How not to drown in the flow of information

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Continuous reading of articles on how to start a business, get out of your comfort zone, learn a foreign language or draw up a training program does not lead to results. The reason is information overload, which makes it difficult to get down to business. How to deal with it, says blogger Oscar Novik.

In case you are not already in the know, artist Michael Mandiberg decided to print the entire Wikipedia. Do you want to imagine what it looks like? The photo shows part of the From Aaaaa! to ZZZap!

And that's just one site. Although it is one of the largest in the world, there is only one domain name in question.

I dare say that the Internet is one of the best inventions in the history of mankind. And I am unrealistically glad that I was born at that time and in that place that give me unlimited access to this wonderful source.

However, sometimes its strength and size confuse me. I literally cannot keep in my head this burst of information that I can reach at any time of the day or night.

My mistake is that I try to assimilate as much as possible, although I have already repeatedly convinced that it is better to filter information and throw as much out of my thoughts as possible.

There are thousands of articles, notes, courses and stories to ignore about how to change your life.

Only if we discard them will it be possible to focus on several sources of information, fully understand them and apply the advice given by the author. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time and a reason for constant interruptions in work. This is what happened to me.

As soon as I dive into the abyss of inspiring content, my desire to do something drops to zero. I cannot process the information and highlight the most important, because there is too much garbage around.

A minimalistic approach to information

So I remind myself of a minimalist approach that assumes that a waste of information can be discarded to focus on a few things that really matter.

But it works if the information cleansing is done regularly and harshly.

When you try to implement this plan, it will be difficult to stick to the rule with no exceptions. And if you give up the slack, it will be more difficult to return to the regime.

I spend a day and think over a strategy based on my own goals. I usually do it in the evening, so when I wake up I always know what needs to be done. But sometimes at the end of the day it turns out that the results are far from planned.

One of the main reasons for this is that no matter where you travel online, there will always be a few people vying for your attention.

Imagine that you are walking down the street surrounded by ten people who follow your every step, analyze it and try to throw something interesting. One invites you to the movies and offers a bargain ticket to the movie marathon, while the other lures you with a coupon giving you a 50% discount at a clothing store. The third one loudly talks about how it would be nice for you to lose weight, and immediately shows the newest weight loss drug and training program.

In general, there is already a mess around. And then there are two insurance agents who claim to have the best rates: "Here, see for yourself!" And the rest of the satellites also simply flood you with a stream of information, not wondering if you need it or not.

This is how you feel on most sites that insert ads in every free corner. Much the same happens with your mailbox if you want to keep track of updates on many sites.

I love to subscribe to newsletters that grab attention and can improve my quality of life. But the number of inspiring emails is endless, and my time is limited.

Attention cannot be measured. We cannot perform more than one task at a time. And the number of companies competing for our attention is growing every day.

Seth Godin

The same applies to books.

A few months ago I stopped buying paper books and did, and it was the right decision. No clutter on the shelves, and indeed no shelves on the walls, no dust on books forgotten on the nightstands. There is a place for all the books, and all the books are in their place.

Fine!

E-books allow you to get a huge amount of value for a ridiculous price. A lot of exciting pieces can be bought for pennies, if not completely free.

And then things get complicated again.

The paradox of choice

What will you choose? If you have literally unlimited choices, it can be difficult to think rationally and not be confused by the number of sentences. And instead of opening and reading a useful book, I'll open the discount section and download books that I need to read sometime later. You can even realize how unproductive it is, but it is very, very difficult to stop.

Here are a few mistakes that will eventually lead you into the trap of information overload:

1. Subscribe to more newsletters than you can read.
2. Saving a subscription to mailings that you do not read at all.
3. Saving interesting content for later - in fact, this "later" never comes.
4. Constant checking of news feeds of social networks.
5. Too many pages, publics and people whose news you are subscribed to.
6. Lack of priorities (inability to focus on the main thing).

The latter is discussed in more detail by Gary Keller, author of Start with the Essential. The best that can be learned from this book is the question that I now constantly ask myself when information chaos looms on the horizon.

What - only one and the most important thing - can I do to make all other things easier or not needed at all?

The point is simple: focus on one thing, important, and everything else will fall into place. This idea is easy to apply in many areas of life and work.

For example, I want to learn as much as possible about fitness and I also want to discover marketing techniques that will subtly engage blog readers. I want to improve my writing skills in order to choose words more accurately and do without unnecessary phrases. I also want to learn more about how to create a useful online course that I plan to launch sometime in the future.

And this is only a small part of my plans.

It is easy to lose momentum by jumping from one topic to another, and not advance in any area. Therefore, the idea of choosing the main one is so important.

When determining the main thing, act harshly and rudely. Otherwise, everything will seem important and necessary right now. But since you are not a machine that can effortlessly analyze an array of data, each new change in activity will lead to information noise.

Access to information is impressive, but great opportunities come with great responsibility. If you do not control the information flow, it will cover important things and take away your precious time, and you will not even notice how it happened.

How to benefit from the internet

Here are five key rules I developed for myself after being frustrated with trying to absorb more information than I was capable of.

1. Start with the essentials. Find the most important task for the week, month, or year. This could be preparing for exams, completing a book, or achieving training goals.
2. You are missing something. It is inevitable, it should be so. I've noticed that the more you give up something, the more you grow. And vice versa. The less you throw out of life, the more you lose and the slower you move forward. Every day I pass by countless gigabytes of information. Whether I like it or not, it's inevitable. But if I am focused on one topic, then the small amount of content that I highlight among the streams of knowledge is so useful that the phrase "Less is better" does not require any other proof.
3. Identify sources of information. Even if you understand what is most important to you, things can go awry by trying to gather information from too many sources. For example, if you want to learn more about entrepreneurship, pick one business book, read it, and then move on to the next. Signing up to five business newsletters, buying a bunch of business books, bookmarking hundreds of videos on how to do business will only slow you down. I've done that before. I ended up disappointed with the tremendous amount of time spent versus the value received. The feeling of being constantly busy is deceiving because being busy and being efficient are far from the same thing. You want the second, not the first.
4. Plan the learning process. Where there is no plan, chaos settles. This is human nature. Spend 30 minutes on strategy and you won't have to spend hours looking for control points.
5. Try to keep only one tab open in your browser and use.