It was 9:00 p.m. on a Friday. I pulled into my driveway, pressed the garage door opener, and nothing happened. Dead battery.
I knew I’d need a nine-volt eventually, so I drove to Target, which was convenient, because I also “needed” trash bags, candles, and whatever else the end-cap displays would convince me was essential.
While browsing throw blankets, I overheard a Target employee in the next aisle direct a woman to the soap dispensers. The customer studied the options for a few seconds, then asked: “But do you have anything fancy?”
Target is many things. A destination for fancy soap dispensers is not one of them. She rolled away disappointed, and I stepped over to look at what she’d rejected. Several perfectly nice options sat on the shelf, but “fancy” depends on where you’re standing, and she was standing in the wrong store.
Here’s the emotional truth: most of us are that woman, searching for fancy soap dispensers at Target. Not literally (though maybe literally). We subscribe to publications that don’t give us what we need, then wonder why we feel uninspired. We keep reading content we never act on, then wonder why nothing changes. We gorge on information that doesn’t serve us, then wonder why we’re too full to create.
I call this The Dispenser Problem, the mismatch between what you’re looking for and where you’re looking for it. And it applies to your content diet more than you might think.
Habit #1: Don’t look for what you need where it isn’t
Think of your subscriptions like stores. Each one should stock something specific you’re shopping for.
Make a list of every publication you subscribe to, with a note about the value you actually get. If one consistently fails to deliver, not because it’s bad, but because it’s not what you need, release it. That publication serves someone else well. It’s just not your store.
The woman at Target probably bought other things she needed. But if she kept going back, week after week, hoping to find a fancy soap dispenser? That’s not loyalty. That’s a habit with amnesia.
Habit #2: Unsubscribe from what you ignore
You know those emails. You open them, glance, delete. Two seconds each. Nothing, right?
Except those two seconds happen every day, and over six months they add up to an hour of your life you’ll never get back, spent on content you’ve proven you don’t use.
Apply the Six-Month Rule: if you haven’t acted on advice from a newsletter in the last six months, unsubscribe. Not because the content is bad. Because you’re not ready for it, or it’s not ready for you.
Clearing space makes room for new subscriptions you’d actually engage with, ones that match who you are right now, not who you were when you signed up.
Habit #3: Let go of content you love to hate
We’ve all done it. Read something that makes us angry. Shared it with a friend to confirm our outrage. Returned to the comments section for another round.
This is the content equivalent of picking a scab, and it’s exactly as productive.
The internet is vast. Whatever your beliefs, values, or interests, you can find a community that shares them. Publications that frustrate you aren’t going to change their content because you’re mad about it. They don’t know you’re mad. They don’t care.
Click away. Protect your energy for the work that matters.
Habit #4: Reduce the noise
Whenever you catch yourself saying “I’d like to do that, but I just don’t have time,” stop. That sentence is a diagnostic tool, not a conclusion.
- Would you actually like to do that thing, or do you just think you should?
- If the opportunity genuinely interests you, what are you doing instead?
- Can you reduce the time you spend on the replacement activity?
If you want to learn food photography but “don’t have time,” audit your social media use. The hours are there. They’re just allocated to scrolling instead of studying.
Distractions have value, stress relief, creative sparks, plain old pleasure. But when they crowd out the activities you claim to want, they’ve become something else entirely.
Even ten reclaimed minutes a day adds up. Ten minutes for fiction that feeds your writing voice. Ten minutes for meditation that sharpens your focus. Ten minutes for research that seeds your next project.
The store you actually need
When I went to Target that Friday night, I had a clear goal: a nine-volt battery. I found it. I also left with a dark gray knit throw blanket I hadn’t planned on, a useful discovery made because I was in the right store for the right reason.
That’s how good content consumption works. Go where you’ll find what you need. Stay open to surprise. Leave when the shelves stop serving you.
Your attention is the most valuable resource you have. Spend it where it earns a return.