This past July 2, 2010 at noon, 182½ days of the effectively elapsed meaning that half of the year was over and I could look forward to a fulfilling rest of the year.
To kick off my “2010 second act” I decided to go on a media fast…well, more like a media diet.
I’ve always been a voracious reader and student of my profession, but it’s been getting a little crazy lately getting through the amount of information that comes gushing through to me. And, much of it is self inflicted.
At times, my information overload has hurt my ability to get my more important things done – worried that I might miss something important – and not having time to have more fun too!
How is it going? Well, my initial report is that, “the kid is all right!”
Actually, in the past few weeks, my work and personal life has improved greatly and we’re doing better than ever.
My media diet has enabled me to more effectively focus and deliver of building better family relationships, business relationships, and a better personal relationship (via “me time”) with myself.
I know this is pretty simple stuff and nothing really new, but it’s amazing how we all get so caught up in the minor things, that we forget to prioritize the major things and to do so, you need to quiet down your mind.
In a future post, I’ll reveal some of the tools I use to effectively consolidate the information I want to receive, but for now here are seven easy things to do to free up time for yourself from your media overload:
- Use Google Alerts and RSS to push information to you
- Take time to unsubscribe from eNewsletters instead of simply deleting them
- Increase your Spam filter and/or put better rules into your email exchange to prevent getting unwanted emails
- If you Blog, Tweet etc., simply do so when you have something important, relevant and and helpful to say – don’t feel compelled to always say something – stay quiet at times and just listen – it’s amazing what you learn when you listen
- Cancel most mail subscriptions and go to a bookstore the 3rd week of the month and read what you need there
- Check email and phone calls only 2-4 times per day
- Consolidate multiple outbound emails to one person into one with multiple action and/or information items instead of just 1-2
These simple basic steps have led me to become more “high touchy and a little bit less techy” and have given me back the time I’ve needed to build better relationships, gain more business, make my company more profitable and add more fun to my life.
P.S.: While the hilarious “Serenity Now” phrase caught fire from Seinfeld, in this Information Age on steroids that we all live in, you might want to follow the wisdom of the original “Serenity Prayer” written in a little stone cottage in Heath, MA by Reinhold Niebuhr.
It’s a classic and well worth your time to slow down, read it and live it.
