How to Get Organized to Beat Information Overload

Every year, the barrage of information flowing into our lives steadily increases, challenging our sanity, and efficiently sabotaging our abilities to get organized. From subtle shifts in your time management techniques to the newest productivity apps, here are three tips to help you get organized and beat information overload.

Start Planning

The secret to beating information overload is to start planning. Planning is one of the most underutilized skills in today’s hectic 24/7 world. A surprising number of professionals fail to plan their schedules, which results in missed deadlines and damaged reputations.

Find some time at the end of your week or the beginning of your week to reassess your priorities for the week and even month. This helps you to become clearer on what tasks can wait and what jobs you need to complete first. It also allows you to see when you will have to say no to requests and invites. Weekly planning will provide you with a clear roadmap for how to get organized and maximize your time.

Get a Handle on Email

You can quickly become bogged down in answering emails first thing in the morning. Rather than immediately trying to tackle emails from the night before, start your morning off by completing the first tasks on your to-do list, then turn to your email. The most organized people have a filter that allows them to determine what can be skipped, what needs a quick response, and what requires their immediate attention.

A useful technique for avoiding information overload is only to touch an email once. You can do this by planning ahead and scheduling a block of time devoted to managing your email.

Stop Multitasking

What you call multitasking is, in reality, nothing more than task-switching. Moving back and forth between several tasks not only waste productivity but can also lead you to take more time to finish each project that you're working on, as opposed to if you were to complete each project separately. You can save more time and energy by completing tasks in batches. Sit down and pay all your bills at once, then send your emails all at once. Each of these kinds of jobs requires a specific mindset, which, once you get in the groove, it is imperative for you to stay there and finish.

As you start to organize your life, you’ll begin to conquer information overload, leading you to be able to clear your mind and become more productive in everything you do.