Zinger’s Secret Surfing Solution to Mastering Information Overload
March 25, 2008 by David Zinger
Filed under Business
Info, info, info, info, info, info, info, info….everywhere but not a drop to think?
Are you bobbing, almost drowning, in a sea of information?
Take this article, why are you reading it? Don’t go away just yet, I have my own simple answer at the end.
We have reached the point where the productivity experts are just adding to that sea of information with their habits, tips, and endless suggestions about how to cope with our terrible information plight.
According to a recent article in msnbc a majority of workers feel overwhelmed by a deluge of data:
- 7 out of 10 office workers in the United States feel overwhelmed by information in the workplace.
- 2 in 5 say they are headed for a data “breaking point,”
- 62 percent of professionals report that they spend a lot of time sifting through irrelevant information to find what they need;
- 68 percent wish they could spend less time organizing information and more time using the information that comes their way.
- Workers admit that not being able to lay their hands on the right information at the right time impedes their ability to work efficiently; 85 percent agree that not being able to access the right information at the right time is a huge time-waster.
- More than 40 percent of the survey participants indicate an inability to handle future increases in information flow.
- While an average workday for white-collar workers is 8.89 hours, the survey finds that on average, 7.89 working hours are used conducting research, attending meetings, and searching for previously created documents.
- White-collar professionals spend an average of 2.3 hours daily conducting online research, with one in 10 spending four hours or more on an average day.
This strikes me as a bunch of data moaning with the covert message actually being…Hey MOM, look at how important I am with all the information I have to monitor, consume, and shuffle.
Too many people have a self-induced sense of over-importance with all the information they consume. I suggest we stop whining and complaining about this. If you don’t like the data, dump it.
Or change your approach: You can’t stop the waves of information but you can learn to surf.
If you don’t enjoy the waves stop surfing, close the book, turn off your PDA, set you e-mail inbox to stun, and spend time contemplating your belly button.
But if you enjoy information, like I do, stop whining and pretending to be so important — get back on your keyboard and surf the awesome waves in your sea of endless information.
SURF’S UP!
Photo Credit: Pile of papers by http://flickr.com/photos/jepoirrier/376900808/
hmmm – you mean my ego might be involved? One thing I’ve done that saves a ton of time… or frees up time and overload… I don’t have television
No TV! My children would “die.” Thanks for the comment Anne.
Right on the money David. Most people that complain about information overload, actually enjoy receiving it and bragging about it (”I got 328 email messages while I was on vacation”), and they do their best to propagate it by sending 50 emails themselves to an exceptionally wide audience.
David,
Anne will probably hunt me down like a hound when she hears this, but: I am commenting while watching TV and glancing at the RSS feed headlines on a second browser window.
I’ve simply had to admit to myself that information is like a vitamin tablet to me. It energizes, it sparks my mind, and it gives my “synthesizer” brain exactly what it needs.
Like anything else, there’s an amount of self-discipline involved–ya gotta know when to stop.
Like the TV, the computer has an on/off button as well as a “close” tab on the browser menu.
Choose wisely. . .
Even if their is an endless sea of information, why blame it. After endless searching if one gets the relevant information he/she wants, they should store it up somewhere, so that they can use it later.
Nick: Thanks for the comment. I’ll send you an email. You wouldn’t believe how many emails I get. I am swamped. I better cc everyone on this and I send a copy to myself so I can read it later.
Steve: Better not send Anne an email. I think you’ve got a new vitamin RSS…really strong stuff that keeps you connected.
David