Simple solutions for Info Overload
I wrote this up while moderating at another forum and thought it would be handy to those who have yet to see it:
I am sure there are bound to be proponents and dissidents of all sides of the argument but please, if you have better ideas, post them in this thread to help everyone else
Thanks
Part 5 - Information Overload, Prevention and Cure (among other things)
By now you have already died from info overload from reading parts 1 through 4 of forum life ! (herein referred to as IO) and are sick to death of hearing the phrase "information overload" and having anything to do with learning. And that is exactly what Info overload does. It shuts down the learning centers of the brain. If you have no brain it is not a problem (and I do wonder about people but then I realize they are just suffering from IO) but, for the most part, IO is precisely what prevents IM'ers from becoming productive. Since the digital information age arrived the ability of the human mind to cope with the higher demands of info has had to increase something like to the power of ten. We are constantly bombarded with imagery from screens, billboards, sign writing on vehicles, t.v, dvd, video, pc's etc. What happens is we cease to absorb / process information:
Fact: Global Education Research shows the average child, in a classroom setting, ceases to absorb and process new information after approximately 20 minutes of constant input. Unfortunately adults do not fare much better than children. So . . .the next time you go to watch a tutorial which is an hour long . . . take a five minute break half way through. There is a good chance that if you don't do that you will find yourself having to re-visit it time and time again instead of getting all the learnings down pat in one hit.
Now you see why Forum life is set out in small, yet do-able, stages.
Ok . . .beginning to really understand what I.O is and how it affects us, we can now look at how it can be reduced, how we can eliminate the effects (forever) and how we can then start to become REALLY productive. First things first ( no you don't have to go see Tony Robbins):
For some of you this may hit quite hard. I may well be slammed by some for being hypocritical, because I do some of the things I am about to advocate against. There is, however, a valid argument that I will make as my disclaimer here:
Forum Life series is being aimed at two -three categories of situations / people. In the first instance Noobs who have never made any money online, in the second instance people who have never been either self employed (fully!) or been business operators before, third to people who are in the situation where they MUST monetize their lives but cannot because of a lack of knowledge and organizational capability in regard to the very things being discussed on Forum Life.
That said, there are various activities people do every day which are disrupting their ability to think, stay focused, prioritize and produce. The fact of the matter is that ALL computer / Internet users (unless our name is sergeant major in the us marines) suffer, to SOME degree, from what I am about to get in to next.
Excessive, uncontrolled levels of information will do as outlined above. It will make you unproductive and literally stagnate your ability to think. Information. What do you DO about it ?
Here's the OGRE list of Do - NOT do's
A. Cease surfing the net / and or gaming all day
What I am not wanting to see is this situation where your day is filled up with useless, non productive activities - activities which are overloading your mind and senses with a load of crap that does nothing except make you feel good.
Right . . . end of that rant (thank god!)
Now . . . your asking right now. . . okies Mr know it all . . then tell us . . . what DO we do, to fix ourselves up and become productive human beings and internet marketers . . .huh ?
Fine . . . and here's the list of DO's !!!
Eg; "Hey Sally -would you like to come to the beach with us on Friday" - requires a "hang on -I'll have to let you know -can I ring you tonight - AFTER YOUR WORK DAY IS DONE -after you have finished the thing s you need to do today, checked your Friday's schedule. The big point I make here is do not allow ANYTHING to distract you from focusing on the job at hand, whatever it may be (writing articles, web design whatever)
Now - to this end I am providing a link to a DIGITAL DESK TOP DIARY. Called Easy Noter, if you have no time management software this is what I use and HIGHLY recommend it. Not only is it functional but the limited version is free for all (NOT a crack) My advice - Grab it and GET AND STAY ORGANIZED
Here's your link:
http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/easynote.htm
OK - If all else fails after you have practised parts 1 through 5 - and you are STILL not producing there is only ONE recommendation I have left. TAKE A HOLIDAY -for at least a day or two - have nothing whatsoever to do with the internet or your computer. Get out and smell the roses and realize the world out there.
THEN - come back and re-group your mindset and form a new plan of attack, a new strategy
I am sure there are bound to be proponents and dissidents of all sides of the argument but please, if you have better ideas, post them in this thread to help everyone else
Thanks
Part 5 - Information Overload, Prevention and Cure (among other things)
By now you have already died from info overload from reading parts 1 through 4 of forum life ! (herein referred to as IO) and are sick to death of hearing the phrase "information overload" and having anything to do with learning. And that is exactly what Info overload does. It shuts down the learning centers of the brain. If you have no brain it is not a problem (and I do wonder about people but then I realize they are just suffering from IO) but, for the most part, IO is precisely what prevents IM'ers from becoming productive. Since the digital information age arrived the ability of the human mind to cope with the higher demands of info has had to increase something like to the power of ten. We are constantly bombarded with imagery from screens, billboards, sign writing on vehicles, t.v, dvd, video, pc's etc. What happens is we cease to absorb / process information:
Fact: Global Education Research shows the average child, in a classroom setting, ceases to absorb and process new information after approximately 20 minutes of constant input. Unfortunately adults do not fare much better than children. So . . .the next time you go to watch a tutorial which is an hour long . . . take a five minute break half way through. There is a good chance that if you don't do that you will find yourself having to re-visit it time and time again instead of getting all the learnings down pat in one hit.
Now you see why Forum life is set out in small, yet do-able, stages.
Ok . . .beginning to really understand what I.O is and how it affects us, we can now look at how it can be reduced, how we can eliminate the effects (forever) and how we can then start to become REALLY productive. First things first ( no you don't have to go see Tony Robbins):
For some of you this may hit quite hard. I may well be slammed by some for being hypocritical, because I do some of the things I am about to advocate against. There is, however, a valid argument that I will make as my disclaimer here:
Forum Life series is being aimed at two -three categories of situations / people. In the first instance Noobs who have never made any money online, in the second instance people who have never been either self employed (fully!) or been business operators before, third to people who are in the situation where they MUST monetize their lives but cannot because of a lack of knowledge and organizational capability in regard to the very things being discussed on Forum Life.
That said, there are various activities people do every day which are disrupting their ability to think, stay focused, prioritize and produce. The fact of the matter is that ALL computer / Internet users (unless our name is sergeant major in the us marines) suffer, to SOME degree, from what I am about to get in to next.
Excessive, uncontrolled levels of information will do as outlined above. It will make you unproductive and literally stagnate your ability to think. Information. What do you DO about it ?
Here's the OGRE list of Do - NOT do's
A. Cease surfing the net / and or gaming all day
- B. Cease searching for new things all day (usually new ways to make money online)
- Cease living in chat rooms all day every day (me - guilty as sin :-)
- Cease signing up for every "dream-scheme" on the internet
- Cease listening to "goo-roos'. 9 times out of 10 they are feeding mis-information deliberately and NOT practizing what they preach
- Cease checking all your emails, spam boxes etc (most of it is garbage unless you are Miss popular in Facebook or something)
- Cease starting your day by jumping on the Internet - PERIOD!
What I am not wanting to see is this situation where your day is filled up with useless, non productive activities - activities which are overloading your mind and senses with a load of crap that does nothing except make you feel good.
Right . . . end of that rant (thank god!)
Now . . . your asking right now. . . okies Mr know it all . . then tell us . . . what DO we do, to fix ourselves up and become productive human beings and internet marketers . . .huh ?
Fine . . . and here's the list of DO's !!!
- A. Try this first - it's not for all but it is EXTREMELY effective: Make this your mantra - 'work first - play later, work first - play later, work first . . . .Say it over and over again until it becomes a second voice in the back of your mind that keeps you from playing if there is work to be done.
- B. Take breaks (small, two minute micro breaks) away from your keyboard / pc -regularly - like every half hour -get up and stretch, grab a glass of water or a coffee or whatever. Just do NOT sit there for hours on end with out a break.
- Use Productivity Software - grab yourself a good productivity software program and set it up to start up with your PC each and every day. Work off it and get in to the habit of setting up the next day's tasks at the end of previous day, 5 minutes before you wind up business for the day - simply do a to do list .
- Home Page setting - Set your home page to blank. This not only tests your internet connection but starts you out with a fresh sheet each day. For the love of I.M do NOT set your home page to a forum, a mail room or anywhere else, not even google.com. As soon as you do that you have just gone and invited yourself in to the lions den, and your mind will get eaten alive by info, seriously, and you will be back to square one (disabled and paralyzed by I.O) in about 10 seconds flat - I mean it!
- Email - Set a time for checking your emails at the END of each day, unless you are waiting on an urgent response - honestly people - the time for browsing through mail on line is really the same as on land - like - when you feel you need a break and just wander down to the letter box for something to do. But if it is the first thing you do - hours will go by as you get caught up in reading /responding / checking stuff out etc. . . there is no time for that. Those activities are for play time.
- Do NOT stay logged in to skype or aim or msn of any kind unless you are in coaching or training. There is a time for work and a time for play. You should have an allotted window in time for work - so - just do work in that time - not play. If someone rings you up on the phone simply say "hey - I'm busy working right now - can I get back to you when I'm done". The same applies to skype etc.
- Cease being an auto responder - Do not "auto-respond" to any requests. Use "time buying statements" such as"listen -um . .I need to check my schedule and let you know. . . can I come back to you later on. . . . - or "hey - I really need to think about this . .can I let you know . . . .later? '
Eg; "Hey Sally -would you like to come to the beach with us on Friday" - requires a "hang on -I'll have to let you know -can I ring you tonight - AFTER YOUR WORK DAY IS DONE -after you have finished the thing s you need to do today, checked your Friday's schedule. The big point I make here is do not allow ANYTHING to distract you from focusing on the job at hand, whatever it may be (writing articles, web design whatever)
Now - to this end I am providing a link to a DIGITAL DESK TOP DIARY. Called Easy Noter, if you have no time management software this is what I use and HIGHLY recommend it. Not only is it functional but the limited version is free for all (NOT a crack) My advice - Grab it and GET AND STAY ORGANIZED
Here's your link:
http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/easynote.htm
OK - If all else fails after you have practised parts 1 through 5 - and you are STILL not producing there is only ONE recommendation I have left. TAKE A HOLIDAY -for at least a day or two - have nothing whatsoever to do with the internet or your computer. Get out and smell the roses and realize the world out there.
THEN - come back and re-group your mindset and form a new plan of attack, a new strategy
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