Information Overload
Recently I posted a song over at The Weekly Songcast called Overloaded. over the last week I have begun to see a parallel with that song and the amount of information I have been receiving in my email inbox recommending products that will change my life, make me more money and clear away all my problems.
Well I have nothing against this, but it has reminded me of something that I went through a while back when I first started to purposefully and consciously take steps towards the life I wanted and what I went through was information overload. I tried to soak up so much information and didn’t want to miss out on what could be the best program, course or book that I bought so many I couldn’t really apply enough of my attention on all of them. I’ll be honest and say that there are still a number of books I paid for that I have not yet read after a year or two.
Lessons Learned
I learned a great lesson from this and I want to pass on what I learned with the intention of helping anyone else who has the desire to improve their life situation. It could save you some time and money!
First of all I want to explain my position. I myself recommend different products of a "self improvement" nature, so I am not complaining about those who are sending me emails recommending such things, as I do. However it highlights something to me that I feel is important because there is only so much information that one can assimilate effectively.
Have you purchased a self improvement program, Law of attraction course or Ebook in the last month? If you have, my recommendation to you is to focus on that until you have integrated the lessons contained in it. After all you are aware this is an investment in your life aren’t you, seeing as you paid money for it. Make sure you get your money’s worth!
There are other programs that may have a different slant on the same thing that may even do a better job of helping you integrate their teachings, depending on your preferred teaching and presentation style, but look; These things cost a lot of money and if you want to get your money’s worth then stick with one at a time. If you buy a course, program or membership with a teacher or facilitator then ignore any follow up emails from them about somebody else’s program that they also recommend. Don’t get distracted or lured into the doubting voice that says that maybe the program you have just bought is not quite enough by itself. It will be if you stay focused and apply what you learn.
There are currently about half a dozen programs that I am really interested in getting, mostly for research purposes so I can write honest reviews of them from experience, but even from a research point of view there needs to be focus and I am studying already. I also have a policy of only spending money on such things that I receive from my writing, so I need to make more of that before I invest any more!
Maintaining Focus is Key
Its common sense really. If you have a load of books all waiting to be read then your focus on one will not be as strong all the while you are itching to get to the next one. Why would you be so eager to move onto the next one? Well maybe because you paid good money for it and want to get on and start getting what you paid for. I am saying this from experience. I only ever benefited from any of these programs when I focused on one specific one for a period of time without the distraction of thinking about any other method or program, instead of trying to go through them all concurrently.
So that’s my view on it. Why would somebody (like I did) buy one product before finishing the last one? Well the main reason is that very clever marketing technique of scarcity. "Act now before the price goes back up", "Don’t miss this one time offer, only until midnight tonight", "There are only 1,000 copies of this course, so make sure you don’t miss out"
You know what. I have learned that if I am fully engaged with a program at the time of receiving one of those offers then it is just not the right time for me to take that offer, unless I am totally happy to spend my money and leave it sitting on my shelf for the next couple of months, by which time I may have missed the "Money back guarantee" period by the way!
What most of these self improvement programs , especially law of attraction based ones teach you is to work on becoming more connected to your intuition, something I think is essential and valid. I believe I have become much more connected with my intuition since starting this kind of study and direction in life. This has given me the confidence to trust that I am not going to miss out on that crucial piece of information that will change everything in my life if I don’t "BUY IT NOW" and if I never have a chance to study it then, hey that’s just not what I need.
Only When You Are Ready
It is said that you get what you need when you are ready for it and if you miss one opportunity, you will be presented again and again with another until you are ready enough to see it and act on it, which to my understanding means that if you are fully engaged and enjoying the process of " product A" right now then you do not need the distraction of "product B". This is the reason why programs fail for many people because they never get to fully complete the one they were doing when the next one showed up.
In short you have to trust yourself from the inside and be strong. You don’t need to buy lots of different programs. If you do your research before hand and find one which you feel is most in line with the way you like to study and learn then go with it. You may find it is the only program you will ever need.
I hope my lesson in information overload has helped you because I sincerely want you to start living your dream as soon as possible and I don’t want to see you stalled by doing program after program, waiting to be "Ready enough" to change your life. It slowed me down, so the positive learning I can take from that is to pass on the lesson and forewarn you.
Choose wisely and stay on top of the information available to you. You will grow much quicker because the truth is, what the many programs and products out there are doing is awakening you to resources, knowledge, strength, power, energy and ability you already have inside you just ready and waiting to be accessed. All of the programs I have used have essentially pointed to the same thing and the only thing that really made the difference for me was me, once I had got it deeper than just my mind. With the discipline to stick with one process and not get sidetracked I believe that you can accomplish whatever it is that you want when embarking on a self-development program because the only one who really knows how to change your life is you.
What’s your experience of information overload? I’d love to hear your comments and what you learned from the experience.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
What lovely sage advice. Recently I have been returning tons of books to the the library unread, and decided that maybe three a month is more realistic:) I have been getting all those great offers in my inbox…and it does play with your head. ‘Do everything NOW” And really, there is only so much we can do and integrate at any one time. “All is perfect just as it is right now” really helps keep this in perspective! Blessings, Linda
Thanks Linda for the comment.
There is a lot of very good stuff out there and whilst there is probably a lot of poor quality stuff too, it really is overshadowed by the real quality material, but as you say there is only so much you can apply at once.
I found in the past that I was trying to apply several techniques as taught in different books and programs at once and not only finding it overwhelming, but also with no real way of assessing which method was actually effective or not.