Dealing with information overload.
Information overload is bad! Very bad indeed. It stops us from taking action. I know just writing this, I keep dipping back into the interwebs to try to garner a little more useful information. I then spend all my time researching and not writing. Running my own business makes this particularly tricky as I set my own deadlines…of which there are very few!
What happens in 60 seconds (I hope you’re sitting down)!
- 168 million emails sent
- 694,445 Google searches
- 695,000 Facebook status updates
- 370,000 Skype calls are made
- 98,000 tweets on Twitter
- 20,000 new posts on Tumblr
- 13,000 iPhone apps downloaded
- 6,600 new pictures on Flickr
- 1,500 new blog entries posted
- 600+ videos posted totalling over 25 hours duration on YouTube
Tips for dealing with all that stuff
Set goals
- Those of us who write down our goals are far more likely to succeed than those who merely spend time thinking about it.
Work out what’s important
- Once we’ve got our goals clearly in mind we can then better sift through the information to create specific strategies.
- Digest only what can be used immediately.
- This requires (not my favourite thing), self-control. If the information is of no use to you right now, give it the old ‘heave-ho’.
Stop procrastinating
- Often we consume too much information as a diversion technique. Remember when you were studying and you had an essay due the next day. Suddenly it was imperative you cleaned your house!
- Don’t consume information just for the sake of it. It’s a dead-end street.
Stop multi-tasking
- Studies have shown that multi-tasking is not an efficient way to get stuff done. So bad as to dumb us down (more than smoking marijuana does… Seriously? There are studies that prove this? I would love to know how the experiments were conducted).
- Solution: pick a task, stick to it, finish it, move on.
Take a deep breath and carry Om
Are you remembering to breathe? When we are overwhelmed and strung out we start breathing like we have just run a marathon. Short, sharp and shallow. When we are cool, calm and collected our breathing is deep, slow and steady.
Did you know? On functional MRI scans, people who meditate regularly are shown to have developed brains that are wired differently than the brains of non-meditators. In fact, they are better able to remain calm and stress free
Try this now: take a slow, deep breath in, filling your lungs with air and expanding your diaphragm. Hold your breath for four counts and then slowly release the air through your mouth. Repeat four times and notice frustration and the feeling of being overwhelmed dissolve with each long exhale.