IM Bankruptcy, Email Bankruptcy, Technology Bankruptcy… 3 Ways to Conquer Attention Overload

Saturday, June 30th, 2007
by Ms. Wahala

Loic Le Meur, one of my favorite bloggers that I don’t get to read/watch/listen to enough, has a post today about how he has declared IM bankruptcy. Yesterday I read a report about how this phenomenon is tearing across the internet, particularly in online entrepreneurs. He said…

I feel kind of lost when I do not have my two 30 inches screens, my instant communication takes one screen alone. Am I sick ?

Sick, no. Deluged with technological nuisance that is sometimes useful? Maybe. I suffer from the same thing from time to time. I’m sure Loic of all people doesn’t need my help, but in case any of you out there are facing this same phenomenon, here are some of the ways I cope.

There are three things that help me with this.

1- Technology diets. Even a half day with no phone, no laptop, no email, no computer, just some vinyl records and an afternoon or - imagine this - a book, and I’m able to face the onslaught a little better.

2- I do my very best to automate enough systems so that I can work every other day instead of every day. Otherwise I feel like I’m at work all the time.

3- On the days that I am working, I compartmentalize my day. In the mornings, I do whatever will impact income generating directly - marketing, creating new products,

Maybe that’ll help, I dunno.
[tags]im, email, twitter, jaiku, email bankruptcy, im bankruptc, technology bankruptcy, technological overload, technology overload, web, tech, technolgy, technology[/tags]

4 Comments

denise stuart

July 1st, 2007
at 2:17pm

I just wanted to let you know that I have used linked in for several months and find that it isnt very useful. If people want to contact me to share ideas, they have to pay linked in therefore, they dont contact me. I want to contact someone and share an idea, I have to pay so I dont contact anyone. There is no news on anything…its just a static database….I dont see how it is possibly useful..

Try http://www.congoo.com or facebook.com. Congoo.com has industry news too. My two cents.

Ms. Wahala

July 1st, 2007
at 3:33pm

Hi Denise,

I can understand that perspective. But I’ve had LinkedIn for years and have yet to pay for my membership- I don’t try to encourage people to join, I interact with people who are already joined. I also use several different systems and am available by email (when I’m well.). What I was saying in that article is that LinkedIn was a fast way for me to reconnect with a bunch of people at one time without spamming. It literally saved me a lot of time when I only had a limited window in which I could work each day.

I understand where you’re coming from though, because I didn’t get LinkedIn for a long time either. Once they added LinkedIn answers, that helped me immensely, but I still need to learn more about what it’s about, as some people I respect swear by it. So I’m going to interview one of those friends and see if there’s a way it helps my bottom line. If it does, I’ll share it at my other site and link to it from here.

Thanks for commenting though, I love comments so much and it’s great to hear what other people’s views are.

shadowmyth

July 4th, 2007
at 9:25pm

I shorted out the other day, couldn’t post a blog for two days running. I have a serious limit to the amount of time I can handle on the computer, no more than about 6 hours a day, with a lot of breaks. I will admit I am an information addict, but as soon as I start getting a headache, I’m off the computer. I do chores off and on throughout the day or some kind of physical activity to refresh myself. I find as long as I stay physically active, I can handle being on for more hours. If I just sit around all day on the computer, I will burn out more quickly. and even have problems sleeping that night.

Ms. Wahala

July 4th, 2007
at 11:54pm

Thanks again for commenting, shadowmyth. There really is something to the idea of doing more physical activity… the other day I went for a walk with my business partner and we were wired for the rest of the night into the morning. :) I really appreciate when you come by, and I am honored that you take the time to comment so much… off to read your blog. :)

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