Turning Down the Noise of Information Overload

Hello, listeners. Welcome to the show, wherever you might be around the world–I’m Wanda Thibodeaux, this is the Faithful on the Clock podcast where we get your faith and work aligned, and on today’s episode, we’re discussing information overload. It seems like every time you turn around, somebody’s throwing something in your face they think you should know, right? So how do you manage all that and, you know, pick out the good stuff without stressing about it? It can have a huge influence on both home and work, so let’s break it all down.

OK. Diving right in, here, information overload, organizations are really concerned about it because they don’t want their teams bogged down. They know that when that happens, people make decisions more slowly and that productivity tends to drop.

But the other big reason organizations are concerned is, I think they know the benefits of data, but they also understand that they need to look after the wellbeing of their people. And information overload, I mean, the name says it all. It overloads you. It’s too much. It creates stress. Because the brain, as wonderful as the brain is, it’s a lot of work to keep track of a bunch of moving parts and be vigilant. And it’s not all that great at telling the difference between, say a bus about to hit you and the fear your boss is gonna get on your case for not reading 10 documents in an hour. To the brain, a threat is a threat, and we’ve only got one system to deal with that. We’ve got the so-called fight-flight-freeze. And you might even see this come across, where people argue with you or complain about all the information they’re dealing with. Some people, if they get too overloaded, they’re the ones you see ditching meetings early or skipping them, you know, they’ll click off websites. And then you’ve got the freeze people, who–I think their overload shows up like procrastination a lot. They have everything in front of them but they’re just so freaked out they just kind of deny it all and put it off until they absolutely can’t ignore it.

But there was also this Harvard Business Review article that pointed out that information overload can be fast, where you get frantic taking in everything really quickly, or it can be gradual, where you kind of dull out because you’re dealing with getting information day after day after day and you just kind of dull out.

But the larger point is just that information overload doesn’t translate the same for everybody, and it can come from different ways of working. You know, there’s really no script, it’s just a matter of how that data is coming to you and whether your personality is equipped to handle that.

I also want to point out that, yeah, I know we like to talk about this in terms of technology, but information is information. And in that sense, we’ve been clanging cymbals pretty much since day one. Even in Ecclesiastes 12:12, which most scholars attribute Ecclesiastes to King Solomon, it complains that “of making books there is no end”. And it even says, “much study wearies the body”. So I want to reassure you that, you know, God’s been seeing us struggle with this for a long time. He gets it. He knows exactly what the risk of damage to us is. But if we want to serve Him well in our work or our home, then we have to learn how to manage this well, to be discerning, and to not let it stop us from being good servants.

So! How can we approach this? You know, there are a lot of what’d I’d label as just hacks. For example, I know a lot of people, it helps them to just do a brain dump, where they just grab some paper or open up an app and jot down everything to kind of clear their head. A lot of people, they write down stuff they know they’ll need later but don’t want to take the mental energy to try to immediately remember. They just create a big reference folder. And then you’ve got things like taking microbreaks, the Pomodoro technique, you can set filters or limit yourself to using devices only during certain hours, lots of people group like to group or schedule similar data items together–all of those can work.

But I’m a big picture kind of person, so I tend to think more in concepts and then kind of customize those out. And in that sense, I think you need a larger information overload management framework to hang things on first. And the main cornerstone in that, I think, is just to step back in the moment and label your emotions. You get really specific and you try to reframe it. So for example, don’t just say, “Oh, my gosh, I’m so overwhelmed.” Say, “I’m overwhelmed because this piece of audio is 30 minutes long and I’ve only got 25 minutes to listen, and that source seems to contradict this one, and on top of that it’s all related to a topic I don’t have a lot of experience with so I’ve got some imposter syndrome going on.” And you tell yourself, “Hey, it’s OK to feel this way. It’s normal to have this type of response for this type of situation.” And that kind of gives you permission to just breathe for a minute, it keeps you from feeling like there’s something wrong with you for having a rough time. I might use a different activity than you to get to the point where I can identify what’s going on that concretely, but that’s the goal.

Once you’ve done that, you can move on to the next step, which is to recenter around your priorities. There might be a lot of things going on, but what are the top one to three most critical things, the things you genuinely feel the most obligated to, or that have the most influence? And all of those priorities should align with your core values. Then you drill down into each priority and you set priorities within that. So for example, maybe you want to prioritize your budget, but then within that you prioritize looking at data from just the last quarter, or maybe you focus on information about a specific type of funding.

And this is where I think a lot of people struggle, because we kind of have it bashed into our heads that the more information we’ve got, the better equipped we are. But that’s not always true, because some of the data can be of bad quality, some of the data–a lot of it might not even be relevant. So I think it’s to your benefit to let go of that more-is-better ideology and just focus on whether the information answers the right questions for the goals that are significant for you. If it doesn’t, just set it aside. Don’t worry about it. And some of you, you might say, “OK, Wanda, I don’t have a clue what my priorities should be or what I should set aside.” And to that, I say, James 1:5, it’s very clear, just ask and God will give it to you without fault. He absolutely can point you in the right direction if you let Him. And I also think God puts people around us for that purpose, you know, mentors, people who maybe have a perspective that you don’t. Tap those people, ask them what they think or what they’d do. That’s absolutely OK.

Third, create your process. And this is where, you know, those hacks might come in based on your preferences. But whatever you do, it has to be something that’s reliable, that’s repeatable. You want it to be something you can make a habit out of. I call these my Jerichos, you know, I think of Joshua, you read in Joshua 6, he walked around Jericho the same way every day till the walls crumbled. He just stuck to the process God had given him. So for example, let’s just take email. My process is, every morning, I go through and I really quickly delete everything that’s junk. And do I read what’s left right away? No I do not. If I did that, then I’d be letting other people’s goals get in front of my own schedule for the day. But I have a time each day where then I come back to those emails, and I read through everything. Everything I can handle later, that just stays in my inbox. And the important stuff, I respond to that and then chuck the messages in the appropriate folders as I answer each one. Then when I get a minute, I come back to those leftover emails and kind of pick away at ‘em. And maybe that wouldn’t work for you, per se, but I can do that every single day the exact same way. That works for me. And having that predictability, that structure, that’s really mentally calming for me. It helps me feel like there really can be a good end if I just put one foot in front of the other.

Now, this fourth point, it kind of ties to both finding good people to lean on and your process. But you need to be able to identify and delegate to trusted messengers. So if you’ve got a bunch of data to sift through, is there somebody who maybe can do the preliminary vetting on it, or who you can trust to maybe put it into your software for you? Everything you delegate, it’s not necessarily so you don’t have to deal with the data, it’s so that when you do deal with the data, you have it in a format or structure that you can understand and really work with. And good messengers, these don’t even have to be people per se, you know, they can be filters. But think of them like the servants of God’s kings. They’re the sources you know are going to be accurate, you know they’re gonna be truthful. And you set yourself up so that those messengers are always at your right hand. Maybe that means you always go to Joe from accounting for certain documents or that you subscribe to newsletters from just the top-notch organizations for your industry. Doing that not only limits the information you’ve got coming in, but also ensures that the quality of what’s coming to you is high.

So really, to sum all of this up, I think controlling information overload, it’s not so much about which routine or tools you’re using so much as it’s about knowing exactly what you want to achieve and then setting boundaries and repeatable sequences that can keep you laser-focused on that finish line. And yeah, that takes confidence. You gotta march to the beat of your own drum and say, yeah, maybe that information does exist, but it’s not relevant to me or I’m only going to access it under such and such parameters. But I think if you can do it, then it’s a lot easier to filter the noise down to a manageable level.

And lastly, I’ll just say, you know, if you’re struggling, don’t feel like you’re alone. There was a research study I’ll link to in the show notes, but they found that most people overestimate the amount of information they’re gonna need to complete a task or make a choice. We’re all a little biased that way. And they came out and said it’s probably because there’s such a strong desire to impress going on. So my recommendation is, just let that go. You don’t gotta impress nobody. You commit to doing the absolute best you can every day, you keep your motivation really internal, and you’re gonna impress people, it’s just gonna happen naturally, OK? You absolutely have my permission to take that pressure off yourself.

With that, it’s probably time for me to shut my piehole. Let me just pray for you and we’ll get you back into the day.

Lord, this information overload, it’s nothing new. But we are under more pressure than ever to just be everywhere, do everything, and we don’t want to make mistakes or miss anything. So when we look at all those reports or emails or whatever it is, just clear our heads. Simplify it all down to You and give us the confidence to keep all of our priorities around a good relationship with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

OK. I almost feel like I should give you no information right now. NONE. But you know, I gotta tell you what’s coming up so you’ve got something to look forward to, right? The next episode, I’m going to walk you through finding a great mentor. We probably all can do a little better if we have at least one of those. In the meantime, check out our new Youtube channel, we’ve got some awesome short videos up there to keep you inspired, so go to faithfulontheclock.captivate.fm, and then up at the top you’ll see the Youtube icon to click on. You can also use those social media links up at the top to drop me a note about how you cope with information overload and how these tips have helped. Until next time, be blessed.