How to Escape the Crush of Information Overload

When you begin a new project or become interested in a new idea, do you have an insatiable desire to learn more about it? Do you find yourself buying – and reading – every book, report, newsletter, and magazine you can find on the subject? (That’s what I do.)

In the beginning, it feels great. You are riding high. Then, all of a sudden, you realize that you’ve become an information junkie. You’ve been spending so much time reading about whatever it is you want to do that you don’t have any time left to actually do it. You feel like crying for help.

Bob Bly calls this “analysis paralysis.”

“All the information you are taking in has overloaded your circuits,” he says. “You can’t process it all, sort through it, and figure out what to do first. So, instead, you do nothing. You take no action – other than to order yet another course or report to read.”

Does any of this sound familiar?
Bob has a formula for preventing analysis paralysis. He calls it the 25-50-25 rule. It is based on the fact that there are only three ways to learn a process (e.g., how to start an Internet business ) or a skill (e.g., copywriting): studying, observing, and doing.
The 25-50-25 rule says that you must divide your time as follows:

• No more than 25 percent of your time studying – i.e., reading books, attending workshops, listening to instructional CDs in your car.
• No more than 25 percent of your time observing – watching what successful people are already doing.
• At least 50 percent of your time actually DOING the thing you are studying and observing.

For example, if you want to sell information products on the Internet, you would spend 25 percent of your time studying material on the way it’s done, 25 percent of your time observing the way other people are doing it, and 50 percent of your time creating your first product… designing your website… and building your list.
I like Bob’s rule because it emphasizes action. And when I found out about it, I wondered if it could be applied to my daily working life. In thinking about it, I concluded that it depended greatly on what sort of work I was doing. If I was learning a new skill, Bob’s rule seemed to apply. But when I was going about my normal workday activities – creating new products and growing businesses – my time was spent very differently.

My daily working life, I realized, has three common components:

• Gathering information
• Analyzing that information and using it to make plans
• Taking action

I tend to do my information gathering at specific times. I read newspapers in the early morning, magazines during breaks, and e-mail at the end of the day. I read to encounter useful ideas. I analyze those ideas both as I’m reading them and later on, at odd moments throughout the day. I spend most of my workday – about 80 percent of it – taking action. The rest of my time – 20 percent – is devoted to gathering information, analyzing it, and making plans.

I like that 80 percent number. It corresponds with Pareto’s Law – the 80/20 rule that you can apply to just about everything.

This is a Partial Article from Early to Rise – Michael Masterson (See their site to read the complete version)

What is the balance that works best for you…. Or are you still stuck in analysis paralysis?

Until next time, J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

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April 27 2009 12:25 pm | Home Business Ideas, HowTo Business Questions, Time Management, personal development

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