Combating Online Information Overload

Thanks David. Great post. I suffer from TMI daily. I will definately check out Copernic. Anything that will cut to the core and remove the fluff is awesome!

David,

As the marketing manager of an online service provider and manager of too many web sites/blogs to mention, I appreciated your story and the tool you suggested. I will be checking out the summarizer thingy.

One suggestion I have is a way to absorb some content during tafc (time away from computer)… Push RSS feeds of a few of the content sources you like to a text to speech service, then dial in and "listen" to the post instead of reading.

This has helped me shave an hour off my morning data dump.

Thanks again!
Steph

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@ Andrew - Glad to help. As I find tools like these, I will continue to let you know.

@ Stephanie - That is a good idea. RSS is the key to "Data Trapping". Away from the computer? You mean people actually live offline. LOL

I use Speech-to-Text software now and it helps alot. It is so much easier to listen than to lookup and read. And it is mush easier for me to speak than writer. Your tip will push me to use RSS and speech-to-text more. Thanks a bunch.

Very cool! I'd like to run my own writing through this, to see what the summarizer takes away from what I've said - and see whether that's what I meant. And then make every word beyond the summary earn its space.

Margaret,

"Make every word beyond the summary earn its space"

Interesting concept. Words work hard. And most people don't realize that right word at the right time is worth a million bucks. Thanks for that.

I like Stephanie's idea, voice to text and text to voice are cool tools.

I use Jott.com for all my memos, reminders, notes. It emails them to me, and then I can take action, and/or file them in my email folders. It will also send me a reminder if I set the date and time as well after I have made my recording.

I have tried to be ruthless about getting rid of spam; just think of the amount of time we are spending every day deleting stuff. So I hit the unsub whenever possible, and have got my spam folder down from 100 a day to about 5 a day, phew!

I am also trying to be ruthless about paper around the house and office. Our photocopier can also email me a pdf, so anything I want to keep permanently, I copy, email to myself, and then file in my computer folders, which I then back up.

One cool tool for creating a podcast from your own blog for your visitors to subscribe and listen to is Odiogo.com.

The voice is pleasant, not too Stephen Hawking tinny-sounding, and it sure does save time and energy.

David always advocates carrying a note book for important stuff you do to help keep track of your business.

I know have a second notebook in which I have cut the pages into strips. I put a 'to do' item on each strip, or tape a reminder about an action point from a letter in the mail, or write take care of item #, which refers to a piece of paper in the folder section of the book which needs to be dealt with.

Then, once i do the task on the strip of paper, I can tear it out of the book and not have to keep looking at a list with all sorts of cross outs on it. It gives you a great sense of accomplishment when you toss the paper! And you don't have to be at the computer to be organized.

I try to only answer emails at set times of the day, and don't take phone calls just because it rings–if I don't want to be interrupted, I can always call back.

I also have just started using a Fly Fusion Pen Computer, which turns my handwritten notes on paper into text. It is designed for kids, but it sure comes in handy when I am not near a computer, and has a lot of cool features I am only just beginning to learn how to use.
http://www.leapfrog.com/en/shop/FLY_Fusion_products.html

Finally, I have my blackberry to remind me of the most important things I need to deal with, setting deadlines for them to try to stay on target and manage my time efficiently. The little screen popping up can be a lifesaver!

Joan,

Now that is how you save time, money and protect your sanity.

Keeping your life simple requires a bit of work and planning.

Thanks a bunch. Great info in your comment.

David,

Thanks for the reminder. Over the last week I think I've gotten about 20 emails about STSE2. Reading your post this morning made me realized that, among other things, I'm subscribed to waaaay too many lists (yours is NOT among the ones I need to unsubscribe to).

Anyway thanks. Excellent reminder. Also I was listening to your DB Sounds Off MP3 from Perry's Gladiator Club meeting from January yesterday. Great stuff…but haven't finished it yet.

Drew:

I too need to do a better job at managing the inflow of emails. I personally get too many myself.

That business development video is posted on http://www.profitengineer.com in full.

The talk was completely flat-footed and done in the moment. Kinda magical. I had nothing prepared for that day. So that was from experience only.

Thanks for bringing this video to my attention.

That's a great tip about Copernic Summarizer. I'd never heard of it until now and I write about this stuff for a living. That's hugely helpful!

If you ever want to play around with AwayFind for email overload, you're welcome to–just let me know. Some other tools I've been using lately for email management are NutShellMail and Xobni…and of course there's plenty of good advice around that stuff in Merlin Mann's Inbox Zero series or Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Workweek.

We're long overdue in catching up but I've enjoyed watching you use blogging more and more since SOB Con!

Jared,

I have been using Xobni a while now. I love the app.

And, yes. I am in the blog world now. That seminar changed something in me for sure. Next year will be even better.

Inbox Zero - never heard of it. But will looking it along with the other tools that you mentioned.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's connect soon.

You know David, that's one smart six-year-old!

I've never heard of or tried the programs that you mentioned (though I can see now that they're worth the look)… Between business (emails, memos, etc.), the internet (your feedreader & other research), it's information over-load 24/7. There's just so much fluff and noise everywhere! So much so that you need to learn to scan the pages and dig out the important info. At the end of the day you're still left thinking: “I just read for five minutes and they could have told me the whole story in 30 seconds.”

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