How to Avoid Information Overload

How to avoid information overload

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“There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Quest for elegance

The quest for elegance

Less can be MORE

Empty space is OK!

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Maintain a work/life balance

“…a bulging [email] in-box demoralizes users with feelings of overload”

(Hurst, 2007,p. 25)

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Practical Tips on Managing your Email In-box

• Delete all spam • Save FYI emails or action items in appropriate

digital folder• Finish 2 minute tasks immediately• Have a to do list for items that will take longer

than 2 minutes• Empty out entire email inbox every day• “Induction” process may be needed

Induction definitionHurst’s definition of the email “induction” process:

The massive cleaning out of several emails that have piled up over a specific amount of time and therefore make your

in-box a total count of 0.

Hurst suggests that your inbox is a mere temporary holding place for communication and it’s not meant to live there.

Time managementQuickTime™ and a decompressorare needed to see this picture.Time Management Tips

Schedule certain times of day to check emails and return phone calls

Schedule certain times of day to check emails or return phone calls

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Be comfortable with silence

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Debrief after meetings

• “Ask yourselves, ‘Did we accomplish everything we set out to do? Is everyone clear on the next steps?’ “ (Levine, 2006, p.113)

• Schedule follow-up tasks that need to be completed

• Stay in touch with the front lines. “Find some way to ‘meet’ with your customers and ask them about them about their needs” (Levine, 2006, p. 117).

Dance

Schedule time not just for working, but for playing…

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Be OK with mistakes

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.~ Albert Einstein

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Being willing to take risks

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“People today are in danger of drowning in information; but, because they have been taught that information is useful, they are more willing to drown than they need be.

If they could handle information, they would not have to drown at all.”― Idries Shah, Reflections

ResourcesQuickTime™ and a decompressorare needed to see this picture.

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Other Resources:

1) Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

2) Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload by Mark Hurst

3) The Dip by Seth Godin

4) Cut to the Chase: And 99 Other Rules to Liberate Yourself and Gain Back the Gift of Time by Stuart R. Levine

5) The overflowing brain : information overload and the limits of working memoryby Torkel Klingberghttps://secure.flickr.com/photos/cherigrace/7478349084/sizes/m/

Remembering balance

Balance is the perfect state of still water.

Let that be your model.

It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface.

-Confucius

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ReferencesQuickTime™ and a decompressorare needed to see this picture.References

ba1969. (Photographer). (2012). Canvas texture 1, 2, 4, & 5. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=search&txt=texture&w=1&x=0&y=0

Hurst, M. (2007). Bit literacy: Productivity in the age of information and e-mail overload. New York: Good Experience Press.

Levine, S. (2006). Cut to the chase: And 99 other rules to liberate yourself and gain back the gift of time. (pp. 113-117). New York: Doubleday.