Overwhelmed with options

There always seems so much to do. So many possibilities, options and combinations. 

And we get overwhelmed. 

Until we capture or map those options, they swirl about in our minds, taking up valuable space and attention. 

Clear thinking gets blocked, doubt is created when we’d prefer decisiveness and we slow to a crawl (or stop) in terms of speed. 

When you’ve made decisions in the past, you would have weighed up the options... possibly writing things down on a list of + and - or pros and cons. 

This action externalises the information, taking it out of our brain and into another source: like a note pad, a spreadsheet, an app. 

The ‘emptying’ of our mind is a deliberate technique we can use - and more frequently - to prevent our everyday information overload.

Don’t be fooled into thinking you can soak it all up or keep it all in your head. 

The less on your mind, the more you can be here, present for people, a conversation, deep thinking or that all-important decision. 

Empty your mind and get the options down anytime you like!

Then we get to enjoy a clean slate ... ready for the next round of incoming information. 

Signposts and waypoints

As we deal with increasing amounts and complexity of information, it’s worth remembering a golden rule: people may not be as interested in your stuff as you are. 

That means they won’t work too hard to process it, organize it or make sense of it. 

They’ve got other things on their mind, better things to do, little space to take more on. They’ve got even less capacity for poorly arranged information. 

During an online event recently, I was overwhelmed with the lack of structure in presentations. 

Overwhelmed because it became a dump of information, a series of points that were disconnected, unrelated and in no sequence, theme or logical order. 

Not everything can be important. We can’t take it all in, all at once. 

Just as we can’t complete a journey in one step, delivering information requires a step by step or chunk by chunk approach.

Waypoints and signposts can help. 

📌 Waypoints where you stop or pause along the way. 
➡️ Signposts that guide people along. 

Otherwise it’s just a dump. 

Empty the load at the end of the day

The overwhelm of back to back meetings is real. So. Much. Content. Words and questions and people and ideas and still more meetings.

Our cognitive load takes a beating as we shove more information in to our already overloaded brain. It’s hard work.

In between meetings is the ideal time to pause, review, move and have a kind of ‘reset’, ready for the next meeting.

Deliberately.

And then at the end of the day, another pause. Review and clear the slate for the transition to social, family or home activities.

Otherwise it can get messy and the overloaded feeling takes longer to process naturally, automatically, organically. Do it deliberately.

Empty the load - between meetings if you can; and absolutely at the end of the working day. (And the end of the week too!)

Lighten the online meeting load

After so many online meetings Urgh! We’re foggy, brain-fried ... like we’re in a continuous conference.

This is the human experience of cognitive overload. But it’s exacerbated and multiplied by the load that’s coming via one channel - online. Yes, its different to face to face, next to each other, same room or space.

Here are 3 COGNITIVE LOAD COPING habits:

☀️Change state and break.

Take a short break between every meeting. Yes every one. It ‘releases’ the mental load you’ve been carrying. Like emptying a truck’s load. Don’t do back-to-back. Bad. Just 30 seconds, get up, move and BREAK your state.

☀️Stop soaking information and start sensemaking.

In every meeting, WRITE some handwritten notes. Not typed. Hand written. This is ‘externalizing’ information. It actively relieves those fried feels.

☀️Write down more than a meeting’s end points, actions or decisions.

Catch a quotable quote, a smile moment, a PHRASE that sounded good. This helps retain some focus.

And it’s ok... you’re not failing.

We’re all carrying around a huge concrete slab of shock, change, worry and uncertainty. That’s already some heavy stuff.

Break your state

Write it down

Catch a phrase

Overloaded before we start work

Most of us have experienced the feelings of overwhelm and information overload ... just thinking about our 'to do’ list can cue overwhelm.

A group I worked with last week, (boosting cognitive load coping skills + how to deal with information overload) explained how they listen to podcasts, audio books, interviews and radio programs on their daily commutes to work.

There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s entertaining and educational and a great use of time.

What we need to be aware of is how we fill up our sponge or tank with content and information that we absorb, synthesize and digest. Because then we arrive at work and are faced with even more content and information to absorb, synthesize and digest!

Aargh!

No wonder overload comes a’ knocking!

Cognitive overload happens rapidly or g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y. It's possible we could be overloaded before the work day begins, or soon after we get started at work.

Our indicator rises to ‘full’; there's just no capacity to add much more.

An answer? Allow a buffer, like half-time in a sporting event. Allow neutral time where you’re taking in nothing. Nothing. It helps "release the load".