How to Fight Information Overload

Cover of "A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Bra...

Cover via Amazon

Here’s an interesting perspective from Karol Kroll…

Information overload is a creature that has been growing on the Internet’s back since its beginnings. The bigger the Internet gets, the more information there is. The more quality information we see, the more we want to consume it. The more we want to consume it, the more overloaded we feel.

This has to stop somewhere. And it can.

As the year comes to a close, there’s no time like the present to make the overloading stop.

What you need to do is focus on these 4 steps:

Set your goals.

Decide whether you really need the information.

Consume only the minimal effective dose.

Don’t procrastinate by consuming too much information.

But before I explain exactly what I mean, let’s discuss information overload in general.

The Nature of the Problem

The sole fact that there’s more and more information published online every single day is not the actual problem. Only the quality information becomes the problem. This sounds kind of strange…but bear with me.

When we see some half-baked blog post we don’t even consider reading it, we just skip to the next thing. But when we see something truly interesting — maybe even epic — we want to consume it. We even feel like we have to consume it. And that’s the real problem.

No matter what topic we’re interested in, there are always hundreds of quality blogs publishing entries every single day (or every other day). Not to mention all the forums, message boards, social news sites, and so on. The amount of epic content on the Internet these days is so big that it’s virtually impossible for us to digest it all. But we try anyway.

That’s when we feel overloaded. If you’re not careful, one day you’ll find yourself reading the 15th blog post in a row on some nice WordPress tweaking techniques because you feel that for some reason, “you need to know this.”

Information overload is a plague. There’s no vaccine, there’s no cure. The only thing you have is self-control. Luckily, you’re not on your own. There are some tips you can follow to protect yourself from information overload and, ultimately, fight it. But first…

Why information overload is bad

It stops you from taking action. That’s the biggest problem here. When you try to consume more and more information every day, you start to notice that even though you’ve been reading tons of articles, watching tons of videos and listening to tons of podcasts, the stream of incoming information seems to be infinite.

Therefore, you convince yourself that you need to be on a constant lookout for new information if you want to be able to accomplish anything in your life, work and/or passion. The final result is that you are consuming way too much information, and taking way too little action because you don’t have enough time for it.

The belief that you need to be on this constant lookout for information is just not true.

You don’t need every piece of advice possible to live your life, do your work, or enjoy your passion.

So how to recognize the portion of information that you really need? Start with your goals.

Source: How to Fight Information Overload

I’ve curated enough of Karol’s idea here for you to get the picture – go to the source if you’d like the rest of her perspective on steps 1-4…

So why did I share this? Because I’m thinking about this very issue for myself and I want you to think of it for yourself as we head into the new year…

‘Personal news aggregation’ is one of my superpowers. I use Gmail for my ‘just in time’ information [information that impacts relationships and revenue] and Google Reader for my ‘just in case’ information [you know, everything else]. Even with my Google Reader rockstar skills, I have fallen prey to the notion that I have to subscribe to ever good feed. Moving forward this year, however, I am going to put a much tighter leash on Google Reader and I’m cutting out a lot of the sources in Google Reader that are producing content that is marginal.

“In his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, Daniel H. Pink talks about the emergence of storytelling as an enormously important aspect of how we will become successful. He discusses how the age of the “knowledge worker,” the person who manipulates data, is changing. With the progression of information technology and globalization, he makes the point that “high concept” aptitudes will form the new age. He defines “high concept” as involving … “…the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new. High touch involves the ability to empathize with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one’s self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.” In short, what he’s saying is we’re all storytellers. And in content marketing, your stories are your “pillars of content.” They are the WHAT of what you are going to say to your personas.” Rose, Robert (2011-10-10). Managing Content Marketing (pp. 58-60). CMI Books. Kindle Edition.”

Krol says ‘start with your goals’ and Covey says ‘begin with the end in mind’. Right now I’m playing with the idea that the information you consume should be in strategic alignment with your blog which should be in strategic alignment with your brand. Here’s what I believe about personal brands and branding; your brand is the 2-3 impressions people gather about you and your thought leadership position as they move on or the things they feel when they see your site or tweet again. “Brand?” You say? “I don’t have one – I’m not big enough” but you have one, your blog has one, and your ‘thought leadership’ marketing has one.

I’m experimenting with only allowing content into Google Reader that matches the editorial focus of my blog. I’m thinking that if one truly wants to become an expert, that only focus will yield the right results. What do you think? Am I on to something here?