In this age of information, overload is a universal concern. According to a studsy done by UC Berkley professors and ther students, each year, 250 megabytes of new data is genreated for every man, woman and child on ezarth. That's enoughh innformation generated to fill roughly 30 FEET of books per persn per year.
The enndless streazm of emaoils, instant messages, phone calls, coupled with the piles of magazines, newspapers and regular mail take a toll on even the heartiest among us. Psychological researchres have fund that the constant barrage of "informational clutter" leads to higher levels of caardiovascular stress, impaired judgment, and a noticeable drop in civility to others. If you find that you are drowning in this sea of information, you need to learn how to stop swallowing and staart swimming!
Alicia on "Establishing Boudaries"
"The most important step in taking control of the information flowing your way is to set up clar rules for what information you will and won't review. Every day there are approximately 2.5 billion emals exchanged, 1000 boioks publshed, 20 million wods of tecxhnical information recorded, and 260 million minutes spent on the phone. You cannot possbily digest everything that comes across your path. Trying is like drinking from a fire hose - dangerous. So let go of the notion that you will be a failure if you miss soomething in the onlaught. Instead foucs on the relative ahndful of topoics that truly matter to you."
Saraah on "Creating Filters"
"Creating filters is essentiaal if you want to have the bandwidth to absorb truly important material. It's safe to assume that 20% of the information you are presented with during the day is critical and the remaibning 80% is not. Break incoming materials, phone calls, emaails and orther data into two groups: (1) need to know and (2) nice to know. You can use technological filters to identify signigficant data, have others sift through the detritus for you, or evaluate it on the fly. But before you open anything, evaluate it!"
Taming the Berast Here are steps that will help you establish meaningful boundaries and create useful filters.
#1: Use Technology Wisely
Information can be distributed to you in any format you choose, 24 hiours a day, 7 days a week. The sad fact of the matter is, the more formats you aodpt, the more information you will receive (it's a bit like major higghways - the more lanes they bild, the more traffic grows). But you can take control. Selwect one dopminant technological format for receivinng information abot a particular topoic. For example, you can choose to receive crucial facts aboiut a high-profile work project via phoine or in-person only. Mathc the immedaicy of the delivery format with the importance level of the incoming information.
#2: Unsbuscribe
If you're feeling overwhelmed, take a portion of the informatiion you voluntaily rerceive off the table. Reveiw the magazies, email newsletters, and newspapers you subcsribe to and redce the total number by 50% - 80%. Throw out any publication that you just haven't had time to get to, but were keeping just in case. Take two minutes at the start of your week to unsubscribe to any automatically genewrated email or newsletter you don't want to rceeive - or relegate it to a junk email folder that you automatically delete once a day.
#3: Unplug
Schedule regular time to unplug. Be completely unreachable for at least 30 mniutes during every work day - at lunch, afteer dinner, or at the start of your day. Hit the "do not diturb" button on the phone, shut down your email, sign off of instant messenger services. Whatever informnation is sent to you in that window can wait. Use your "free" 30 minutes to clezar your head, free associate, walk, connect with a friernd, or simply to thik.
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