depriving you of the life you were meant to live. This villain has been known to grab ahold your emotions, especially if you’re scrolling through social media or watching the news. This monster throws you off track. It feeds off fear, insecurity, and your ego. It’s the reason you’re unfocused and why you may often feel defeated.
This villain—the one who has the ability to take you from flying high to completely crushing you, questioning your entire life and choices—is called PROPAGANDA.
What do I mean by PROPAGANDA?
Propaganda is infectious advertising. It’s any piece of media—headlines, posts, videos and conversations—that you see every day designed to sway your thoughts, actions and opinions in a certain direction.
- It’s seductive information meant to influence or persuade you.
- It’s selective information presented in a biased way.
- And if not a complete lie... it’s at best selective truths.
Propaganda can manipulate your mind into believing that you’re missing out (#FOMO), the grass is always greener, or that there’s always a new shiny object worth chasing. It’s a clever little technique that convinces people to frantically move on to the next big thing, because they’re never satisfied with what they’re doing.
It’s slowly breaking you down. It’s death by a thousand, tiny, little paper cuts day by day. The worst part? You don’t even realize it’s happening!
Is Propaganda HIJACKING your EMOTIONS?
Here are two types of common propaganda and here’s how to spot the different ways you’re falling victim to a hijack everyday:
1. Reactive advertising
This one is obvious. It’s the messages that create an immediate response. You see a headline, a video or a post and you REACT. You’re upset, angry, sad, annoyed; you’re hit with information that triggers you. You might even know that there’s an intention behind it- but it still bothers you.
Reactive propaganda robs you of your time. Whether it’s annoyed you for five minutes, an hour or a week… that’s TIME! And at the end of the day, stealing our time is stealing our life. You may not even recognize how much time you’ve lost because it happens in such tiny increments.
And what’s shocking about that is we become addicted to it. We’re addicted to reading content, we can’t take our eyes off the comments, the drama and the belief that we might be on the edge of discovering something new and exciting.
2. The great opportunity!
After 19 years of being in the direct sales business, I can tell you that “The next big thing!” is the sneakiest way that you’re being hijacked. Some of the most alluring propaganda is disguised as ‘a new amazing, can’t miss, once in a lifetime opportunity’! We live in a world where we believe in limitless opportunities that are available to us 24/7.
Unfortunately, we’re also living in a world where we’re attached to our devices and slowly dying of over-consumption. There’s just too much out there to digest.
As entrepreneurs we’re always interested in new ideas (it’s in our very nature, after all) but is it distracting us? Is it keeping us from sticking with a new project or an idea long enough to see results?
If you’re always moving on to “the next big thing”, getting caught up in FOMO and constantly looking for a shiny new object to chase– guess what? You’re being hijacked!
Fight the PROPAGANDA VILLAIN!
The good news is that there is something you can do about it.
Ask yourself these three questions:
1. Is this giving me energy or taking it away?
Are you receiving positive, empowering, uplifting information and energy? If you are, that’s the kind of energy you want to keep in your life!
If it’s taking away energy, affecting you negatively and robbing you of your time, unsubscribe, unfollow and change the channel.
2. What is the intention behind this message?
What’s the intention behind these messages? Are you mindful of the intention behind the messages that you’re seeing every day? Is this really what’s best for you…or is there a hidden motive that has nothing to do with your wellbeing?
Take a closer look into the intention behind the words. If you’re not aware of the intent it could deter you from getting the results you want. If they’re affecting your emotions- don’t participate in the hijacking!
3. Is it in alignment with where you’re meant to go?
This might be the most important question to ask yourself. How does it align with what you’re passionate about? Is it in alignment with your purpose or your calling?
I turn down opportunities all the time. Why? Because those aren’t opportunities that are meant for me right now. Chasing those opportunities would distract me from the incredible projects in alignment with my mission that I’m already working on.
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.” – Steve Jobs
A great opportunity may not be your opportunity. If you’re going after all of the opportunities presented before you, you may be missing out on staying the course with the opportunity meant for you.
How are you beating the propaganda monster today?
