Look out for your own overload

In a day full of meetings, calls, work and learning ... information overload can really come for us. That overload feeling doesn’t always hit with the same speed or intensity though.

There are different types:

- Lookout for the slow creeper.

The cumulative effect of overload builds up during the day. With no break between meetings, we keep loading up! We’ll be full soon and no more will fit in. It hits at about 4pm!

- Lookout for the fast flier. When a topic, meeting or presentation hits us and we’re done, overloaded. Too many slides, too much too soon, so complicated. Boom! Full.

Both situations need not be a surprise to us. We don’t have to be caught out or shocked that we become overloaded. It happens slowly or rapidly; and we can always be prepared for it.

A powerful way to manage load is to ‘empty the truck’. Rather than trying to carry all the information yourself, externalise it. Get it out of your head and into something else ... onto a page or into a notes file.

Our days of ‘I’m here soaking it all up’ are done. It’s simply not an efficient way for us to work with information. Save the soaking for baths, movies, socializing and relaxing. Aaaah!