In the morning, turning on the computer, you are in anticipation of the flow of information that is about to “pour out" on you from the screen. You experience similar sensations when you open the faucet in the bathroom and you already know that the water will not run in a thin stream, but will gush out of it.
E-mail, Skype, news, tabs in the browser – this is the usual morning of a mother who works on the Internet while at home. If it is wrong to start dealing with these blockages, then you can simply “drown” in the flows of information and, in addition, get information overload, the consequences of which are not so harmless.
A few tricks that must be done before turning on the computer:
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Make a plan of the main things from the evening. This is one of the key points that allows you to overcome information overload and increase the effectiveness of work both on the Internet and in everyday life.
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It is imperative that in the evening you need to write down the most important things that are planned for the next day, and determine a specific time for them. It is desirable for a mother to bind the performance of a task at least relatively, for example, “before the baby wakes up”, or “during the child’s lunchtime nap”.
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The most difficult things, as well as those things that you put off all the time, need to be planned for the morning, so that later you can calmly do the rest, more pleasant chores, all day long. By the way, try to plan on paper and not on the computer, as this can serve as an excuse to turn on this very computer.
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Do as much as you can offline. If there is no access to the endless Internet, then in such an environment there is less chance of being distracted by extraneous information that can nullify all plans.
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Use diaries, notepads, notebooks, magnetic or cork boards, and other handy material that can be adapted for storing and processing information. Even pieces of paper will help if they are put in a certain place and, if possible, information from them is transferred to a more reliable medium.
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Do not do several things at the same time. Tasks must be completed in sequence. It is more profitable for mom to concentrate on one thing, even if the children distract and do not allow her to work quietly. And things that require attention and composure are more productive and efficient to do in a “quiet” time.
If you know that you won’t be able to do a good job this afternoon, just dedicate this day to rest and play with your child. And in the evening, when you can sit without distraction, you will be able to get things done much faster than you could imagine.
So, you planned everything, took the time and turned on the computer.
How to deal with information overload, or better yet, prevent it?
- You need to make a decision.
You have no choice but to make an informed decision: until everything planned is done, no extraneous information will interfere with you. You just sit down at the computer and start doing what is written in your plan. Do not think about anything else, concentrate and remember that you have made a decision and be sure to implement it.
- Protect yourself from distracting elements. Close the mail, put ICQ, Skype, etc. to Busy mode or just turn them off. Do not check RSS, do not go to sites and blogs of friends, you will have time to do all this later.
It will be great if you can completely disconnect from the Internet and not use the browser for work.
For example, to write an article for a blog, you do not need to sit in WordPress at all, it is enough to install a program for publishing to a blog. And the work is done, and the temptation to constantly look at the Internet disappears.
If you still can’t resist…
It happens that you seem to be tuned in to work, “took the bull by the horns”, but suddenly some interesting pop-up window appears on the screen, or some headline attracts your attention while searching for information on Google. As a result, you find yourself in an hour or two in an incomprehensible place and in frustrated feelings. This can be very frustrating for you, since you spend precious time when the child is sleeping or playing on his own on empty wandering around the Internet, looking for something unknown.
Therefore, as soon as you understand that you have been “carried” across the Internet, you simply add the page to the special “Other” bookmark folder and reassure yourself that if you need it, you will definitely return there. But practice shows that they return there very rarely.
Do you know why this happens?
The reason is the same as the constant switching of television channels. When we receive a new breath of information, pleasure hormones are released, and we start switching channels again and again. Therefore, we like to open more and more new sites, “hang out” in social networks.
This is where the very information overload awaits us, which can lead to insomnia, poor appetite and nervous breakdown. This has become a serious problem in today’s society. Televisions, the Internet, social networks – all of them are aimed at constantly feeding us with more and more new information that is not entirely harmless and can actually harm.
There is another negative point that greatly affects the success of work, including on the Internet. The fact is that the amount of information is often inversely related to performance. We read, listen, watch more and more, but … we don’t do anything! Having spent hours and days on the perception of information, we never reach the stage of its application and obtaining a result.
For example, a person really wants to create his own blog, read a lot of information about what needs to be done and in what sequence, what determines the success of the blog and how to attract readers to it, but … the blog has not yet been created, but “things are still there”. And the main reason is that there is too much information around, which is not easy to understand.
What do you really need to know? What should be skipped and not wasted on this? How to take the first step? What are the key points to pay attention to?
Three pillars of protection against information overload
If possible, look for one good source of information for one specific problem. Get the result and only after that move on!
This will kill a lot of rabbits at once:
- create protection against information overload;
- develop and implement a step-by-step plan to achieve the goal;
- get extra motivation if you spent money on it;
- you get results from your actions, as you concentrate on one step, and not all the way at once.
So, to protect against information overload, you need:
plan work in the evening; limit yourself to the maximum from unnecessary information in the available ways, and be sure to apply what you have learned. And then you will not have problems with nerves, but only excellent results!