Navigating the Sea of Data
Ever feel like you’re drowning in a tsunami of information? Online articles and white papers, inter-company reports and metrics, emails and Tweets—the waves of information keep on coming. Somewhere along the line, information began proliferating like some unrestrained bacteria and continues to spawn exponentially. I’ve come to refer to this phenomenon as the great data dump.
Even as I say this, it may seem I’m hypocritically contributing to the morass. This is, after all, a blog I’m writing. However, it’s not the existence of prolific data that I’m referring to here. It’s the ever-present challenge of mastering two distinct skills in response to this tsunami: content curation and disciplined digesting. Both of which have become competencies that are must-haves for anybody in business.
Curating content requires the spirit of an explorer and the focus of a microbe researcher.
It’s a job of dual and opposing practices. The explorer is open-minded and casts a wide net while the researcher maintains a clear focal point, undeterred by passing temptation. In this digital information age, replete with flash, pop-ups and tantalizing lead ons, it’s a powerful skill to develop.
Disciplined digesting is about mindfully placing your attention where it most needs to be while a three ring Barnum & Bailey Circus does its best to get you in the tent.
I’ve mentioned Pavlov’s dogs before—this skill requires dismantling the Pavlovian effect. My sense is that we’re going up against a boatload of primal wiring and conditioned learning here. To digest information in a disciplined way, focus in needed.
Without these skills in conscious development mode, an entire workday can be frittered away like rice at a wedding.
Thrown up in the air and landing where it may. Our need for awareness and conscious action has never been more necessary than now. The numbers of entities powerfully clamoring to capture our attention is locust-like—they are everywhere and continuing to grow in numbers. It’s up to each of us to reclaim where we place our attention and when. In essence, effectively captaining our own ship.
Greater clarity and focus are more easily accessed through a calm mind.
Here are 6 ways to bring calm into the workplace.