Information Overload

With so much information bombarding us from all directions we can’t possibly give our attention to everything that goes on around us but we feel that we may be missing out if we don’t, therefore we join every new group, we sign up to every social networking site going and we register for every newsletter, magazine and free piece of information that’s out there in case we miss out on some golden nugget of information that’s going to make a huge difference to our life.

I don’t know how many newsletters I’ve subscribed to over time but it’s a lot – now I know which one’s I like, which one’s I find useful and which one’s suit my style of working. There’s nothing wrong in unsubscribing from those you don’t either have time to read, or no longer find useful. We also have blogs, in fact there are hundreds, thousands out there – all of which you could end up subscribing to.

But when are we going to find time to take in all this additional information, read all these newsletters, blogs, contribute to all the discussion groups, attend all the network meetings? Don’t even attempt to. Fit what you can into the time you have available without pushing more important tasks to one side. Choose the ones that matter, one’s that are interesting and useful and don’t worry about the rest.

Remember Pareto’s principle … 80% of the information you need is contained in only 20% of what’s in your inbox!