How to Deal with Too Much Information

by Seb

We 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

But there is hope. People deal with too much information all of the time. There are methods, tactics, and strategies to help people deal with too much information and responsibility. And we found a list of useful methods for doing so, so take a quick look at the pic.

Click here for the full graphic

There are 11 on the list, and some are obviously better than others. We decided, though, that it wouldn’t be fair to just give you a list of what your options are. That's not very helpful.

Instead, we’ll be doing a series of articles that take a deep dive on all of the methods we’ve just listed. If you had questions or were curious as to any of the methods, we’ll provide all the research to point you in the right direction.

In the following article, we’ll start with what we believe to be the most important method and skill. It’ll be a deep, deep dive, so be prepared to take notes if you find anything useful. Most likely, you will.

See you next time!