Business

Ten Ways to Overcome Information Overload

How do we narrow down thousands of journals, magazines, newsletters, emails and blog posts at our disposal?

Published

1 year ago

May 9, 2022

Jeff Davidson

We are confronted by staggering amounts of new information every day; some of it valid, some of it contrived. Career professionals in particular can be easily overwhelmed by the wealth of information related to competitor data, new product and service launches, market changes, and industry trends and wind up with information anxiety.

Although we have access to a variety of information and communication tools, how do we narrow down tens of thousands of journals, magazines, newsletters, and blog posts at our disposal and manage information coming in? How do we flourish amidst thousands of printed pages, not to mention millions of pages on the web, and hundreds of emails, phone calls and text messages?

More Information, More Confusion

While we enjoy a growing capability to extract relevant information that supports our careers and our lives, most of what we encounter is of marginal value, at best, and often stands in the way of our goals and objectives. We don’t have hours on end to contend with everything that competes for our attention; most days, it feels as if we don’t have sufficient time at all.

Fortunately, we can employ 10 strategies in a manner that will be productive and even enjoyable and fight that information overload:

Contemplate in advance the kind of information you seek.

Identify the vital information carriers.

Streamline your intake capability.

Beware of information crutches.

Establish a distribution system.

Be thoughtful when sending information.

Design responses.

Do away with paper.

Constantly review and update.

Acknowledge the benefits of remaining organized.

Contemplate in Advance the Kind of Information You Seek

Have a reasonable idea of the type of information you want and need to gather. Such information encompasses news about your industry or profession; notable product and service developments; significant regulations and new legislation; client, customer, or consumer-related information; special applications; intelligence on competitors; and emerging trends and prospects.

Identify the Vital Information Carriers

Identify the small number of key information sources, including publications, websites, blogs, and hard news sources, that cover what’s occurring in the field. You’ll really only need three to four sources; you’d be surprised at the amount of coverage overlap you’ll see.

Streamline Your Intake Capacity

Once you recognize the kind of information you require and a handful of the best sources, you need to establish a methodical way of receiving, synthesizing, and applying such information that will benefit you, your team, and your organization.

Staying attuned to your goals and objectives and focusing on the kind of information that supports your efforts gives you the best chance to accomplish what you want. You might consider reducing social networking, depending on your job. Your quest is to maintain a constant inflow of relevant information in as simple a manner as possible. Yes, on occasion you can give attention to peripheral issues. In general, however, focus on the information that will make a difference in your effectiveness.

Beware of Information Crutches

Many people have a predisposition to collect and retain information that confirms what they already believe or know to be true. They don’t need to save such information; the practice is more like a reflex action. With the vast amounts of information on the Internet today and the power of search engines, it’s not necessary to hang on to much.

More vital is the ability to find what you need in a hurry, which often requires only a few keystrokes. Retaining piles and files of hard copy information is of diminishing value and can impede your effectiveness. Moreover, files and information that you retain for more than 18 months often can be deleted with no detrimental effects.

Establish a Distribution System

As you rise in your career, don’t spend inordinate amounts of time gathering information. Much of what you seek can be identified, collected, and disseminated to you by junior staff. You can use them as information scouts and as a clipping service of sorts to pre-read for you.

Once freed from the constant task of identifying and assembling information, you’re better able to think conceptually in ways that will help to propel your team, division, or department forward. This is especially true when introducing a new product, service, or delivery system.

Be Thoughtful When Sending Information

Sometimes the staggering amounts of information is due to our lack of organizing guidelines. Such guidelines could otherwise spare us from unnecessary, excessive exposure to information that does not support our current challenges.

Learn to be more discriminating when exchanging information. Eliminate acronyms, abbreviations, and jargon that can lead to misunderstandings, and limit the length of your correspondence with others by including only what is necessary to know. Overwhelming our recipients with information is no more welcome to them than when they overwhelm us. We also must encourage one another to stop CCing and BCCing when it is not necessary, and avoid submitting “FYI” kinds of messages.

Design Responses

Throughout the workweek, you’ll receive many different types of requests. Many are routine, so you can automate your responses by using your email’s signature function. Most email software programs today support at least 20 different signatures. You can create and save signatures by category that enable you to respond promptly and effectively to customers and clients. The signatures that you’ve developed can also be personalized to address the particulars of a specific inquiry.

What kinds of signatures might you create in advance? Rosters, standard letters, product and service descriptions, price lists, team or organizational descriptions, credentials, etc. The more signatures you establish, the quicker and more productively you can answer questions from inquirers.

Do Away With Paper (When Practical)

A variety of hard copy files and documents will need to be retained. Nevertheless, you can undertake a campaign to reduce the volume of paper you’re retaining, whether it’s in filing cabinets, desk drawers, or storage bins.

Evaluating each document you receive and consider whether it merits saving. Will a scanned version of said document suffice? If so, scan it and recycle the hard copy. Yes, scanning requires extra time and effort, but in the long run the payoff is more than worth it. When you effectively label each of the documents you’ve scanned, you enhance your ability to quickly locate them on your hard drive or online. Finding such e-documents is generally easier than finding the hard copy.

Constantly Review and Update

Periodically review your documents. Is the information still relevant? Does it need to be combined with something else? Should it be reclassified? Your goal is to keep your holdings to a minimum.

Tackle only a handful of file folders at a time, so you don’t feel overwhelmed. Ask yourself, “What can be deleted? What should be merged? What can be extracted so that the few gems of wisdom crucial to my success can be applied as needed?” Think of this task with a project management hat on and take it step-by-step.

Acknowledge the Benefits of Remaining Organized

Staying organized might make you anxious. Organizing is certainly not a glamorous task. Yet, in a world that overwhelms us with the volume of information and communication, becoming the master of your files, and maintaining them so they serve you, is more important than ever before. Information overload occurs when we let things pile up. The people who become adept at recognizing, gathering, retrieving, and applying the right information at the right time are valuable to their organizations and their teams.

The future belongs to ultra-productive people who understand the importance of information and communication management. Regardless of the obstacles they face, these adept information managers are capable of pointing their team or organization in the appropriate direction. Why? They have a well-developed ability to identify, assemble, and impart knowledge that they extract from information.

Ultimately they can draw upon their knowledge to lead with wisdom.

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Productivity in Flight

You can handle so much in the air that you’ll have less to do going forward

Published

2 months ago

July 16, 2023

Jeff Davidson

When you are flying and told to put your cell phone in airplane mode, you might think that your productivity will suffer. However, when I turn on my email function and dictate into the phone, even surrounded by the heavy airplane noise, my cell phone, an Android model, works well with few transcription errors.

This particular article was written at 35,000 feet. I was in airplane mode at the time, with all kinds of sounds around me. Yet the phone faithfully recorded my dictated words.

If I have notes with me, and enough time on the flight, I’ll be able to dash off three or four articles in one sitting. Chances are you have the same capability.

Maybe you’re not writing articles per se, but you could be creating future blog entries, making notes to your staff or to your boss, or writing messages that you’ll send to friends and relatives. So what if you can’t send them at the moment that you finished dictating? You’ll be landing soon enough, and you’ll have the capabilities to resume sending and receiving email. Then, bingo! You’ve handled so much in the air that now you have less to do going forward.

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Business

The Cancel Culture at Artspace in Raleigh, North Carolina

Making a federal case out of a 20 second, honest mistake

Published

3 months ago

July 7, 2023

Jeff Davidson

American Thinker — The USA, the land of the free and home of the brave. With its weaponized DoJ and FBI, are we truly free? And what about tyranny at the state level? As part of their pro-LGBTQ+ agenda, the House Democrat Party in Michigan has passed a law to fine or incarcerate residents using the wrong pronouns in addressing another person.

The bill, HB 4474, criminalizes making somebody “feel threatened” by terminology including employing the wrong pronouns. The proposed legislation would replace the current Ethnic Intimidation Act. If enacted, it will be a felony hate crime in Michigan, with up to five years in prison or a $10,000 fine, for causing protected classes to “feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened,” regarding gender identity or sexual orientation.

I Am a Fugitive from Justice

I am blessed to reside in North Carolina, not Michigan, where my recent crime is not yet a felony. My letter, directly below, to the Artspace Board of Directors and, below that, the correspondence leading up to my letter, spell out the grievous sin for which I am guilty! As you will see, clearly, I am a lost and nonredeemable soul:

Greetings Artspace Board Members,

I am a six-year volunteer with Art Space of Raleigh, having started in March of 2014, and serving through March of 2020 until COVID-19 shut us down. I resumed volunteering once the “First Friday” visitors were back in swing.

During my time as a volunteer, I was on site, perhaps 60 to 64 times, missing about 10 First Fridays due to my travel as a professional speaker and cruise ship speaker. My volunteer experience initially included serving wine and beer. I then became the food server for many years. The supervisors, including Mary Kennedy, were glad because I was one of the few who never consumed the Artspace food!

During some First Fridays, I stayed on for a second 3-hour shift, on short notice, when other scheduled volunteers did not appear.

In addition, I served as a volunteer on some weekends during Family Days directing a variety of activities for kids. I also volunteered at the annual benefactors banquet – a black tie affair with lavish hors d’oeuvres and entertainment.

After COVID-19, I was assigned to the education room. During such sessions, parents with children or children on their own would create some type of art or craft. The new supervisor was David, who praised me on several occasions during my nights of volunteering, as I always arrived early, took few breaks, did not require refreshments, and handled crowds of all sizes.

In March 2023, I was a volunteer once again. Then, I was traveling on the first Friday in April and in May, so I was not available again until June. hen I signed up for June weeks later, I saw that my sign-up had been removed. When I re-signed, I was informed by David via email, out of the blue (see below) that I had committed a grievous sin 10 weeks before and could no longer volunteer. Ten weeks.

I have included, verbatim, sequential correspondence between myself and David.

Jeff Davidson

Hi Jeff,

I apologize for not responding to you sooner. I am going to politely ask that you no longer volunteer with Artspace moving forward. We have appreciated your support, but my colleague Danny reported that you used inappropriate language that could’ve made attendees feel uncomfortable while volunteering during March First Friday.

At Artspace, we’re striving to create a space that people from all walks of life can feel comfortable in and we need volunteers who reinforce that culture. Again, thank you for the support but I feel its best if you no longer volunteer with Artspace.

Best, David

Greetings David,

I did not knowingly use any inappropriate language at any time. Before you came on board, I was a volunteer for 6 years every First Friday at Artspace, and was widely acknowledged as an asset on First Fridays.

Now, I hear this kind of accusation. What specific language does Danny have to report? I would be most interested in knowing the specifics as opposed to some general accusation. If you’re going to make an accusation, let me hear what it is.

Jeff,

I’m happy to give you a call later today to discuss. However, as the Director of Community Engagement and the person who manages Artspace’s volunteer program this is my final decision. Please let me know the best time to call you today.

Thank you, David

David,

You can call me anytime {he never did, I had to force a call}, I’m interested knowing a couple of things:

* What does Danny say that I said, verbatim?

* Next, if I happened to say something that he thought was inappropriate, why did he not tell me at the time?

* Why does it take 3 months to find out such news?

* Also, don’t be concerned that I’m going to attempt to continue to be a volunteer.

* Nobody, including me, wants to be around anybody that does not like them.

I received praise from you the times we’ve encountered each other, and now you’ve taken the word of an associate that I’ve done something so terrible that I must be banned forever from Artspace, without even first talking to me about it.

This is leadership?

Jeff Davidson

No News by Phone

On the phone, I could not get him to give me any specifics or even anything of substance, just vague utterance about some terrible faux pas that merited instantly canceling me. So, I called to his boss, who he had not informed. She was surprised because she had seen me many times on the job and knew that I was on asset. To follow up, I sent her the email trail:

Greetings Ms. Jones,

Here is the email trail [all included above] leading to the phone call in which David would tell me nothing and when I attempted to gain any useful information about the alleged faux pas, he hung up on me. In my 20+ years of volunteering for WUNC, the Flower Shuttle, Tunnel to Towers, Cystic Fibrosis, March of Dimes, and the NC Museum of Arts, I have never experienced anything remotely like this.

Thanks for your attention, Jeff Davidson

At the request of his boss, David sent me a formal letter, now adding on other previously unannounced “multiple reports on your inability to follow instructions during volunteer shifts.” You and I have seen this before: someone has a weak case so they throw in more vague, (bogus) assertions to “shore up” their argument. Then, when they stonewall you by phone and you get upset, they throw that in as well.

Case closed: looked at all the infractions!

Dear Jeff,

Thank you for your six years of service to Artspace. Our organization appreciates your continued support over the years assisting with First Fridays and other programs. Unfortunately, we no longer see Artspace’s volunteer program as a good fit for you, and we will no longer need your assistance as a volunteer.

We have come to this decision after we received multiple reports on your inability to follow instructions during volunteer shifts. A staff member reported you made inappropriate comments related to gender in reference to a family visiting Artspace during First Friday on March 3, 2023. Everyone is welcome at Artspace and our staff strives to create a safe space that is welcoming to people of all ages, abilities, genders, and backgrounds. We want to retain volunteers who will reinforce that expectation and respect the culture that has been established.

Not only did your comments make that staff member feel uncomfortable, but dismissive comments related to gender identity could have jeopardized that family’s positive experience at Artspace. The hostile behavior you displayed when confronted about this incident over the phone only further displays that it is time for us to part ways. For those reasons, I am respectfully requesting you no longer volunteer with Artspace moving forward.

We thank you for your service and hope you find success volunteering with another local organization. Please know you are still welcome to visit Artspace and attend our community programs.

David,

Multiple reasons? Hardly. Thanks for your continued non-explanation. If you’re referring to the two little kids, dressed in bright colors, with long flowing hair, giggling at the back table for over an hour, who I mistook as girls, it was an honest mistake that anyone could have made. There was zero malice on my part. I was seeking to help them with their art project, as all other youths required, roughly, only 30 to 40 minutes.

I said to them, verbatim, “Ladies, can I help?” They had been unsupervised for at least an hour, and then a parent, apparently their parent, seated nearby said, “They’re boys.” I immediately told them I was sorry for their error. Not the world’s worst offense, and highly likely not the first time someone has erred in relation to them.

I then went immediately to Danny and asked him about the two youths and he said they were boys. I told him that I had mistook them. That is the whole incident.

You, David, apparently want to make this a federal case, and make defamatory statements as if I’m some type of troglodyte with a history of bad behavior. I strongly sense that you were looking for a way to depose me as part your personal brand of cancel culture.

As for the phone conversation, you were intentionally vague and unresponsive when I had a legitimate right to know what I had done that was worthy of your punishment. I asked for any type of detail and you offered next to nothing. And you kept accusing me of pressing you, and then you hung up on me. Even now, it has taken several more weeks to get any kind of information from you and I had to go to your supervisor, at that.

For shame, David.