I am sure we all suffer from it. I don’t mean that you can’t mentally handle all the information and go into drooling stupor at some point. I mean that there is too much information to process, robbing us of time we need to get real work done. Teh Internets provide such aimless joy as Lolcats et cetera that can sometimes leak into the real world. I, too, am a sufferer. Between working 30 hours a week, hitting the gym (rarely as I do) and spending time with the wife, I do have a graduate thesis due in the next few months. Damn, I better get on that.
So, yes, I has a pifanee and decided to get organized. Some may recall that I am a GTD convert (I covered GTD nearly 2 years ago on CA) but sometimes your system needs a tightening up. Over the past couple of weeks I have been re-evaluating my system and finding holes. My first step was to implement the Kinkless desktop and simplify my collection and filing systems for incoming information. The next step was to reduce that incoming information by cutting down on my RSS feeds. I am an RSS hound, but I have always tried to keep my feeds to a minimum. I have just 106 that cover Politics Blogs, News, Design, GTD and the latest in Apple stuff. But every day it took me about an hour to process these in the morning. They do all offer great information, but with the Thesis of Doom™ looming I needs to cut down to only the essentials. With motivation from zenhabits I have cut down to just 36 feeds which takes only 20 minutes to check in the morning. I have also adopted the habit of only checking my RSS once in the morning and once at night, something I should think about doing with my email as well. If you have any other time-saving, information pruning tips, give em up in the comments.
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ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Time to think added these pithy words on Aug 10 08 at 5:39 am[...] had a taste of this while writing my master’s thesis. During the final writing phase I became an information Spartan (iSpartan?). I was living alone in [...]
nykrindc added these pithy words on 23 Jun 07 at 9:06 pmI don’t know if this helps, but I myself have suffered from this “ailment,” however, since I discovered Pageflakes, the task of sorting through my feeds has become much easier. Currently I have 175-180 feeds, divided into 11 different categories. Every morning I load my Pageflakes page, which starts on tab 1 or 11 and contains my essential reading list of 28 different blogs (including CA ;^) ).
Since Pageflakes provides me a snippet of each blog post I can decide in very little time whether to read the rest or not. From there I move down the line of tabs till I reach no. 11. It’s anywhere from a 20-40 minute exercise depending on how many posts I find interesting and look over a broader set of feeds than was the case previously when I tended to focus mostly on the first 28 while only seldomly looking through the rest.
zenpundit added these pithy words on 23 Jun 07 at 9:39 pmFor feeds you might take a look at the Blogbridge meta-aggregator.
For thesis reading my best suggestion is twofold:
a) Start each book with the bibliography, then the conclusion, then the introduction before reading the body.
b) Have a carry along book to read through at deadtime moments throught the day. Naturally, this works better with lighter fare rather than complex, technical, or densely philosophical tomes. Hard to read Keynes’ General Theory while jogging on a treadmill
Jess added these pithy words on 25 Jun 07 at 2:08 pmI organize my information into daily, weekly, monthly reads. Generally, stuff that is time sensitive = daily, and so on. I also use podcasts to get caught up on news and stuff so I’m not wasting time sitting at my computer reading things that I could be listening to while making dinner or travelling somewhere. Hope that helps with the Thesis of Doom!!
ElamBend added these pithy words on 26 Jun 07 at 2:07 amI’ve moved to checking email twice daily at work. Once at 11:30am and once at 4:30pm. I admit I backslide a little and peak, but I’ve turned off the auto update to help fight that. Any emergencies I get a phone call (though I wish I could ignore those as well). This allows me to concentrate on long tasks. It also has the added benefit of making sure I review (and respond if need be) to every email. When I answered piece-meal throughout the day, I would invariably miss one our of the 100+ only to be asked about it days later.
Blogs I’ve moved to a night-time activity.
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