I have enlightened you about my infobesity issue in my previous article. After reading the article, many friends have admitted that they too are suffering from this fancy thing called infobesity. And, I realized that I had big company!

My friends are now curious to know how I overcame infobesity. Frankly, I have no cool hacks for this to impress you. It’s going to be a rather unexciting surgery, albeit a necessary one. So, here is how I got rid of it and undertook a transformation from my content seeking persona to a prolific content creator:

It was all about a shift in the mindset and the way I looked at information and knowledge. I realized that I was more in love with sharpening my saw than in cutting the wood. More than love, it was an obsession for information that stopped me from taking much-needed action steps.

The first step was to accept my habit- the reality and be on self-guard. I was now on the lookout to catch myself getting trapped into perpetual information seeking mode. And, whenever I found myself yielding to the temptation of seeking more information, I was ruthless in telling myself that this is pure self-deception and an excuse for procrastinating important work.

The next step was knowing what I should skip when seeking new information. It needed a lot of courage on my part to sacrifice waves of information coming to me. It was like saying no to loads of free-flowing money coming towards me. But I had become a saint.

 I had achieved a zen-like mindset of letting go of the need to know everything completely.

Another mindset change involved creating on the go beta models. More important than to keep on sharpening the saw was to start cutting the wood. As soon as I had gathered a minimal level of information, I immediately started generating the draft or taking the early baby steps in that endeavour. I assured the knowledge seeker in me that I will come back to get more information. Once done with the basic level of execution, I would then permit myself the luxury of seeking out more information on the subject. I kept on fine-tuning my content or project on the go as new information came to me. Believe me, friends, this improvisation-on-the-go method takes us miles ahead.

Today, I skip reading anything that comes in my hands or pops up on the screen if it has nothing to do with my current goals and plans. I tell myself that I do not have to know it now and life can still be beautiful.

I also confidently skip reading something on which I am not taking any action in a day or two. If I am not going to act on the information in the next one or two days, I will forget it anyhow. So, I made a thumb rule: Consume and digest only what I can use immediately.

To summarize, before starting to read anything, I ask myself: 

  • Does this content align with my goals? If yes,
  • Will reading this help me in achieving my immediate goals faster? If yes,
  • Does it contain something that I will take some action on it within the next five days?

Only after getting a firm yes as the answer to all the three questions do I start to read it. Otherwise, I confidently ignore it. I have avoided reading a lot of good but unnecessary stuff by asking these questions to myself. I now take pride in rejecting information screeching and cajoling at me to be readen just like a beautiful girl does with the flood of proposals she gets. I have cancelled many subscriptions. Many books will have to wait till my retirement to be readen. And above all, I am enjoying taking forward stepping actions and find more time for creativity and leisure.

I believe you too can undertake similar self-censorship to save precious time and take winning actions. Knowledge is crucial but, execution is more critical for moving forward. If I could do it, you certainly can!