Be honest: How many tabs do you have open in your browser right now? And how many times will you stop to check your email, IMs or Twitter while reading this post?
There are too many links to click, blogs to subscribe to, Tweets to Retweet, books to read, and oh yeah, work to do.
So how do we do it all? How do we keep up?
We don’t. We can’t. We won’t.
So what should we do?
We. Must. Focus.
Easier said than done, of course. How do we know what to focus on? How can we deem what is relevant, newsworthy, or beneficial to the maintenance of our employment status without checking it out?
The truth is, I don’t have the answer. I’m just another guy who spends too much time reading stuff online. And some of it was very good.
Here are what some of the brightest minds have to say about freeing your mind from the tyranny of stimulus overload (though they didn’t phrase it like that – thank God).
Their advice?
1. Be picky. Go ahead, be a snob.
Scott Stratten comes up with unconventional ideas that mock conventional wisdom (I mean, the guy created the art of “unmarketing,” a pretty gutsy move). His litmus test of value is pretty simple:
2. Redraw.
I’d call Chris Brogan a thought leader if I didn’t think it would make him cringe, but if anyone can lay claim to this title, it’s him. He has helped to turn abstract concepts into concrete ideas that have paved the way and poured the foundation for a ton of social media initiatives.
But he’s running out of bandwidth. Which is why he’s redrawing. He says “(t)his has precious little to do with social media marketing, but everything to do with human business.”
Find out exactly what this means, and how you can benefit from him (again!) here.
3. It’s spring. So clean.
Eric Fulwiler wants you to get trigger-happy. With the unfollow button on Twitter, that is. And while you’re at it, why don’t you clean out your RSS feeder (you haven’t touched some of those feeds since Thanksgiving and they’ve got mold all over them).
Eric shares his 8 step plan for social media spring cleaning. Much easier to follow than a diet.
4. Stretch your brain less. Flex your brain more.
Google’s ex-CIO, Douglas Merrill shares the secrets of his success with Jay Yarow at Business Insider. Among them?
“Don’t try to learn things.”
“Never multitask.”
“Don’t confuse being neat for being organized.”
The dude has a Ph.D in cognitive science from Princeton, and was CIO at Google. I’d say that’s decent enough street cred to at least read this post.
5. Be part of the solution. Being part of the problem is weak.
Michele Linn shares her counterintuitive thoughts from the other side of the equation (the content-pusher side) on how to attack information overload and make it a win-win for everyone involved.
How? By making it easier for users to unsubscribe. Sure, you like dropping that impressive number of subscribers in your board meetings, but wouldn’t it be more impressive to be able to claim you have actual readers? Trim the fat, take pity on their inboxes, and help to ease the case of information overload going around.
If people only read what they truly wanted or needed to read, we’d have a lot more time to actually get work done.
I’m not sure if that’s what Michele was going for, but that’s what I got out of her piece.
6. Admit that you’re more likely to be the rule than the exception.
Nobody can handle the amount of information being produced every day (but you can). No one can truly multitask (except for you). It’s impossible to keep up with all the trends, fads, and funny stuff online (for everyone BUT you).
We’re arrogant. We think we’re smarter than everyone else. We think we are the snowball that actually does stand a chance in hell.
We’re probably wrong. But admitting this can be a blessing in disguise. Learn why here.
7. File all your truly important stuff in an easy to find location.
Like the trash.
Ok, so this one probably doesn’t help in the long run. But damn it feels good in the moment.
What articles on information overload did I miss? (And can you blame me?)
[image: lululemon athletica]
Related articles
- Five Tips to Avoid Information Overload (chris.pirillo.com)
- 5 ways to take control of information overload (holykaw.alltop.com)
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for giving us more to read! A counter intuitive ploy if ever I met one.
Thanks for playing along with my trickery
Hi Andrew! Found you through the Lion (Marcus).
Great tips! I am right there with the info overload, actually it is Social Media overload! Am working on a different variation of this theme at the moment for a future blog post!
Cheers,
Rajka
Awesome! Let me know when you publish it. I’d love to read it.
Marcus is a good dude- and brilliant.
Thanks for dropping by!
I will take partial credit for this blog topic with my question on dealing with info overload on a previous post of yours
In all seriousness, thanks for taking the time to pull this together though. Once I get a spare minute I will be sure to check them out. I did just get done going through my Google Reader RSS and TweetDeck lists and cleaning them out. It feels good to open up the feed and actually be able to skim through it without getting overwhelmed.
Also that link to the Social Media Spring Cleaning article is returning a 404 error, looks like he has a different domain now? I found it at: http://www.blog.ericfulwiler.com/social-media/an-8-step-plan-for-social-media-spring-cleaning/
Jeff – you can take full credit, or blame, whichever you prefer
I do remember the comment (this one, right? http://engage.tmgcustommedia.com/2011/05/how-to-monitor-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-6319)
I always get a sense of relief when I clean out the inbox, the reader, etc. But I know more content is coming down the road.
Have you heard of Bob Pozen? He has some awesome tips on being more efficient. If only I was effective enough to follow them http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2011/04/productivity-tips-from-bob-poz.html
And btw, thanks for tracking down the correct URL. I edited the post so it now points people to the right link, and doesn’t waste any more precious time
I had not heard of him. That was a great video, thanks for sharing!
Another wonderfully useful post, Andrew. “Don’t try to learn things”?! Given my current (and mostly ineffectual) obsession with personal development and studying, that in particular was utterly irresistible.
It’s probably better to phrase it as “don’t try to memorize things for the sake of memorization.” If it’s easy to look up, don’t waste precious brain space on it. Learning things, however, is amazingly useful as I think we all agree. Thanks for the comment, MC!
THANK GOD I thought it was just ME!
An hour a day max…that’s the time limit for all this wonderful stuff. If I miss something, I miss it. I’ve come to terms that I’ll never get to the end of the internet to find out what happens.
As if there’s an end! Great tip to budget your time like that. Smart. Thanks for dropping by!
The idea of not trying to learn things is intriguing to me. I have opened the page regarding the tips from Douglas Merrill. God willing I will read it after. I think that being able to focus on what we can actually digest could show that we understand that we have weaknesses and are not perfect.
I think the point is not to try to waste brain space memorizing static information that is easy to refer to. Spend your time analyzing and critically thinking instead. That’s my take, anyway, even if it is a bit of a sensationalized statement to begin with
Thanks for pointing this post to that article featuring Douglas Merrill’s advice.
I was quite surprised as I read his suggestions, especially about the story with Einstein.
When I was still in college, most of the time I’ve been against written examinations where you need to memorize definitions, and things you can find on a book.
All the time I’ve been against memorization at all!
I believe that our memory functions to store events and happenings and not waste it on things that are already stored somewhere.
I agree, Gian. The Merrill advice sorta shook me up, too.
Thanks for dropping by – hope to see you around!
re: how many tabs are open right now–Um, on how many browsers? (Internet Explorer, Chrome….)
I hear you
Also, is the TV on? Have you looked down at your smart phone? Did the phone just ring? How about the doorbell? Are new email notifications popping up? The list goes on and on and on.
Thanks for dropping by!
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