What happens when you 2x the speed

Busy busy and no time to watch a replay or trying to catch up on a podcast or learning video?

It’s just a tap or two and we accelerate the speed of it all 1.1, 1.3, 1.5 and 2 x … still barely holding the threads of the information together.

But more ⏩⏩ than that and we struggle to comprehend and catch the nuances in the story, the style and the speaker.

And how s l o w can it seem when you go back to 1x or even 1.5 speed?

Tip for speakers and trainers, online or not - keep it pacey!

But back to the fast forwardness of information and replays. I think we
want to know we’ve watched it and we’re keen to keep FOMO at bay.

And so at what cost all of the speeding?

This HuffPost piece by Monica Torres reveals the thinking that we do in those spaces between words and ideas. So if the spaces are gone … perhaps the thinking opportunities are deleted too.

And our self control could be suffering too. You know that feeling of impatience and irritation. Come on — hurry up!

Remember though you’ve still got control over the pause button even when you do 2x.

You can continue to think and allow time for thinking.

But it’s another version of the changing nature in how we are desperately addictively trying to handle the increasing flow of information.

We’re just ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ 😩

Too much information

The answer isn’t to communicate less. It’s to adopt some better practices. 

This article from the World Economic Forum ties nicely to some of the thinking in my book ‘Argh! Too much information, not enough brain’. 

There’s plenty of information to be had. There’s so much that it even has a name : infodemic. 

And synthesising or reducing information all the time isn’t the answer either. Abbreviated and reduced summaries have caused and created more information issues for us. 

We can’t take it all in, all the time. 

How might we think and work with information in better ways? 

➡️ And have you got your copy of ‘Argh!’ yet? It’s getting some great reviews from people who’ve bought it and put the practices to work to outsmart their overwhelm. Ebook and paperback are out now. Audio book is out there too …

Your brain loves closed captioning

It seems captioning has taken off among the non-hearing impaired — and for good reason! 

The subtitles on that film or series you’re watching 
- help boost retention 
- improve comprehension 
and 
- help fill the gaps when someone talks over the dialogue! 

It’s proving effective for people learning a new language, for children building their reading skills and can lift levels of engagement in those with conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD and Mild Cognitive Impairment. 

For many other reasons too, this mixed mode of taking in information is booming. 

We know people love watching a YouTube video with the sound off and taking in the captions. It’s booming elsewhere on TVs and screens the world over. 

Are you a subtitles fan? 

Read more about the boom in this article.

Sensemaking as a way of coping and understanding

If overwhelm, stress or uncertainty creeps up and dumps on you, get out a pen and paper... and map it all out. 

- Map out the overwhelm: what’s going on?  

- Map out the stress: what’s happening - what are you thinking about? 

- Map out the uncertainty: what do you know and what could you do about that? 

Rather than endless thinking thinking thinking, sensemaking can help because it involves the visualization of what can seem like a mess of information. 

We’re able to get perspective on where we are and what’s going on so it begins to make more sense to us. 

It doesn’t need to be fancy. 

A simple page of shapes, lines and words can be enlightening and uplifting. 

There are no rules. Your map doesn’t have to be a certain way. 

It’s the act of making a map that helps get the tangle out of your internal mind and out onto an external page. 

Sensemaking is one of the key capabilities of adaptability : to be able to respond to and deal with change. 

If we don’t map to make sense of things, they don’t make sense no matter how much thinking we do. 

The synthesis of an idea

Many people waffle. On and on. 
Not conscious of the passing of time. 

As the talking continues, it’s harder to hold the thread of the information and it’s more challenging for us to keep paying attention. 

With increased stress and uncertainty in these times, most of us are experiencing reduced capabilities. It's tougher to take in information and process it effectively, for example. 

We must consider how we package information for people: presenting it in ways that make it easier to take in, quicker, clearer. 

Just talking, endlessly, won’t land an idea. 

Synthesis is a tool.

It’s how you analyze everything, bringing all of the parts together, reducing it down to something that can be taken on. It's not simplifying. It's synthesising. 

And it helps people better take up information in times of pressure, challenge and uncertainty. 

Edit again and make it shorter. 
Cut and carve up for shorter sentences. 
Package it up, in a package. 

That information you’re about to send ... revisit it and see how you can synthesise it further. 

Help the receivers do less work.