Sunday, April 20, 2008

Dealing with Information Overload

Information is now coming at you from all angles: e-mail, phone, regular mail, cell phone, pager, fax machine, the Internet, you name it. If you’re an information-junkie like me, then this can be a good thing … but only if you know how to manage it.

If you’re not careful, information overload, which is an inevitable byproduct of the digital age that we live in, can lead to unnecessary stress, an irritable mood, and a general feeling that you can never quite keep up.

Fortunately, Lifehack shared some excellent tips to help you take control of the constant influx of data.


1. Email: Ruthlessly eliminate all the non-relevant stuff that sits in your inbox. Be strict with the time you devote to your email.

2. TV: Although you probably watch TV to relax, it is actually counterproductive.

3. Mobile Phones: You can turn them off (and you probably should for the sake of your health).

4. Meditate: Even if it is just for 5 minutes, meditation can stop that ever-constant chatter in your head.

5. RSS Feeds: Clean out your RSS feeds at least once a month, and get rid of those that you don’t really like.


For those of you who want to be exceptionally productive at dealing with the information coming into your life, David Allen’s Getting Things Done is filled with some of the best advice out there.

Before I got this book years ago, I actually thought I had a pretty good handle on getting things done in my life. But I realized I had a lot of room for improvement, and I would guess that you do too.

Ultimately, the more you learn about how to sort through information, weeding out what’s really important to your life, and ignoring or skimming over the rest, the happier, and more at peace, you’ll be.

Sources:
Lifehack.org January 31, 2008

Courtesy: Dr. Mercola.com

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