subject: Business Pitfall #3 Information Overload [print this page] Over half the small businesses that open their doors today, will close their doors in less than a year. That's a 50% failure rate and that's scary. But if business owners set their mindset before opening their businesses, the failure rate could drop.
Every entrepreneur faces a plethora of mindset challenges. We're going to look at three of the common challenges that plague small business owners in a series of three articles.
Article 1 Business Pitfall #1: Money Paradigm
Article 2 Business Pitfall #2: No Plan
Article 3 Business Pitfall #3: Information Overload
Business Pitfall #3: Information Overload
Information overload has become part of our every day life. Each day, the average person is exposed to almost 4,000 marketing messages. That's in addition to the regular information they need to complete their jobs. The only way to cut through the noise is to focus.
Ignore the "amazing offer" that ends at midnight and will never be repeated. Today's hot product is replaced by tomorrow's hot product. To focus, you need to choose a path and follow it.
Although it's very easy to look at this information and say, "I know that," or "I have seen that before," do not fall into the trap of misreading the simplicity. Knowing how to do something and actually doing it are two different things.
The easiest way to cut out the information overload in your life is selective ignorance. Ignore whatever is not important to you at this moment. If you're working on a project, put your full focus into the project and block out anything that is not relevant to that project.
Although it's easier said than done, you can learn to do it. Start by saying a polite "No" to unrelated activities that don't help you finish your current project. At first it will feel unusual, but when you finish projects in record time, the rewards outweigh the slight awkward feeling of saying "No."
Learning to cut through information overload is like discovering a 36 hour day. It's an adrenaline rush. Finishing projects in record time, leaves you more time for the more important things in life, like golf and beaches :)
