Posted on May 13, 2009 - by Lance Ong
The One Rule to Eliminating Work Stress and Information Overload
Welcome back!
Tension is high. Work piles like a mountain. You’re drowning in a sea of paper. Never-ending tasks are in sight. More and more information is being shoved down your throat.
You’re pushing and fighting as hard as you can… But have little to show for results. This sucks, and it’s starting to turn life into a thankless struggle.
Watching TV, you see people living fabulous dream lifestyles. The variety show hosts seem to be having so much fun – amazing performances, tons of dashing men and beautiful women.
And you wonder…
“How the Hades did they get to where they are? Must have sold their soul! Why am I still struggling and not enjoying life like them?”
Oftentimes we have many dreams and plans in our heads, which are not materialised into our lives. We have some dreams… but they aren’t coming true… what’s wrong?
There are reasons why this happens.
One is analysis paralysis. There are so many darn things to do, we just get stuck thinking about what we should be doing instead of taking action.
Two is N.A.T.O: No Action Talk Only. These are the people who are forever talking about their dreams, but never getting round to doing them. There seem to be three common causes for this: 1) they are stuck trying to find the perfect plan or perfect opportunity to get started, 2) they have difficulty translating their dream into a plan with milestones, goals, and practical action steps, or 3) the opportunity and plan are there, but they are not taking action. There is no perfect plan or opportunity… just get started. Never underestimate a humble beginning.
Three is “I’m not prepared enough”. This is where a person spends their time learning and gathering resources in order to start; doing everything else except the main project they want to accomplish. It’s the classic case of a student still learning about how to learn faster (e.g. speed reading, mind mapping) instead of studying the material required for his exam in two weeks.
Four is action without thought. These people do and do and do… they are focused on action. This is good, but acting without clear analysis and deep thought, they waste their energy doing mediocre things which don’t produce results. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Five is being complacent - too contented to do anything. Some people are able to visualise their goals vividly in their minds; so real that they can experience the complete satisfaction of its achievement – every bit of joy savoured. Then when they open their eyes, they continue to carry this feeling with them into their daily lives… a beaming smile on their face. They do not feel the need to do anything because in their hearts, they have already arrived emotionally at where they want to be.
The One Rule for Cutting through Information Overload and Work Stress
“Do what is personally important to you, reject the rest.”
The wording is deceptively simple, but the underlying support and logic for this rule has depth.
Think of your life as being limited. A person can die at any time… whether the cause is internal – seizure, stroke, epilepsy; or external – car accident, suicide, murder. It’s best to die with no regrets, isn’t it? Who wants to leave this world with a sense of failing what you came to do in the first place? Life is short and our time here is not guaranteed. Thus it becomes important to know what really makes the difference in our level of fulfilment with life.
Most people don’t know what would be meaningful and worth doing for them. That’s why we have the phases of quarter-life and mid-life crisis. These are the points in time where a person feels lost and is deciding what to do with the rest of their life.
If you are near such a stage and are seeking your path, consider the following questions:
a. Considering your feelings, what made you happy in the past?
b. What is your soul called to do? What is a worthwhile lifelong mission?
c. If you were an Angel or an observer to yourself, what would make this person happy?
d. How would you like to contribute to the world such that you leave with no regrets?
The answers are not always straightforward… it is precisely because we don’t know the answers that we ask. So let’s expect to have some confusion and blank minds. But don’t let that stop you. Persist to seek your truth – the message which speaks to your soul.
For me, helping others and contributing to your learning makes sense because I carry the spiritual mission of a Guardian. I find fulfilment in helping others realize where they want to go and then guiding them to dissolve the blocks to getting there.
Being guided by a spiritual mission, even if one were to pass from this world unexpectedly, the sense of dying peacefully is there because one has done something meaningful and purposeful with their life.
Applying the Rule to Your Tasks and Projects
If you are lucky enough to grasp the sense of a higher mission and purpose in your life, then you would apply it by filtering all your opportunities, projects, and tasks through the lens of your life’s purpose. To evaluate a task, ask yourself, “How does this task contribute to my life goals? Is it in alignment with what’s important to me?”
If it is something that would bring fulfilment, then do it – take it on as a project. But if it is out of alignment or does not contribute to your life goals, then eliminate or reject it. It is not right for you and will end up slowing you down, making you unhappy because you are bound by obligation to complete it since you gave your word.
You have more important projects to do… mission critical objectives which determine your happiness in life. As you eliminate and reject what is unimportant, you will realise that only 20% of what you do is meaningful to you in the long run. This is in accordance with Pareto’s Principle which is the 20/80 rule most are familiar with. You should apply Pareto’s Principle to all facets of your life.
Filter your chosen projects through this rule by asking, “Which 20% of my projects are truly meaningful to me?” Then to identify the most important tasks within the project, ask, “What 20% of what I do in this project produces 80% of the results?”
Focus on completing the most result-producing 20% of tasks within your most meaningful 20% of projects. And you will feel a great sense of fulfilment each day you breathe.
Learn to Say ‘No’ to Inappropriate Opportunities
If you ask me, the world is overflowing with opportunities, and there will always be people asking you to take on a project, market their product, join their company, develop this, sell that… which makes it important to strongly believe in what you are doing and where you are headed. It is so easy to get sidetracked that we must take precautions by learning how to say ‘no’ to what is inappropriate.
Now this can be tricky because you don’t want to offend your friends or bite the hand which feeds you. So be careful about being blunt: “No thanks, I’ve got better things to do.” That would surely appear arrogant and ungrateful.
Instead, use a little tact and say, “Thanks for thinking of me, [insert name]. I can’t right now because I’m already busy with several projects. But I really appreciate hearing about your ideas. Perhaps next time would be good.”
‘Eliminate Work Stress and Information Overload’ Strategy Review:
1. Figure out your spiritual mission or higher purpose in life.
2. Filter new opportunities and tasks through the lens of your life’s goals.
3. Reject what is inappropriate. Allow in what fits.
4. Apply the Pareto Principle to the incoming projects and the tasks within these projects.
5. Work on the top 20% of tasks within the most meaningful projects
6. Feel great accomplishment and satisfaction with life.
Congratulations, you now know how to cut through the fluff of life and focus on what’s important. Your work stress will decrease as you throw out redundant tasks and even redundant jobs. Now here’s a bonus tip on information overload and feeling inadequate:
How to Cut through Information Overload and the Fear of Not Knowing Enough
Do not fall into the trap of over-preparing. The secret is to be brave and jump in.
“… Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.” – Wolfgang von Goethe
Focus on executing the main task. If along the way, you realise a gap in your knowledge presents an obstacle, THEN go learn what you need to know. Before that, you won’t know what is really important to achieving the task at hand. Applying Pareto’s Principle, 80% of the material we spend so much time studying, would only account for 20% of our results. You want to uncover the power-packed 20% of material which produces 80% of your results, and just study that.
Knowledge is forever becoming outdated. What you learn today might be worthless in one year’s time. Focus not on accumulation and stockpiling, but on flexibility and just-in-time learning. We all grow old and forget whatever we learn anyway…
So it’s obvious, the greatest learning is in the DOING. Not the reading, or listening, or watching. So what are you waiting for? Go do what is important to you. Good luck, and talk to you next time.
