# Fighting Infomania: Why 80 Percent of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time  ## About - Author: Nat Eliason - Title: Fighting Infomania: Why 80 Percent of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time - Tags: #articles - URL: https://www.nateliason.com/blog/infomania ## Highlights Toyota’s ability to kill it in the car market came from their (then) revolutionary manufacturing process: [just in time manufacturing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time_manufacturing). While Detroit and other car companies would pump out cars “just in case” they were purchased, Toyota would make them “just in time” for their orders. This saved them millions of dollars by minimizing unused inventory, and the cost savings allowed them to speed up their manufacturing process significantly with new technology. What Toyota realized was that by creating cars just in time, they could move faster, respond to market changes quicker, and only make cars that they knew they needed. You should approach tactical knowledge the same way. Sidebar: There’s an important distinction here between tactical knowledge (e.g. how to do search engine optimization), and philosophical knowledge (e.g. understanding our tendency towards biased thinking). The first, tactical knowledge, is what we’re concerned with overdosing on. --- Any time you’re doing something that feels productive but doesn’t directly impact your most important goal, you’re being fauxductive. That includes bingeing on just in case knowledge, as well as checking email, [reading the news](https://www.nateliason.com/news-waste-time/), trying productivity tools, organizing your desktop, etc. --- Here’s your new rule for information, especially blogs and popular non-fiction books: ***If it doesn’t answer a specific question you’re currently asking, cover philosophical knowledge, or entertain you, then don’t read it.*** ---