Theoretically I know from years that Information Overload exists, and I have to get rid of it to produce work in a reasonable amount of time.  From time to time I am guilty of it again and again, and I have to discipline myself and implement drastic rules.

In my case is happening because I am doing a lot of Affiliate marketing along with my products marketing and I have to advertise a new product when is release to the public, not after a month when half of the world already know about it. Nowadays it seems like a new product launches just about every day, doesn’t it?  It is hard to keep a balance and again I find myself working on a main project and on other 3 other projects on the same time.

I can hear you saying: sure, excuses, excuses, what you can expect from a Affiliate marketer? But if I tell you that 70% of my income is coming from Affiliate marketing and only 30% from my own products, you maybe will keep reading.

What is the Information Overload? This is the definition in Wikipedia:

“Information overload refers to an excess amount of information being provided, making processing and absorbing tasks very difficult for the individual because sometimes we cannot see the validity behind the information. As the world moves into a new era of globalization, an increasing number of people are logging onto the internet to conduct their own research and are given the ability to produce as well as consume the data accessed on an increasing number of websites. As of February 2007 there were over 108 million distinct websites and increasing…  More and more people are considered to be active writers and viewers because of their participation. This flow has created a new life where we are now dependant on access to information. Therefore we see an information overload from the access to so much information, almost instantaneously, without knowing the validity of the content and the risk of misinformation.

… As a result, there is a downfall or a negative impact within this issue. Together with the amount of information being produced from various people on the net, the problem of Information Overload arises. The implication arises from the psychological field, society and individual.”

I consider this an accurate definition, with a clear explanation of the negative impact.

Two weeks ago happened  to me gain, but the difference was that all 3 extra projects I was working on was vital, in critical stages and supposed to be ready yesterday! I analyzed the results on my last month, I found out that I am not proud of myself, the pace was too slow, I kept missing dead lines, and I had to admit that a had to take action to get out of Information overload, and come back at working on just one product at the time. 

The main project was my Squidoo Challenge which was time consuming because I drove free traffic with Social Media, sometime 1/2 day I was working just on that task.

The other 3 projects:

• I was writing an eBook, 2/3 was done (60 pages), 2 more chapters to go
• I am learning to set up a Membership Site - important task which will produce recurring income if it is set up right
• An affiliate product of an exceptional value, it is written by one of my mentors, person I trust and respect, I definitely want to be part of his success, he deserve my effort as Affiliate

As you can see I cannot give up on any of them.

What I did under those circumstances?

I put in hold the main project for 2 weeks, hoping to finish the other 3 and come back to work only on this one later

I decided to completely isolate myself and work on the other 3 until I finish them or a part of them:  

• I stopped reading e-mails, and answered the phone
• Stopped tweeting, squiding, and anything else related with Social media
• Stopped watching TV News, shopping, even cooking (I improvised the dinner in 15 min, and breakfast or lunch in 5 min.)

I just slept, ate in minutes, drink coffee and worked around 12 hours per day burning the midnight oil.

The first 2-3 days was hard to follow this schedule but I resisted to open the Outlook as I knew that I couldn’t stop answering e-mails, checking sites and so on.  After that it was like a normal habit, the work efficiency was rewarding, I was able to finish my ebook, to learn all I need to know and set up my membership site, and I did a really hard work to advertise the affiliate product.

In summary – isolate yourself from the world and ignore the new “Holy Grail” daily promises if you want to finish what are you doing. Having said that, it is just one “Holy Grail” – your hard work, your perseverance, your consistency, your desire to be a winner.

Until next time, all the best

Michaela

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Tags: affiliate program, information overload, membership site, one project at a time

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