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Finding Balance When Information Overload Kicks In

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It’s been one month since I launched this blog and came back to working in the real world.  I’m feeling several things and decided to do an online search to determine if there is a definition for this phase in my work life.  I tried quite a few creative searches, but nothing hit the mark.  My hope was to find a great life work metaphor describing how I feel, maybe “the honeymoon’s over” or “buyer’s remorse”.  Apparently as the IT Business Developer, I get to coin one.

Let’s call this the 2nd month ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) syndrome.  Or to use a more technical term “Information Overload”.  Whatever the terminology, it’s about surviving and thriving during a very critical time in any new job.  No matter where you come from, there’s always a learning curve.  Regardless of prior industry experience or even familiarity with your company’s products, its services or clients, there is much to learn.

The first thing I should point out is my own experience.  I do know information technology as an industry and I have worked in business development.  However, no one knows everything about technology today.  It is impossible. To keep my knowledge base relevant I subscribe to several industry newsletters, blogs and magazines.  In addition, I’ve added RSS feeds and email news my employer has recommended.  Co-workers have given me great suggestions for associations, networking groups, and places I should look for new business leads.  Writing this blog has added more complexity to my learning curve.  I also try to stay current with news about my customers’ industries, and anything a prospect might find interesting.  Finally, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with company sponsored training materials, orientation meetings and getting to know my coworkers.

The result is information overload.  My inbox is full, everyday, all day long.  The attention deficit aspect comes in to play as I read all this great information.  A link to an interesting article seems to start an endless chain of downloading white papers, clicking links to other related stories and uncovering new business opportunities.  This leads to searching company web sites and if I am not careful it can quickly get out of control.  This is before I’ve even checked Face Book or LinkedIn for messages or updates.   Combining all this with my actual daily job duties and I find I can easily spend my work days, nights and weekends online.

It’s 11:56 Sunday night and before I work straight through to Monday morning, I realized this has to be happening to more people than me.  So I am officially calling this the “New Job Information Overload” syndrome.  It’s critical to identify this in terms of time on the job.  Most companies are paying close attention to a new employee during the first 90 days.  You want to make sure you are ramping up, hitting your stride and staying in step with company goals and objectives.  As you go in to the third month, you want to be sure you are sufficiently trained and staying informed, but you need to balance the learning with the implementation.

To make sure I don’t lose focus I’m putting a few business basics back in to play.  Here are my recommendations for coping with information overload in a new job.

  1. Schedule everything.   For me, this means updating CRM every other night, and setting aside some time on Sunday afternoons so I can research new opportunities and plan for the upcoming week.  It also includes setting aside a specific time to write this blog.  Finally, I make sure to schedule some breaks during the day.   It can be a snack, some time to listen to music, a moment to breathe, take a walk outside or meditate.  For me, I just need to remind myself to step away from the computer and phone and find a little balance.
  2. Use email automation.  Create rules so non urgent items go into folders where you can read them as per your schedule (above).  If you participate in online networking groups, make sure you request weekly or monthly digests.  Try to avoid online discussions where you get every single comment sent via email in real-time.
  3. Socialize outside of your office.  It is really critical to get to know the people you work with.  However, if you just stop what you are doing and start chatting every time someone ducks their head in to your workspace, or passes by and says “hello”, the distraction will consume you.  If someone crosses your path and you want to talk with them, just make a point to step away from your desk.  Keep your workspace for scheduled meetings.  Reach out to colleagues for the occasional lunch or suggest taking a break with them but be careful not to seem overly familiar or desperate to fit in.
  4. Keep a daily task list.  This is one of the toughest things for me to do.  I’m great at making lists.  I make them all the time.  I just don’t do a good job of making realistic lists that can be accomplished in a single workday.  My recommendation to myself and anyone else is start making short lists of important tasks that can get done in a day.  It feels really good to end the day with a set of accomplishments rather than a list of items you have to move to another day.
  5. Talk to your friends and family about work.  Yes, this will get old.  However, during your first 90 days of a new job you are absorbing a ton of new information.  You need to have someone to talk with and you have not had enough time to build the kind of trust and rapport you need to talk in-depth with your colleagues.  Warn your family and friends and give them permission to cut you off after a few months.

That’s all the advice I have for myself at this point.  I did find one helpful resource called First 30 Days at http://www.first30days.com .  They offer various articles and even a subscription which will add to the overfilled email inbox, but at least the messages are small and helpful.

That’s my advice for now.  Until next time,
Robin S. Droppa


Filed under: IT Business Development, New Jobs Tagged: Business Development, Information overload, Information Technology, IT, Starting a new job, Time management, Work

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