Business books, audio books, eBooks, blogs, websites, ezines, newsletters, webinars, podcasts, downloads, infographics.
The list is endless.
As a mumpreneur trying to learn as much as she can while staying on top of her game and building her business, the amount of information that is available to us in this electronic age is indeed, vast and often, overwhelming.
How does one make the time to read it all and absorb it all?
Actually, one doesn’t.
Here are simple steps to deal with information overload in the digital world:
1. Know what you want
Begin by jotting down or at least, identifying what you want to learn, know more about or do. Have the goals in mind before you begin signing up for newsletters and webinars. For instance, if building an email list for your business is your goal, it is best if you look for someone who offers just that via their eCourse, eBook or podcast instead of signing up for a general business newsletter and hoping that they’ll talk about email list building sometime.
2. Organise your information
Say, you have multiple learning goals for this quarter or year, create folders in your email or on your computer to store the information you receive according to the need it will fulfil. This will help you find what you need when you need it. There is little point signing up for an eCourse and then, not using that information or worse, finding it when you want it.
3. Use only what’s most valuable
Even when you’ve identified your goals, you still have to filter the fluff from the real deal. Yes, unfortunately, in the digital world you’ll often come across information products that aren’t really all they’re cut out to be.
Filtering your information will help you unsubscribe from anything that doesn’t add value to your business goals or actually teach you something new.
4. Have a technology turn off time
Finally, the best way to deal with information overload is to turn off technology and just switch off. Do this every weekend or at least on a Sunday so that your mind gets some rest and can recharge itself for the busy week ahead. Try it!
How do you deal with information overload as a busy mumpreneur?
About the Author: Melissa Vandermeer is the founder of Zayth, an online women-centric marketplace for digital products and services. Zayth will help you deal with information overload by bringing everything you need as a mumpreneur under one virtual roof. Sign up for the Zayth newsletter or join us on Facebook and Twitter to simplify how you find and sell digital information.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Great article. I find myself suffering (struggling) with this all the time. For me, it’s point 4 that really works, and I have challenged myself to be strong on this point. Technology goes off when I have nothing constructive to do on or with it! That way my brain has time to unwind before bed, or at the weekend. Seems to be working 🙂
That’s a great tip – switch the technology off when you have nothing constructive to do with it! I agree with you, I sleep better if I’ve had time away from my computer to unwind before bed.
Hi,
Glad it’s not just me who finds myself overwhelmed so often!
I try to bring to mind my current goals throughout the day and that helps to guide my to-do list.
Thanks for some great ideas.
Kate
I get overwhelmed by the volume of info too. I’m now aiming to stick more closely to my goals (using Remember the Milk as a task-list organiser is working really well). Also, I developed a habit of just scan-reading ebooks but now I’ve gone back to printing out the good ones and going through them with a highlighter pen, plus making notes in the margins. That helps me focus on reading only the books that are important and also helps me absorb the most important info from the book.
Such great points, ladies! 1. Turn technology off when you are no longer constructive & 2. keep your current goals in mind.
Another thing I’ve found is to set a “shut-off” timer on my computer. It reminds me 10 minutes before it shuts off that my time is running out. And, believe me…I’ve tested it and it will shut off no matter what you’re doing! 🙂
I used to have an automatic shut-off on my computer too! Wow, the bad habits have really been creeping up on me lately!
Seriously, everyday I’m dealing with information overload, workload overload and more. It then comes down to prioritize things. Stay focus.