How To Deal With Information Overload: 7 Innovative Strategies

Oh, the frustration and stress that comes with information overwhelm.
You feel like there’s so much to consume yet so little time.
How do you even begin to deal with all the articles, videos, books, and information out there?
I have felt this way many times before and it sucks. I feel overwhelmed because there is simply too much out there. I feel like I am missing out or not doing what I could be doing. I end up giving up because I can’t get to it all.
Today, I want to share with you some innovative strategies to deal with information overload.

You can listen to the audio version of this (with unmentioned bonus tips) through my podcast episode here:
1. You have the luxury and obligation to be choosy in this era
For centuries, useful information was a rare privilege. Those who were lucky enough got their hands on a single book over their lifetime. Then, the printing press was invented and books were available to the masses. And then, the Internet came along. We all of a sudden got access to millions of articles, podcasts, audio books, and videos.
What makes it even worse today is the fact that people churn out content to get attention. We now have to sift through tons of mediocre content to find a couple gems.
This is an era of abundance and now it’s more important than ever to choose carefully who you listen to. The most expensive advice (in terms of wasted time and money) is bad advice. You are doing yourself a service by cutting back on who you listen to but also choosing wisely.
You can find the exact person who has succeeded exactly how we want to and listen to him or her. We don’t need to settle anymore. If you wanted to be successful in the coffee industry, Howard Schultz has written books on how he grew Starbucks into a multi-billion dollar industry.
2. More important than saying yes is saying no
Even though I am in the personal development space, 99% of the content out there I do not read. Why? Because I know it is not credible and the dangers of taking bad advice is not worth it.
There are plenty of self help articles on “secrets of millionaires.” Yet 99% of them have no credibility. There is no proof, data, or evidence. It’s just a random stranger who probably made up the tips to get information. Therefore, I hit the delete button.
3. Follow gurus and advice based on results achieved rather than awards given (this includes best-seller lists)
While some books that are on the best-seller list because they truly produced a lot of results for readers, many books are there simply because they were good at convincing people to buy them. They were in the business of marketing and selling books.
It’s a tragedy that books by billionaires on how they succeeded are ignored, while well-marketed books by entrepreneurs who made the first million are well known.
4. Avoid advice supported by only a couple anecdotes or case studies
Random stories to support a point are good but an extensive review of a large population can be trusted more because it’s a larger sample size. A small sample can be influenced by chance or random outliers in the group.
5. Examine the results of who you follow with where you want to be one day
If your goal is to live on a beach and work 4 hours a day as an ethical online business millionaire, maybe Ryan Lee of Freedym.com (affiliate link) is worth listening to rather than a millionaire lawyer who is unhealthy and stressed from working 80 hours a day.
Ask yourself, “Is this person giving advice on something he himself is successful in...