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Freelancers, to be successful, should always be updated about what is happening in the world. This leads to hours of reading news and blogs with the occasional checking of e-mail and social networking websites.
Often, many freelancers tend to work for longer hours, habitually this may lead to mental fatigue. Mental fatigue means living your days at work like a zombie. You do not function, thinking becomes extremely hard, all you want to do is lie down and rest all day. Aside from the inside effects, physical performance is also affected greatly.
Remember the saying “what the mind conceives, the body achieves” ? As always let us first find out what causes information overload.
Image by: Carlos Alberto Brandao
In our trade as freelancers, not only writers should be updated about the current trends but developers and designers as well. We either tend to do too much or know too much. While doing too much leads to exhaustion, trying to know too much will eventually lead to confusion. Think of your brain as your computer, the more information you save in it the more your computer’s processing speed slows. Here’s the catch, although our brain’s power is beyond that of a computer it is still prone to confusion.
Then there are people who are obsessed with productivity, people who divide their 24 hours into 3 parts: 18 hours for work, 4 hours for sleep, and 2 hours trying to fall asleep.
So far we have:
Next stop is procrastination. What? Procrastination leads to information overload?! Yes, somehow. The people I know who are adept at procrastinating can attest to this. Great information is at the tip of your fingers; there is Twitter, Facebook, and blog feeds where temptation always lurk. I am guilty of this, that whenever I see updates of my favorite blogs I stop working and start reading, thinking that by doing so I’m expanding my knowledge that I may use in the future. All of a sudden the rooster starts crowing and I’ve finished nothing!
The idea of multitasking divides people. There are those who believe that multitasking is one of the greatest skills everybody should have, others think would rather remained focus one task at a time. I guess we can all agree that multitasking somehow limits efficiency. Trying to juggle 5 tasks does not actually mean paying attention to them at the same time, your attention switches rapidly from one context to another which may lead to information overload.
Recap:
Image by: Carl Dwyer
One of the most dangerous effect of information overload is difficulty in making a decision. Can’t decide what to do first, can’t decide what to write, can’t decide because there are a lot of information inside your head that are trying to get out. And they need your attention to stay calm, but paying attention to all of the buzzing leads to poor focus. Not good, not good.
Job descriptions nowadays mostly requires applicants to be fine with multitasking but our short-term memory cannot juggle 5 or more things at the same time. As mentioned, multitasking only shifts people’s attention from one task to another. It is a fact that the brain can’t focus entirely at the task at hand because of the rapid shifting. Clearly, our work requires focus and skillful decision making.
Slower thought process
Image by: Julia Freeman-Woolpert
The human mind is a great thing, it can simulate things that are to happen and things that will never happen. It thrives in the information you give, carefully saving them there in the vast expanse of the universe inside your head. Think of it this way, suppose your desk is filled with notes and trinkets, tons of papers that you believe would help you do your job and other things like books and your collection of Starbucks tumbler. Put simply, you start to forget the color of your desk because of the clutter. Will you spend minutes looking for the piece of paper which contain the information you really need if you’ve properly sorted out the things you don’t? Now your brain must be too confused because of the poor explanation I just made so let’s get straight to the point of this article: Getting Out of Information Overload.
Image by: cema
Too much of everything will kill you. Set your alarm clock and when it rings, stop working. It is good to know lots of stuffs but not those which might harm your work (irrelevant stuffs). Too much work, too much procrastination, too much reading, that’s just too much! *laughs*
Have you ever had one of those nights when you are already on your bed waiting to fall asleep but can’t? Something inside your head whispers of things that you should be doing instead of lying in bed, of things that you’ve just read, nightmare! So I say, do things in moderation.
Image by: Gabrliela Fabbri
Set aside time for silence and for other things that you wish to do. Break time every 25 minutes of work (see Pomodoro Technique) and do the things that will help you relax, no information hoarding and get far from your computer!
Meditation is another way of getting things inside your mind in order. Just woke up? Don’t brush your teeth just yet, lie there and focus your gaze at your ceiling and just relax for several minutes until you feel like standing (don’t fall asleep though). I find this technique very effective, makes me feel like I’m treating myself just by doing that.
Image by: Nick Cowie
By knowing your priorities at the time being, you are automatically (hopefully) safe from going astray. Work priority does not include using Facebook and Youtube for hours (unless you’re in the marketing business).
Image by: Thomas Pate
If you must read blogs or check things for your work (e-mail, inspirational things) be sure not to go astray. I find it difficult to stop reading things that catches my attention, I feel like I’m obliged to. But I’m doing everything I can to not go astray from the important things. Hard? Yes, you need to monitor yourself and say no to the things that you like.
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Rean is the editor of 1stwebdesigner. He regularly writes about freelancing, technology, web design, and web development. Rean also writes at Knowledge Salad, a blog filled with weird and interesting facts. One of his goals is to help his fellow Filipinos earn money online, to help them build a career out of working from home, just like what he has been doing for years now.
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 20:27
I can relate to everything you mentioned in your post. I am a grad student and this seems to happen to me a lot, I guess it comes with the territory.
I will definitely try these in the future.
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 12:57
Great points, Rean! I realized recently that is exactly where I was at – way too much information. I had signed up for numerous newsletters, blog subscriptions, etc. I love to learn so I was quick to sign up. But it had become, almost unknowingly, too overwhelming. Over the past week, I unsubscribed to many of those subscriptions – keeping only those I read consistently. The subtle freeing feeling from just doing that is surprising. Thanks for sharing your points.
Thursday, April 21st, 2011 18:39
Great tips Rean,
As a freelancer You can really understand the problems faced by us. Managing our time is crucial for better productivity. Thanks for listing all these tips that will sure help our writers community
Saturday, March 5th, 2011 18:31
This is a very helpful article. Too much information can seem overwhelming and cause stress. Thanks!
Saturday, December 4th, 2010 02:33
Yes, the solution is I must have clear priorities. Thanks for the tips
Friday, December 3rd, 2010 03:36
Yeah…it is overwhelming sometimes….But I goto Yoga class everyday which makes my brain and body recharged
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 20:26
loved all the points actually, and you made me laugh when you first mentioned how we have to stop working once the alarm rings , i think this will work definitely !! time is very important when it comes to blogging!! thank you for the links you shared !
very nice topic :) thanX
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Rahul
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 20:26
loved all the points actually, and you made me laugh when you first mentioned how we have to stop working once the alarm rings , i think this will work definitely !! time is very important when it comes to blogging!! thank you for the links you shared !
very nice topic :) thanX
Eko S
Saturday, December 4th, 2010 02:33
Yes, the solution is I must have clear priorities. Thanks for the tips
Ragupathy S P
Friday, December 3rd, 2010 03:36
Yeah…it is overwhelming sometimes….But I goto Yoga class everyday which makes my brain and body recharged
Brett Widmann
Saturday, March 5th, 2011 18:31
This is a very helpful article. Too much information can seem overwhelming and cause stress. Thanks!
Raj
Thursday, April 21st, 2011 18:39
Great tips Rean,
As a freelancer You can really understand the problems faced by us. Managing our time is crucial for better productivity. Thanks for listing all these tips that will sure help our writers community
Alex
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 20:27
I can relate to everything you mentioned in your post. I am a grad student and this seems to happen to me a lot, I guess it comes with the territory.
I will definitely try these in the future.
Carma
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 12:57
Great points, Rean! I realized recently that is exactly where I was at – way too much information. I had signed up for numerous newsletters, blog subscriptions, etc. I love to learn so I was quick to sign up. But it had become, almost unknowingly, too overwhelming. Over the past week, I unsubscribed to many of those subscriptions – keeping only those I read consistently. The subtle freeing feeling from just doing that is surprising. Thanks for sharing your points.