I would like to see a movement where—rather than always focusing on “Breaking News”—we instead direct our attention towards “Repairing Olds”, by which I mean resurfacing the wisdom of those many brilliant men and women who have gone before us.

Very rarely will you find much worthwhile in something new, especially in this day and age where there seems to be a dearth of originality and genuine creativity. Classic wisdom is such because it still holds up today just as well as during any other period in human history. There are so many relevant gems from the past because there is nothing new under the sun and the ancients were a lot less distracted by social media. Besides, very rarely will the headlines of today even be remembered a week, a year, a decade from now. (Obviously events like 9/11 are an uncommon exception but that just points to how few and far between those occurrences really are).

I live a very peaceful life because I don’t pay much attention at all to the news or social media. And yet, I feel like I stay fairly well-informed on the most important topics because the things that really matter filter up and are what others talk about. So I don’t need to actively monitor headlines because I can passively hear about current events. (Frankly, even that is a bit too much for my taste.)

And yet, reading selections from the Harvard Classics brings me more personal enrichment than the latest headline. I am seeped in the best of history’s wisdom. Even work-focused, classic Harvard Business Review articles from the 1970s are fairly applicable to today’s challenges (for example, the “Who’s Got the Monkey?” article).

The Cult of the New is stress-inducing. But fortunately for us, FOMO is a curable disease. We just need to cultivate ancient wisdom and make it digestable and easily available, much like James Clear does with his 3-2-1 newsletter.