TMI

Drowning in too much information?

We receive more information in one day than people living a hundred years ago received in a lifetime. True?

Is it any wonder we're not sleeping?

TMTD

Too Much To Do.

Look at the work you have to do. If you are are knowledge worker, the work you do most likely revolves around information. Even if you don't have a desk job, most of what you do deals with information.

Your performance is a reflection of how well you manage, filter, and apply the information you're given.

If something happens and you get emotionally charged, your thinking could get flawed.

Thinking is how we process information.

If thoughts are information, then imagination is just information that hasn't happened yet.

Most of how we process information is imagination, as such we live to some extent a fictional life. Being blind to the implicit bias that effects how we process information is a problem to solve.

Problems to solve

Information is the seed of a problem. Without information, there can be no problem. The problem doesn't exist until we have information it does.

I'm a problem solver. Give me a problem, and I'll try to prove to myself that it can be solved.

There are no unsolvable problems, there's only information that doesn't yet exist to solve the problem.

Most problems can't be solved by the information that identified the problem in the first place. The solution is somewhere else, and my task is to to find the information we need to solve the problem.

Information and Awareness

Our entire lives can be broken into to major functions:

• Information
• Awareness Information is the input. We are continually processing information and awareness is what's we see on our 'screen.' Let's do a little experiment. Take deep breath. Close your eyes. What Happens? First take notice of the sounds, smells, physical sensations. That's awareness. Next, recognize the thinking that is omnipresent. Like the air we breath, your mind is always processing. What do you do with those thoughts?

  Awareness and action

  What got you out of bed this morning? Something you needed to 'do.' But what came before the thought 'to do'? To 'be' precedes to 'do.' Who you're 'be'ing determines what you are driven to do. You can't do music until you become an musician. You can't do leadership until you become a leader. You can't do breakfast until you become a chef. You can't do coffee until you become a barista. You can't do 'driving' until you become a driver. Even if it's extremely short lived, before the act, you become someone else. You take on the role. You play the part until the task is complete or you are called to become someone else to do something else. To read, you first become a reader. To write, you first become a writer. To invest, you first become an investor. To love, you become a lover. Maybe you don't make your own coffee. You let someone else make it for you. You are choosing to filter out the information required to make a cup of coffee... leaving it up to the expert who knows how to make a better cup of coffee that you do. In fact, you tell them: "I'm going to let you make the coffee because you do it better than I do." And just like that, you've freed up processing power for something more important to you. What's important to you? Right now...?

  The role we play

  It begins by accepting the role. Until you have a clear vision and purpose, you'll struggle to commit to playing the part. Perhaps you've accepted the role, but fail to live up to the requirements of that role. To become more significant, we must be willing to expand our role.

  Our thoughts are how we process the information we receive. Like the storage on your computer, there's a limited capacity. But unlike a computer, we have to discern what we store where. The key is to I came to the realization this week that my job is all about about managing the flow of information. As an expert, I must discern what information is needed to complete the objective. To a large extent, today more than ever, success in my job requires that I discard misinformation or information that is not relevant. It's how a task that could have taken 10 minutes ends up taking 10x as long! We are literally drowning in information today. The problem with the web is that nothing is ever removed... and the more information you have sift through to find what you need, the more difficult the task becomes. This is why my work has continued to become more valuable (and justifies higher fees). The problem with a 1TB storage plan is trying to find what you need, when you need it within the expanding set of data. Whether it's book publishing or ukulele - my job is to provide my client with the right information at the right time. I've heard time and time again that they reason they hire more (or enroll in a class) is because they want someone to tell them what they need to know. At the end of the day, that's my primary value. It takes discipline to cast aside information needs to be avoided! What does a successful songwriter do? He/she organizes information in a way that is pleasurable to hear. Think about it, every chord exists... a songwriter simply arranges those chords in a new way. It all comes back to information and awareness. It entails asking yourself 2 questions: ## 1. Is the information needed? Is it helpful? Does it add value? ## 2. Am I fully aware? Aware and Informed. [Meditation](meditation) puts me deep in the seat of awareness. Meditation is a chance to return to that peaceful time in the early morning when I'm awake but not yet engaged. It's those time when the most important information is clear and it's that idea/information that motivates me to get moving! ## Emotions Don't get snagged by the drama. Fence your emotions and get to the task at hand.

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