Managing the overload

Do we consciously think how we’ll manage the deluge of information we’ll be exposed to today? Or do we just hope for the best?

Yes, we read, think, assess, evaluate and make sense of so much stuff. Every day. And while we’re trying to make sense of the information that’s INCOMING to us, don’t forget we also need to make sense of the information that we’re preparing for others : our OUTGOING.

We can spend too long on how things look - a presentation or report for example - when it may actually be all wordy, with jargon, cliched. That’s hard work for people to make sense of.

As you manage your own cognitive load, be aware you need to help others manage their load too. When preparing information, make it easy for them. If it’s easy - that doesn’t mean simple - if it’s easy, it gets digested, absorbed and, importantly integrated into our learning and understanding.

You'll feel less zombie-ish and more alert if you make conscious cognitive load management one of the ways you go about your day. I’m opening the SIRF Roundtables National Forum with a keynote on this super skill, cognitive load coping.

I’ll share more on cognitive load coping this week.