Distilling your content
Today I’m going to talk about saying no.
And I’m going to start by saying yes. (confused?)
Yes, I know you’ve heard it before that it’s as important (more so?) to say no as it is to say yes. Nothing new there.
If you’ve ever made an agreement with yourself to say no to more of the things you get asked to do, you know that it’s not only difficult, it’s scary.
We all have a little bit of FOMO, right?
But, if you’ve ever run a ‘no’ experiment, you’ve also likely discovered how freeing it can be. You end up being far more thoughtful about what you say yes to. A no creates FOCUS. When I say no to a thing, it creates space in my head for the thing(s) I say yes to. And who couldn’t use more head-space? (raises hand, breathes sigh of relief)
The kind of no I’m talking about today is called distilling. Distilling the content you’ve collected in your research is saying no to some of it. It’s important and powerful.
When I begin a new research project and start reading about it from a very novice perspective, I collect a LOT of stuff. I save (almost) all of it to my Notion database. Links, images, quotes, stats, reports…I collect it all. I add a short comment on my initial thoughts and highlight a bit, but I save it all.
At the end of this collection extravaganza, my head is swimming. Mainly, I feel like I’ve made no progress at all!
When I first started doing research, I really didn’t like this part of the process. But what I’ve come to understand is that this step – as frustrating as it can be - really is where I learn the most.
It may seem odd, but this collection extravaganza is just the first part of distilling. It’s the part where I’m still figuring out what to say no to. I’m still learning.
In my 4-step Find Your Wedge process, Step 2 is this collection extravaganza. Yes, it can be frustrating and not just a little overwhelming, but it’s also where getting a broader perspective about your niche is going to help you when you start distilling in Step 3.
Before distilling, collect
I like to uni-task. And in this case, I am not ready to distill until I feel like I’ve done a good job of collecting. So, here are three key points about collecting and not getting stuck here:
Do a good job of collecting: The internet (your collection source) is a big place and you just aren’t going to be able to collect ‘it all’. That’s fine, do a good job of collecting and move on.
Don’t try to collect and distill at the same time. That’s multi-tasking and it will not serve you well. Give yourself the okay to just keep collecting until you’ve done a ‘good job’. See point 1.
This one is important. Look carefully at where your data is coming from. There’s a LOT of bias out there. A LOT. Collect from a wide range of sources. Don’t get stuck in 1 or 2. Give yourself the benefit of a wide range of perspectives at this stage. You don’t have keep them all, for sure, but do yourself this favor at the collection stage.
Ready to distill. Here we go:
Re-read what you’ve collected. An article that you collected right at the start, may now not look as relevant as it did initially. If you highlighted a few points when you first saved it, based on your first impressions, that’s great. That makes this part a bit easier.
Don’t delete it yet (decision fatigue will set in!). Simply move (or tag it) to a file labeled ‘No’. You can delete these after you are completely done and have decided it really was a ‘no’.
Move on to the next article (or graphic or stat…), and repeat step 1 (re-read).
Repeat steps 1-3 until you’ve made it all the way through your sources. Each time you look at your sources, even at a high-level, you’ll pick up something new.
Go through this distilling until you’ve got a core, manageable group of sources that you feel are credible, some that both agree with and challenge your assumptions (and desires).
You’ve done it!
You’ve learned a lot about your niche and are ready to move on to defining your wedge and Step 3 in the Find Your Wedge framework. Woohoo!
If you are looking for clarity in your business to develop products or create services or even to do a full-on pivot, you can’t stay overwhelmed within your whole niche. You have to distill. You have to say no to some of it.
“No” will give you:
Focus for what you need to do day-to-day
Clarity for how your business fits in the larger niche (aka, your wedge)
A way to create a realistic strategy to move forward
Stay tuned-
Julie