Information overload is a very real thing. For some, they can get so caught up in reading that they forget to implement anything! They could spend all day reading articles & books, taking webinars, or watching online videos that they are no further along with their business than they were a week or even a month ago.
1. Pick A Focus
What are the main 1-3 tasks that need to get done, or pieces of information that are needed to move you forward? Focus on those first!
I understand sometimes skills are interrelated and picking 1 topic or skill doesn't lend well to proper implementation. This is the only time you should be focusing on learning multiple skills. You may have many small goals that lead to your big dream goal, but there is always one that helps the others move forward. Find the patterns amongst your goals to see what tasks will help get progress in more than one goal.
2. Minimize Your Input
Minimize your subscriptions, memberships, notifications, etc. Following all our favourite people may feel great, but the "unread" count in your inbox and ignored group posts tells me you don't have the time or immediate need to do so.
There are phases & seasons to life for a reason. In this phase or season, is their area of expertise or supportive words helping you to move forward or just feel good? The more you choose to allow into your head, the more energy needed to process the extra input.
This may feel a little unsupportive at first, but your mental energy is better suited to helping others by bringing your best. Allowing yourself to spread attention so thin doesn't make anybody feel good. Focus on the people that matter most at this point in time. Turn off notifications/etc as you feel it is necessary, and adjust as you go!
3. Take Small Steps As entrepreneurs, we need to learn quick and implement quick. It's not like we're back in high school where you're learning a bit of everything to be generic. You're a specialist now working toward expert and authority status. Segment your learning into small actionable lessons. It's not the learning that moves you forward, it's the implementation into your own life. Do it in smaller chunks, do it consistently, and build upon the last implementation.
4. Schedule It Whether you're great at time management or not scheduling time for learning keeps you on track. Can't find time to do it? Schedule it like an appointment. Doing it too much? Set a timer & decide what specifically you're going to learn before you search for it.
Schedule a time to implement what you learned as soon as possible after learning it. The quicker you can use it the easier it will be to creatively mold it to your situation.
5. Get More Specific
The dreaded rabbit hole of the Google search. Writing a list of the specific struggles you have and the specific answers you need may help with your quest for information.
Googling "How to get clients" will get you way too many generic results. Something like "How to turn blog subscribers into clients" is much more clear and focused. You could even take it a step further and ask "How to turn blog subscribers into paid coaching clients."
The amount of time it takes to find a specific answer is much less based on how clear you are. Clarity helps sort out all the non-relevant data so you can focus on what matters.
Your Suggestions
There are so many ways we can address information overload as it pertains to learning. Since there are only a few listed, what are YOUR favourite ways to manage the overload?
Share YOUR best practices for handling information overload by using the hashtag #BEDMASlife.
Learn, Love, and keep your Momentum, Laura Lake <3 Facebook.com/LauraLakeDesigns