The Daily Infoglut

Each day, at a minimum:
[ ] The Library of Congress catalogues 7,000 new items.
[ ] 2000 books are published world wide.
[ ] More than 2,000 new websites go online.

Reduce the Volume of Items

When you continually seek to reduce the volume of items you’ve retained, you have a better chance of managing information overload:

Rather than keeping a five-page report, retain only the single page that you actually need. Rather than retaining an entire page, clip the paragraph, address and phone number, or key item of information that you actually need, and chuck the rest of the page. With the small clipping or subsection of page you've retained, tape it to a single page, perhaps one that contains other relevant retained tidbits. Always strive to retain only the bare minimum information that you believe is necessary. Strive to reduce the size/weight/volume of the pile.

Reexamine everything in the pile once again. Even after you've pared down a particular pile to a smaller, more concise pile, review it with the notion "what am I continuing to retain that adds to little or nothing?" Perhaps you are already familiar with the issue an item represents and don't need to retain printed information relating to it.

Fasten together like items. When you've pared down your piles to the lowest possible volume and gotten them into mean, lean, slim, trim shape, keep like items together, using a stapler, paper clip, or rubber band. A paper clip assembling a packet of papers works best for temporary assemblage.

In general, the more like items you can fasten together, the easier it will be for you to find any particular item that you need!

When Information is Useless

Information yields all types of trend data, be it the rise of IPhone use, or the popularity of twitter. What we never get is how these trends add: where things are going. When everything hits you from the left and right with no discernable pattern and no unifying theme, our lives seem hectic, change seems unmanageable, and few people have a clue as to how to prudently proceed in their lives.

Break the Grip

To break the grip that too much information has on you, I suggest the following:

* When you get home, practice sitting in your TV room for 30 minutes without the TV on.

* Skip reading the newspaper, anytime you feel like it.

* In general, be more selective in what you decide to read. Just because there is an abundance of interesting articles to read, doesn't mean you have to read them.

We're all taking in more information than we can expect to absorb. You can only remember--and act upon--so much anyway; so, be selective!

Choices and Misery

"Logic suggests that having options allows people to select precisely what
makes them happiest. But, as studies show, abundant choice often makes for
misery."
Barry Schwartz, "The Tyranny of Choice," Scientific American, April 2004

Dying for Information

This is a scary one: Having too much information can be as dangerous as having too little. In his report Dying for Information, commissioned by Reuters Business Information, based in London, David Lewis, Ph.D. observes that too much information can lead to a paralysis of analysis, making it harder to find the right solutions or make decisions.

Control Your Spaces

When you take control of the spaces in your life, control of your time and career will follow.