Paralysis from over-analysis… a solution…
There are very few people trying to run a business online who don’t suffer from information overload and, subsequently, paralysis from over-analysis. After all, the Internet is an incredibly easy medium to publish to. All someone has to do is visit blogger.com, sign up and start making posts. Hey presto! Instant communication of your thoughts/ideas/beliefs to every other person connected to the Internet.
The problem is that SO MUCH information is posted. I think even Google got tired of counting the pages they’d indexed (they used to put the number on their homepage, but then dropped it… perhaps they couldn’t fit the digits on the page once it went past 8 billion or whatever it was) 
So… you get tons of emails, you visit tons of websites, you read huge numbers of articles, pdf, whitepapers, you listen to movies by the dozen, you participate in forums and read hundreds of posts.
What do you gain? Did you actually LEARN something new today? Something that will help you grow your online business?
Or, worse, did you read so much “stuff” that you don’t know which way to turn, or what to do next to improve your profits (or actually make ANY money online)?
My suggestion, if you’re starting to get information overload (which leads directly to analysis paralysis), is to make a note of which sources of information contain the highest “signal to noise” ratio. It doesn’t matter if it’s free, paid or whatever. Consider how good the info is… how relevant… how actionable for YOU and YOUR business.
Everything under a certain “signal to noise” ratio is dumped. Unsubscribe.
Do it. Now.
Retain the valuable information sources and throw overboard anything which is sub-standard.
I’m going to do this first thing tomorrow morning because I really don’t need to be keeping an eye on multiple marketers… especially if they all pitch the same products. So I’ll be sorting the wheat from the chaff. You may want to do the same.
August 25th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
I feel the same way Neil. Too much information which leads to information confusion.
August 25th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
You are absolutely right Neil, I was spending too much of my day watching videos, reading mail and a lot of it is for the same product. I have now unsubscribed to quite a few lists and reassigned the time to writing articles - much more productive.
August 26th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
So true Neil. I couln’t believe the amount of sales/hype compared to the amount of decent content in mailings I was receiving. I started doing this a few weeks ago and got rid of the chaff. There are a few markerers who are on trial, and once those are sorted I should be left with a good list of newsletters and mailings, and a hell of a lot more time!
September 1st, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Hi Neil,
All words we can relate to.
I was wondering if there might be a ‘online marketer’ REVIEW site. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Or even a blog where the ‘wheat from the chaf’ could be compared and evaluated.
Or maybe a blog where folks can post their most valued “Top 10″ marketers, or should that be top 5, or maybe just their favorite one, and why. Kinda like an epinions.com of online marketers and their products.
Wouldn’t that be a gas!
Aloha,
Will
September 1st, 2006 at 11:00 pm
On second thought. An epinions.com type site for marketing products. That keeps salvos from being fired at individual marketers who are trying to make a living like the rest of us.
Marketing products or solutions hawked online. Which ones work and which can best be left in the Recycle Bin….