In our weekly series, we offer a little inspiration to kick off your week.
Some simple wisdom, elegant and accessible. From one soul to another.
We hope it helps you ease into your Monday.
xo

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Information Overload

“. . . a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention . . .”
~Herbet A. Simon

You may have noticed it’s been awhile since I’ve posted on a Monday. Sadly, Soul to Soul has been on pause while I’ve been dealing with life + business stuff. And because I believe in radical transparency, I’ve also just been procrastinating like a mo-fo. I’ve been really bad about sitting down to write. In fact, right now I’ll do just about anything to avoid having to sit down and put idea to page.

What am I doing instead?
Absorbing. Learning. Feeding my brain. Taking in. Educating myself.
With a ton of information.

Most of it is highly useful information — like how to run a business, how to improve this blog, how to comfort a sick cat, how to care for indoor plants — you know, the good stuff. And as a life-long learner, this stuff excites me in a big way. I LOVE learning new things.

However, in the last few weeks I’ve been experiencing information overload. Do you know the feeling? When you absorb, absorb, absorb a hell of a lot of new information over the course of a few days/weeks and then all of a sudden you feel overwhelmed by where to start. Or you feel behind in your life because you’ve spent all of your time learning new tricks ‘o the trade.

There’s a very fine line between information saturation and information overload. And it’s the same, for just about everyone on the planet.

How do you know when you’ve reached overload?
Here are 3 ways:

• You begin to feel overwhelmed by all of the “stuff” circulating around in your brain
• You have gathered lots of great info, but you haven’t acted on it
• You’ve spent more time learning from other people’s work than you have creating your own

If any of the above applies to you, it’s time to go on an information diet.

What does that entail? For me, it means that I’ve put myself on a blog fast. I’m not reading any online content, except as it relates to my own work. It also means that I’m not purchasing any more online programs or educational materials. I’m completing the ones that I have and/or taking a break from absorbing any more information.

In the amount of time I was spending info gathering, I have been able to write this, write several other articles, start reading a book I’ve been wanting to get to (for fun!), worked on my taxes, spent extra time with my sweet kitties, got QT with my new baby cousin, completed all of my weekly assignments for a business program, hired an intern, booked the venue for our 1st dining experience and more.

That’s the simple power of making space. Space in your mind. Space in your calendar. Space in your business. Space in your heart. We need space. We need time, sans information processing, to get things done and come up with our best creative ideas.

Are you overloading yourself with information? Where could you let go and release that knowledge (for now) to make room for creativity and peace? Do you have any tips for those who love learning (but could use a break)? I challenge you to put the lid on info gathering this week, and see what happens. It just might open up a whole new world!