Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Reblog: Recovering from Information Overload

Good article forwarded by the Walm from McKinsey on Recovering from Information Overload. The article is a little dry but it does a good job of showing that we all have this problem. Also, there are some useful tips for cutting through the overload, or at least managing it. Here are my tips for managing the problem.


  • I made myself check Twitter only once a day and turned off all Twitter notifications. That was a huge help.
  • I turned off almost every iPhone App Notification. This was huge too.
  • I check Facebook quickly a few times a day. What really helps is that I have an RSS Feed from Facebook with all Posts and Status Updates from my friends. I rarely actually go to the Facebook site, and do it only when I want to leave a comment or look at someone's pictures.
  • Email still get's me. I'm trying to do more of my email in bulk situations where I can crank through a lot more of them.
  • Basecamp, a project management solution, has become a life safer, because we manage all the BensFriends.org To Do's through it. Email still piles up from Ben's Friends, but things don't get lost and everything is assignable and actionable.
  • The Treadmill has become my safe haven for playing Words With Friends, Twitter, and Facebook and reading non essential blog posts. I've given myself permission to do whatever I want, as long as I'm exercising at a high enough intensity. It's made exercising at the gym more fun and I enjoy the reading and games a lot more.