Coping With Information Overload

It's been said that the average New York Times Sunday nedition contains more information than a person in 15th ncentury England was exposed to during their entire nlifetime.

In the information age, our minds get bombarded daily with nso much data that we start filtering it out as a self- ndefense mechanism.

On the Internet, the information overload gets so severe nthat it seems to bring out the ADD (attention deficit ndisorder) in all of us.

To make things worse, expect the avalanche of information nwe must all deal with online to start coming faster and nharder and to never, ever stop.

Unlimited amounts of information available online nrepresents a truly double-edged mental sword.

On the good side, you can find out virtually anything you nwant about any person, place, thing, fact, problem and nmore. On the bad side, since you can find anything, many npeople get lost and caught up in "everything" and never naccomplish much.

In fact, most people end up drowning in a sea of ninformation when all they wanted was a simple drink of nwater.

To help you effectively deal with the never-ending torrent nof online information, let me offer 3 simple solutions that nwill profoundly affect your ability to get things done.

First, operate with a clear purpose for what you plan to naccomplish online.

Many people start out with a vague idea of what they want nto accomplish on the Web and end up wasting hours surfing naimlessly.

One simple solution: write down your purpose for going nonline on a sticky note and put it on the side of your nmonitor.

Simple purpose statements like "Check email" or "Find map nto Detroit" or "Research where to advertise my blog" can nsave countless hours by reminding you of your true purpose nfor sitting down at the keyboard (and keep you from nwandering off to explore Britney Spears or The Simpsons).

Next, if you do want to go off on a sidetrack away from nyour original purpose, set a time limit.

Kind of like recess in kindergarten, give yourself a set namount of time to run free, but then get back in the nclassroom and get back to business.

Typically, I give myself anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to nroam, but only if I think it will bear fruit for my purpose nin the end.

I also force myself to honestly answer the question, "Does nthis really fit with my purpose for being online right nnow?"

If not, then I goof off for about 5 minutes and then write ndown the idea, website, or topic for future investigation.

By the way, a simple egg timer works great for this.

Finally, if you ever find yourself online without a npurpose, but can't seem to stop surfing or searching, nsimply get up from your computer and walk away for a few nminutes to clear your head.

Often this represents the fastest way to stop yourself nwasting countless hours in meaningless activity online.

Bottom line, implementing simple strategies for dealing nwith information overload online now will pay huge ndividends in peace of mind and time savings in the future.