Navigating the Firehose

This wasn’t designed to compete for your attention—it was built to honor it.

This post might take five minutes to read.
That’s the point.

Because lately, I’ve been overwhelmed.
Not by any one thing—but by all the things.
I’ve got three inboxes.

I skim, delete, flag, unsubscribe, re-subscribe.

Somewhere in there are the 20% that matter. The 20% that might matter.
And the 60% that I need to automate, filter, or nuke into oblivion.

But I’m also building a startup.
I’m mentoring other founders.
I’m trying to absorb every crumb of insight on AI, marketing, sales strategy, climate policy, and circular design.

So, when I find a post someone I admire shares on Substack:
"Just read this." they said.
It’s Naomi Klein. In The Guardian.
Like it was so good, it wasn’t worth summarizing.

And I wanted to.

I admire Naomi Klein. I’ve read several of her books. I trust her voice.

So I clicked.
It was a Saturday morning. The kids hadn’t fully emerged yet, but I could hear them upstairs—the shower door sliding open, a drawer clicking shut.

I knew the “quiet” window was closing.

I want to get it—to fully digest her take on fascism, culture wars, and climate collapse.
All the scary things.
But it’s Saturday morning.

I read as fast as I could. And every sentence required energy.
The kind of energy that asks you to pause, think, reflect, maybe even Google a few things to catch up.

And while I wanted to be immersed in it, I was already halfway out.
Thinking about breakfast.
Thinking about the dinner I had to prepare later.
Thinking about whether I’d remember to come back to this article at all.

And this brilliant article?
Another equally brilliant email interview with so-and-so?
The next module release from the online course I’m taking?
Together, it asks more of me than I can give.

That’s the thing about the influx of information.
It’s not just email inboxes and newsletters.
It’s this quiet pressure to be caught up on everything ALL THE TIME.

For the sake of your own work and finding your own voice.
You have to know what’s going on, right?

And I want to catch it all.
I care deeply.
But the capacity just isn’t there.

So I do what many of us do:
I log it. Bookmark it. Tell myself I’ll come back.
Maybe I’ll ask ChatGPT for a summary.
And I feel... a little defeated.

Like maybe I’m not smart enough.
Or dedicated enough.
Or maybe I’m just human.

This is the firehose.

And it’s not just coming at us.
If we’re creators, founders, experts, or communicators, we often add to it.
Even with the best of intentions. Even with something meaningful to say.

That’s part of why I started writing here.
To make space for those who care… but don’t have the bandwidth to decode everything.

To find smaller ways in.
Not to shrink the truth, but to carve a clearer path to it.
And offer a sprinkle of hope, laughter and inspiration if I’ve done it well.

And I’m curious:
What helps you navigate the firehose?
Do you save things and come back?
Do you use tools? Ignore it all? Feel it constantly?
How are you figuring it out?

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