We were talking about information/articles torn out/things printed off the internet in the Declutter Group Monday.

It’s helpful to think about where you go for information when you are ready for it. If you were to plan a party, would you go to your party planning binder or file folder, would you do an internet search or would you go to the library for a book?

If you are creating a garden, or going on a health plan or planning a vacation where do you go for information?

That is the kind of information you keep. That is where you store your information.

I rarely go to any torn out magazine article anymore. I would search the web or my Evernote online notebook. So I keep almost no magazine articles or things printed.

If you automatically go to your binders, then why are you keeping a bunch of folders on your computer?

If you get most of your info from books – make sure those are organized and don’t worry about keeping the paper information glut.

Information is only helpful if you can find it when you need it.

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Photo by Evelyn Giggles

I love to learn. Information is like catnip to me.  So in order not to drown in information, I have had to systemize things.

Library Books

For instance, when I get library books, I look at how many pages the book is and how many days I have before it is due. I divide how many pages by how many days to find out about how many pages I need to read a day. Then I write that number on a small piece of paper, which becomes my bookmark. I don’t necessarily read that exact number of pages each day, but I try to stay close or I know I won’t finish the book on time.

If I do the calculations before I get the books out, I can prevent myself from getting too many books out at one time. Sometimes I’ll bring home a nice stack of 6 books I am curious about and I find out there is no way I can read them all.

Books

I keep a stack of 5 books that I am reading. I can’t get out a new one to read, until at least one in the pile is done. If I don’t do that I have a lot of half-finished books. I already do from before I implemented it, so I am using this system to go through the back log,

However I don’t force myself to finish any books I don’t find interesting. If I don’t want to finish it, it will move to my give away pile.

E-books and Courses

I also like reading things online. Once a week on Tuesdays I take about 15 min to an hour to read an ebook or do a course. I take notes so I can delete the book when I am done. I only keep a few on my hard drive.

Email newsletters

I keep a separate bulk mail folder in my gmail account, so the newsletters don’t distract me from work by calling to me from the in-box. Once a week, on  the weekends I can read the newsletters.

Implementing

With so many great ideas, I need a place to store them before I try them. I have a file folder called Implement that has ideas from magazines, pinterest, book notes, etc. Then once a week or once a month I pick one or two ideas out to play with.

Do you have any ideas that have helped with too much information?

I like information. It allows me to be more creative and make connections between ideas.

But, when information no longer feels like a delight I know it’s time to do my Information Reduction Plan.

Stop Information Inflow

• Quit reading magazines
• No watching the news or getting it online
• No web surfing unless I need a specific piece of information
• No buying books, ebooks, or audio programs
• No going to the library to browse

Reduce Other Sources of Information

• Limit my reading of blogs in my Google Reader to 5 posts. I scan to see which look the most interesting.
• Limit newsletter reading time to 5 min a day
• No multi tasking like reading while eating or watching TV while checking email
• Read only one book at a time

Add Quiet

• Usually when I feel information overload it is because I have been stuffing my brain, but not allowing anything to digest
• Sit and do nothing every day, let the mind wander and process
• Journal before bed to get things out of the head

When I feel balanced again I slowly add more information – reading a few magazine articles, reading blogs for 15 min a day, slowly going through books or audio programs I have already bought and allowing myself time to implement or think on them.

Eventually I end up getting bogged down in too much information again. Curiousity does that to a person. But I know I have my Information Reduction Plan available when that happens.

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Photo Credit: Steve Parker