Category Archives: Information Overload – Coping Strategies
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Overcome E-mail Overload with Inbox Zero
by SebApr 1, 20141 Comment
There are many sources of digital information overload, but one that almost everybody does battle with on a daily basis is the e-mail inbox. No matter how often you check it, those unread messages just keep piling up, convincing you that you’re missing something vital and adding to your stress levels.
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Is Information Overload Damaging Your Brain?
by Rachel AdnyanaApr 24, 2014
A recent study by Cornerstone On Demand, The State of Workplace Productivity Report, finds that the hyper-connectedness of today’s workplace is negatively affecting employees due to a constant flood of information. Surprised? Me neither.
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How to Deal with Too Much Information
by SebApr 4, 2013We at SpecifcFeeds believe with all of our hearts that we are bombarded with too much information all of the time.
And it’s not just because of all the advertising, the news feeds, or the morning commute. There’s a lot of crap we have to know for our jobs, too, and it’s becoming more difficult to keep all of it under control, even as technology becomes exponentially more advanced.
Let’s look at some statistics.
Click here for the full graphic
On a personal level, you probably feel like you’re working harder now than in past years. (Unless you were a corporate slave, which is where many of us start, of course.) Coincidentally, firms worldwide have and are experiencing both record profits and productivity, even (and especially) during the economic downturns. Record productivity you say? Where does that come from?
Worker productivity has improved dramatically for various reasons, but we’ll just focus on one.
You. You’re doing more work: specifically, you’re processing more information.
Let’s look at some more quick stats.
Click here for the full graphic
That’s just an idea of the personal and economic costs the information overload is causing. I’m sure these stats don’t strike a personal chord with you. What do you care if the companies all across the nation loses $650 billion a year? They still pay you, right?
Well, the information overload has some interesting effects on decision making and emotional control. A look at the picture below will tell you more.
Click here for the full graphic
If you didn’t get that, what they are saying is that as your brain gets overloaded, you basically go into mental shock, lose your temper, and make stupid choices. It also probably makes you unhappy and less satisfied with your job, and it may have negative effects on your performance reviews.
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Refusing: How to Say “No”
by SebOct 30, 2013
Some have a problem with saying “no.” You can recognise them easily: they work late every night, spend all their weekends helping friends and neighbours with DIY projects, and have permanent shadows beneath eyes and a face that ask‘how can I help you?’
Refusing is an important coping strategy for dealing with information overload. Learning how to say “no” to more tasks when we’re already over-stretched will help us to become more productive.
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Multi-tasking for the Modern Workforce
by SebJul 2, 2013Remember we promised you we’d go into more depth about those 11 strategies for coping with information overload? Well, we’re not known for breaking promises so here’s an insightful article about strategy number two: multi-tasking.
It’s controversial. Many believe that multi-tasking actually makes you less productive, but given that the majority of employees are now expected to juggle multiple tasks during a workday, multi-tasking is something we really need to stop arguing about and just get on with.
Multi-taskers are in high demand in the workforce, and organisations will often look for employees with multi-tasking skills. In a recent interview with the Radio Times Alan Sugar suggested that the civil service could be made significantly more productive by encouraging multi-tasking.
“When I compare it to my commercial organisation, we have people who multi-task, and if you applied that multi-tasking philosophy within the civil service you would cut the labour force by half.” – Lord Sugar, Radio Times
Why multi-task?Multi-tasking allows you to work on a variety of tasks concurrently, switching between them when necessary to ensure that they are all completed. It allows you to combine high priority tasks with low priority tasks so that the most pressing jobs get done quickly, while you make progress with the rest of your work, meaning those small tasks don’t take up permanent residence on your to-do list.
Multi-tasking allows you to deal with quick, simple tasks immediately and get them out of the way, freeing up your brain to get back to the task you were originally working on. It also enables you to use a variety of skill sets during the day, preventing you from becoming bored. When you hit a wall with one task, you have the ability to switch to something else and rejuvenate before you tackle the original task once more.
For businesses, having employees that are able to multitask brings a huge number of benefits. It means that employees are more flexible and can cover for one another at short notice as they are able to perform a wide range of tasks. It also means that knowledge and information can be shared quickly and easily. Even if an employee is focused on one task, he or she can take time to share data with co-workers if that allows them to continue with their own tasks.
The higher up in an organisation you are, the more beneficial it will be to multi-task. If you’re managing people, you need to be able to respond immediately to issues as they arise rather than putting them off until you have completed the task you are working on.
