Overcoming Information Overload
Are you unrelentingly busy and often feeling overwhelmed with the pressures of work and life demands?
Is technology helping or adding to your feeling that it’s impossible to keep up? Are you frenetically busy or energetic and highly focused and productive?
I have been finding with e-mail, social networking, tele-classes and so many other means to stay connected and learn that it is hard to schedule things. I often “plan” some things “just in time” and “on the fly”.
How are you doing handling all of the pressures of life and work?
Information Fatigue
The consequences of these problems are serious: Our productivity and creativity are impaired.
We’re allowing huge amounts of information and communications into our brains. We’re generating an equally large volume of innovative ideas and integrating them with our preexisting knowledge. We continuously process and formulate new concepts, making split-second decisions on how and with whom to communicate.
In this information age, we know we have choices—but there are way too many. We must sort through options and triage them to determine which receive our attention.
You’ve probably already discovered that whichever system or calendar you’re using to track projects and priorities is important, but limited. As management guru Peter Drucker explains:
“In knowledge work…the task is not given; it has to be determined. ‘What are the expected results from this work?’…is the key question in making knowledge workers productive.
“And it is a question that demands risky decisions. There is usually no right answer; there are choices instead. And results have to be clearly specified, if productivity is to be achieved.”
We haven’t been taught to think deeply about our work before we undertake it. Thinking in a concentrated manner to define desired results is something few people do. But thinking about desired outcomes based on our core values is one of the most effective methods available for creating a purposeful life.
Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become a less stressed and more purposeful and productive leader. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of the company.
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