Information: Junk or Nutrition?

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

There's a lot of talk these days about how greed has been responsible for the crash in our economy - greed on Wall Street as well as greed on Main Street. In our insatiable need for more, something finally had to give - and it did.

But there's another kind of greed that doesn't get a lot of attention. I don't know exactly how this greed has impacted the economy, but I know that it impacts me greatly. This is greed for information.

The Treasure Hunter

Do you remember watching a movie where a group of treasure hunters, after a long and arduous search, finally unearth a cave full of riches? It's an old theme; invariably, one of the party starts stuffing gold and jewels into every pocket, overwhelmed by the accessibility of the vast riches spread out before him. 

Then, of course, the cave roof collapses, burying our hapless treasure hunter, along with his dreams for freedom and happiness. Moral of the story? Greed will kill you!

Of course, we'd never do that, or would we?

Here's an upated story: An independent business owner, in search of success, comes across a different kind of treasure trove. This treasure is information. The information available is more vast than any golden treasure of ancient times.

Google, Wikipedia, blogs, emails, e-courses, Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, YouTube, online articles, and other information treasures are there for the taking in unimaginable quantities.

Dazzled by the wonder of it all, we dive in greedily to absorb as much as we possibly can. We look things up, we download reports, we listen to audio and view video, we link to web sites from Twitter, until one fateful day the roof of the cave crashes in.

We find ourselves exhausted, overwhelmed, and confused. All this information has given us a few good ideas and some excitement, but ultimately we feel a little empty inside. No matter how much information we get, it never seems to be enough.

The Solution to Information Overload 

One solution is to cut back on the information we consume. But that's just part of the solution. The thing to realize is that information overload is triggered by "junk information." This is random information, articles, and ideas that don't make any substantial contribution to our business and lives.

All of this junk information seems to flow in automatically. It's always trying to pull our attention, and ends up distracting us from what's really important.

Look at all the information that comes into you, and ask if it's really adding value. Then cut it back. Unsubscribe to newsletters, discontinue certain magazines, stop reading some blogs, remove the news feed on iGoogle. If you really need to know something, you can always look it up.

The next step is to up your consumption of "nutritious information." This is information that adds real value to your life and your business, such as books and courses. We often don't get to this information because we are so inundated by the junk.

For instance, I recently bought a course on how to do more successful online product and program launches. It's great information that can really help my business, but it's been hard to get around to studying it. My friend and business coach, Patrick Summar, suggested a very non-intutive solution:

He said, "You should consume this highly nutritious information earlier in the day. Don't wait until the end of the day when you're tired. For instance, take some time before lunch and read a section or chapter. The bonus is that this information will give you ideas and energy you can tap into for the rest of the day.

"When you're consuming junk information, that's not the case, because it doesn't have much value or immediate application to your business; it only distracts you. Ultimately it's only wasting your time and adding to your overwhelm."

So that's my new information plan. Reduce the junk information, increase the nutritious information and schedule the consumption of this information in a way that works for me.

Maybe it will work for you as well.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Although it may not seem like it, we do have a choice about the information we consume. We can subsist on a junk diet of ideas, snippets, and news that does nothing to build our businesses, or we can sit down regularly for an information meal that can nourish us and make us stronger. It really doesn't take any more time to consume this kind of information; it just takes a little more intention and planing.

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How are you managing information overload in a way that helps your business? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

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In the article above, I talk bout Junk Information vs. Nutritious Information. Junk information distracts, overwhelms and exhausts you. Nutritious information nourishes your business by teaching you hands-on business skills you can use for a lifetime. One place you can find a healthy helping of nutritious information is in the Action Plan Marketing Club. Give it a taste for just one month for only $9.00 and see the difference it makes: www.actionplan.com/actionplanclub

Comments

[Shel Horowitz]

Good one, Robert. This has a lot to do with why I've chosen NOT to automatically follow back everyone who follows me on Twitter. I follow those who add value. If they would clutter up my feed with noise, or even if they add plenty of value in their niche but it's not a niche I want to pay attention to, I don't follow back.

Unfortunately, following manually is slow and time-consuming even using third-party tools, and I'm hundreds behind. But it means I'm not wading through a lot of crap on my feed--especially on the TweetDeck column I keep for those I really want to follow.

Thanks again,
Shel Horowitz

[Kathi Miller, Clutter Coach]

Thanks for the insights in your recent newsletter about nutritious or junk information.

I am self-employed as a "clutter coach." In my public speaking and client appointments, I talk about how we need to get better at choosing. An older woman approached me after a speech and said that when she goes to the grocery store, there's an entire aisle of cereal and she's overwhelmed. There is just more of everything than ever before. You can't watch all the movies there are to watch, or read all the magazines, or taste all the wine (although I am trying!). We have to acquire and practice the skill of constantly choosing what is the best use of our resources of time, energy, and money.

[Thornton Prayer]

I just simply scan everything at first and then dump the junk as fast as possible. When I get the chance, I then read the nutritious information because it's so helpful.

[Lisa Claudia Briggs, LICSW]

I love food analogies! And I agree in theory and practice- about a month ago I unsubscribed from all but 3 marketing newsletters. I found the more info I received, the more anxious and overwhelmed I felt, and the more my ability to stay the course was disrupted.

I believe we are all overstimulated by information and too much access to everything including each other at the speed of light. We need time to be- in our senses, in real-time with our families and friends, to stop over-consuming information that tends to not be all that satisfying or useful.

Just as I tell my clients not to eat junk, but to stick with whole foods, and to avoid extremes of binges or starving, the same can be applied as in your analogy, to our consumption of information. Choose carefully and trust your guidance to help you find the balance that's right for you.

Peace and blessings-
Lisa
http://www.IntuitiveBody.com

[JenB]

I have been unsubscribing from eLetters unless they provide value to me. Like Seth Godin says, I want "me mail," not email. If I unsubscribe from an eLetter that a colleague creates, I'm asking them to connect to me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook instead. http://tinyurl.com/de9wmg

[Judy Murdoch]

Can't nutritious information be easy to read and digest? I mean, yeah, it's easy to read People magazine in 30 minutes. What if nutritious, substantive information were as easy as ready People?

Hard to Read and Understand does not equal "good for you"

My goal is to one day write marketing books for business owners that are as fun and compelling to read as comic books.

I'm getting there slowly.

[Melanie Yost]

Love your article! I had some guilt about not chasing every ounce of information offered to me because, quite frankly, I'm tired. I have gotten pickier about what I read and where I get my information. We have to take responsibility for what we put into our minds.

[Graham Ross]

Great post.Information overload is a problem for most of us.

One idea that may also be useful is to apply the 3S to all of your information.

3S- Sort,Straighten and Sustain

Step 1 - Sort - Review all of the information you receive and "red tag" information that you don't actually need. A good criteria is that if you haven't used something within the month then get rid of it."If in doubt throw it out"

Step 2 - Sort - Put the remaining information that you do recieve into some sort of order and frequency of consumption.Try and relate each piece of information to your overall goals.If it doesn't fit with your goals, bin it.Create a master list of your information and for each major component write down the 5Ws and 1H - who,what,when,why and how

Step 3 - Revisit your master list once a month and "red tag" any items that no longer help you.

[Cat Matson]

I so agree Robert.... and I really like your analogy of information being similar to food.

I have been guilty of over-indulging in information... one of my recent 'tips' has been to set up my iGoogle page with the blogs I like to read.... so rather than receiving thousands of emails a day that I have to plough through for fear of missing out, I can quickly scan 1 page of those blogs that I consider highly nutritous and decide which (if any) posts to read.

In terms of making sure my Twittering activity is nutritous.... a Tweetdeck column call 'Active' Network that I monitor regularly... and an 'All Friends' column to stay abreast of 'general' stuff.

One final thought - follow only the people who you really resonate with (blogs, Twitter, news).... they will link you in with anybody/anything else you need. Trust your spheres of influence to 'be' that sphere for you.

Keep sending me your nutritous information Robert.... it's as good if not better than a healthy meal.

:-)

Cat

[Dennis]

Couldn't agree more. That is why I believe the time is right to grow members-only sites.
(I am doing so based on this platform http://bit.ly/NJMf - highly recommended.)
I am promising to make things easy, accessible convenient - AND to filter out all the rubbish.
Google made a business out of finding everything - I want to make sense of it.

PS _ Robert you are not Twittering much?

[michael cardus]

nice post.
This idea of junk information has been a crushing feeling.
As we become greater "plugged in" we find ourselves tuned-out more.

it seems that the more information you gather the deeper you become in the vortex of the information loop.