Information Overload Will Eat Your Brain

Well, it’s the 21st century and there is so much information floating around that it’s just impossible to ever consume it all.  This surplus of information has given us a need to quickly sort through our sensory inputs, separating the good from the bad, and ignoring (if we can) the bad.

As a result, we’ve seen the rise of social sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon, we’ve been introduced to new groundbreaking productivity systems such as GTD and ZTD, and we’ve witnessed the uprising of a new psychological condition commonly referred to as ADD.

With so much information, it often seems like there’s just not enough time in a day.  Daily tasks such as dishes, laundry, and cleaning are much harder to “make time for.”  Unfortunately, our pocketbook suffers too.

Proper management of our finances takes time.  Coupon-clipping takes time.  Price-comparisons take time.  Budgeting takes time.  You get the point.  These things, unfortunately, often take a backseat to other things in our lives, simply because we feel that we don’t have time.

While I certainly agree that it often feels this way, this post is aimed at tossing these feelings aside.  There are ways to have more time and I intend to show you what they are.  Follow the tips in this article, set aside time for managing your finances, and you’ll be rockin’ in no time.

Eliminate Distractions

The first thing you MUST do is eliminate unnecessary distractions from your life.  Distractions eat up your time–more time than you would think.

When you get distracted, not only do you lose the time during which you participate in the distraction, but it also takes you time to recover and refocus on your task at hand.  A 5-minute distraction to check your email may, in fact, cost you 15 minutes by the time you have finished and regained your focus on your REAL work.

Here are a few quick ideas that may help you eliminate distractions:

• If you work in an office, wear headphones while you work.  If a little background music doesn’t distract you, then play some music through your headphones.  Otherwise, just leave the headphones on sans music.  It still looks like you are listening to music, and this sends a clear picture to coworkers that you are busy and should not be disturbed.
• If you work at home, set up a home office and USE IT.  Don’t just work on your couch while watching television.  Don’t work in your kitchen or dining room while you take breaks between household chores.  Set up an actual home office in a room that is free from distractions (no television, etc.) and do your work in there.  When you are done or take a break, THEN you can do other things around the house.
• Take breaks, but not too frequently.  Breaks are good for productivity.  They give us time to refresh and reflect.  But just as too much water can be unhealthy if taken in excess, breaks can be detrimental to our productivity if not used sparingly.  Taking a break every half hour will do nothing but break our focus, while a break every one to two hours may be beneficial by giving us time to recollect and refocus.

Carefully Manage Your Social Networks

Social networks have several advantages and therefore I believe it’s important to participate in them.  However, anytime you become involved in a new social network, there are risks.

The primary risk I’m referring to is having ALL of your free time sucked away by the social network gods.  When using social networks, it’s important to practice proper time-management and organizational skills; otherwise you may be in trouble.  Think about why you want to participate in social networks to begin with, and make sure your actions agree with your objectives.

Here are some additional tips for managing your time on social networks:

• Twitter – Turn on device updates for the people you REALLY want to hear from.  If you are following 10,000 twitterers, that’s fine.  But there’s no possible way you can keep up with them all.  Choose your top 5 or 10 people and turn on device updates for them.  Keep track of them using your mobile phone or device and only visit the Twitter website for administrative purposes.
• Facebook – When people send you application invites, DON’T ACCEPT.  While there are some useful Facebook applications, the vast majority of them are nothing but timesinks.  I’m not saying, “don’t have fun.”  If there’s a game on Facebook you REALLY enjoy, then sign up for it if you want.  But be aware of the risks.  Be vigilant and allow yourself X number of minutes per day to play.  Don’t allow yourself to exceed this limit.
• Myspace – In my opinion, don’t even use Myspace.  At all.  Almost everybody I know is on Facebook now, and Myspace has always just seemed more difficult to use (and thus, more time-consuming).  If you use Myspace, at least be aware of the time you spend there, and ask yourself if  you really need to belong to multiple social networks when Facebook offers everything you really need.

Use Subscriptions to Your Advantage

One of the great things about the Internet is the quantity and quality of options that it gives you in regards to subscribing to your favorite content.

On one hand, you have RSS (my personal preference), which allows you to use your favorite RSS client to receive updates from all of your favorite content providers in one place.  On the other hand, you have email newsletter subscriptions.  This option works great for people who prefer the simplicity of email and may be uncomfortable with the idea of RSS.

Both of these options, and their derivatives thereof, work great as filters for “good” content, because you can subscribe to the content that you genuinely enjoy and simply ignore the rest.

Here are some tips for saving time with your subscriptions management:

• RSS Feeds – I recommend using Google Reader.  Choose your top 10 or 20 blogs (or whatever number works for you) and subscribe to them.  Cut out all the rest.  Allow yourself X number of minutes per day to read and comment on your subscriptions, and don’t exceed that limit.
• Email – Clean up your inbox.  Make a daily or weekly habit of it.  Unsubscribe from newsletters you no longer wish to receive.  Set up spam filters, or use GMail, which provides an excellent spam filter right out of the box.

Sometimes You Just Have to Prioritize

If you’ve tried all the above and STILL feel you just don’t have enough time, then there’s only one thing left to do: prioritize.

As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes there just simply isn’t enough time to do everything you want to do.  In these cases, we have to prioritize–we must make a sacrifice so that we give up some things that we like, in order to have time for things we REALLY like.

Here’s an anecdotal example from my own life.  I like to ride motorcycles and fly airplanes.  Unfortunately, flying lessons are expensive.

Therefore, in the spring, when the weather begins to warm up and everybody is getting out their motorcycles for the new season, I’m probably going to be looking for a buyer for my own motorcycle.  That’s right, I’m going to sell one of my most prized possessions.  Why?  So I can afford to do the thing I MOST want to do, which is fly.  Sometimes, unfortunately, this is the only way.

Ask the Readers

How have you managed information overload in your own life?  Since doing so, have you noticed a significant increase in the time you have available to do the things you REALLY enjoy?  Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

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