The Value of Curation

7 Takeaways is weird

I started 7 Takeaways it for myself, to “force” me to consume higher quality content more consistently. Apparently I start newsletters to make myself do things.

Curating for others was never on the agenda, not really. Besides, there are so many other curated newsletters, and many of them are so much better. Hell, I get some of my ideas from them!

I realized just recently that curation — especially from people who you resonate with — is an incredibly valuable service. Given the amount of information vying for our attention, and the number of sources from which it emanates, having someone point out their idea of the “good stuff” (or at least “the interesting stuff”) not only saves time, but exposes us to things we would never stumble across ourselves.

Then I realized while I have a few unintentional themes — philosophy and critical thinking are common topics I seem to be drawn to, for example — it’s a natural reflection of my own priorities and interests. Sometimes, it’s just curiosity. Sometimes it’s acknowledgement of my pre-existing beliefs. Sometimes it’s a challenge for me to grow or learn something I think is important.

Then I realized themes often become agendas. I never set out to have themes, and I certainly didn’t have an agenda other than for myself. But now I also consider a different question: what do I want my audience to learn/do/read/think about? And how might that color what I consume, and my original “consume better shit” intent?

Then I realized (ok, this realization may have happened earlier in the sequence) that while I don’t have a target audience, other than myself, I do occasionally think of a few of the 40-somethings in my life, and think about what I might want for them.

So here we are, a couple of years after starting it. 7 Takeaways, both its own website and Substack newsletter, is now a weekly curation of things I’ve run across that I find interesting, but that I also hope will make a difference in the lives of the folks who follow along.

And now I think of them as well as I curate.

Like I said, it’s … weird.