Certainly there's no need to take in information because you feel you ought to, or you must. However, do you feel anxiety when you can't respond to all of the promotions, discounts, and bonus offers in the mail? You know you can't read, absorb, or take advantage of them all.

You may think, for example, that everyone needs to know the dates of the Civil War in the United States (1861 to 1865). If someone came to America within the last half decade, and he's been learning English and learning the culture, he may not know the dates of the Civil War, and it may not have as much importance to him. There is no body of information anymore that everyone can be counted on to know.

You can't count on anybody having any particular body of knowledge that everyone else has. If you're a manager or supervisor, that immediately tells you that your goal in explaining things to people is a greater challenge today than it was to your counterpart of years ago. You can't make assumptions that previous managers could make.

Reducing Your Information Intake

When you're besieged by information on a continual basis, you begin to feel overwhelmed, which leads to the feeling of over-work and stress. If you're able to eliminate a lot of the extraneous information that makes its way to you, you will actually experience being overwhelmed less frequently, and you will not feel as over-worked. Try getting off mailing lists and dropping most subscriptions, avoiding extraneous information whenever you can.

It's important to understand that you control the spaces in your life, because information is stored in spaces--tables, shelves, desks, disks, web sites, etc. If your desk is a mess right now, strewn high with piles that are growing higher, remember you're the one that controls that space.

The same principle applies to your filing cabinet, your shelves, the top of your dining room table, your kitchen counter, your glove compartment, or your back seat. You are the one controlling your space, and this acknowledgment will allow you to stay in control of your information.

Not Too Much at Once

If you're facing volumes of information, divide and conquer. You may be facing a ten-inch pile of information. Put it into file folders, and group like items together. Eliminate duplicates and prioritize the important items in a given file. It's harmful to ingest too much information at once. At least half the job of dealing with most information is simply dividing it into piles, categorizing, or putting it into various directories on your hard drive.

A key question when evaluating any item to be filed is, "Where does this go?" The answer is finding an appropriate file where you can find the material easily. You may find that you need to re-label files, but that's okay. This is your system, designed for you--never mind what it looks like to others. Re-labeling files is an indication that you're getting good at filing.

Even students or a spouse at home could benefit from more effective filing and being better organized. Oh, you don't think you have time to get organized? The ever-present reality is that you're already taking time from other things if you're not organized. At the least, it takes you longer to find things.

* You're also expending mental and emotional energy because you're not organized. Anxiety, worry, and frustration eat into your productivity and your day, whether you're able to accurately account for their impact or not.

* You're in an age which will continue to dump more information in your path than you can possibly respond to. Setting up personal systems to become and remain organized is a solid investment in your career and long-term well-being.

Tickler Files

It's also worth considering the benefits of having a file folder for each month of the year and a file folder for each day of the month. This idea, the "tickler file," has been in practice for years. Create a file for days 1-31 of the month, and place it at the front of one of your file drawers. Behind that, have a file for each month of the year.

If it's the second day of the month, for example, but you receive something that you won't need to deal with until the 15th, then put it in the file for, say, the 13th to allow yourself some slack. If anything comes in that you don't need to handle now, put it in your tickler file. This yields some immediate benefits. It keeps your desk clear and eliminates a lot of worry about where things go.

As the days and months go by, you continually take files that were in front and put them in the back. Once you get this system in place, you'll find that many of the things you file may not need to be acted on later. The benefits of this system are immediate.

Letting Go of Excess

Look at your system and determine how you can pare down. I suggest opening your mail over the waste basket; it's much easier to throw things out with the waste basket below you. If you get a magazine or journal, go through it rapidly and take out the articles or items that look like they'll be of interest. Recycle the rest of the publication.

Often, there's no need to hang on to the back issues of a publication. These days, much of the information is also on-line. Pare down what you get to only what you need -- get the volume of it down as quickly and easily as possible. See if you can use the copier to create a single sheet.

The same applies to books. I get books from people all the time. I quickly scan the entire book. I'll read the table of contents and index, and find the pages in that book that contain information that's of value to me. Then, I'll make a photocopy of those pages, along with the cover and publishing information, and create a dossier of the key information from that book that's important to me. I then give away that book to an associate, a friend, a library--wherever. I don't need to keep the physical hard copy. Thirty or forty books take up an entire shelf; a dossier of these books is, at most, two inches thick. Often, I don't even keep the dossier; I'll dictate the key points and have the tape transcribed. I have hundreds of books reviewed on my hard disk and can find them easily. There's no accumulation, no pile. With the word search ability of word processing software, I can find the information I need immediately.

Hereafter, whenever information crosses your desk, there are some key questions you can ask yourself:

• Should I have received this at all?
• What is the issue behind this document?
• Is the information of marginal value that I could easily skip and, in retrospect, will there be no dent in your career for not retaining it? If so, then let it go!
• Will it matter if I don't handle it at all?
• What am I saving it for?
• Do I need it, or do I fear that if I don't have it, I'll somehow be deficient?
• Does it support what I already know or believe?
• Is it an information crutch I want to walk around on?
• Can I delegate the information in the document?
• If you have set up a tickler file, can you file the new information as something to review next month? Most of what crosses your desk doesn't need to linger; it can go elsewhere.

When you're in control of your information, you can better retrieve and more easily use it. Information is power, but if you can't find what you've retained, it's of no value. It's only of value when you can find it and combine it with other things.

A Lifetime Guarantee

You are part of the pioneer generation, moving into an ultra-rapidly changing future, and you can handle it. You have the intelligence and the capability. Every day, for the rest of your life, you are likely to be besieged by more information, not less. When you understand what you're up against, you're in a far better position to take control.

Jeff helps organizations and individuals manage the relentless enslaught of information overload. www.BreathingSpace.com discusses Jeff's keynote speeches and seminars including "Managing Information and Communication Overload" and "Prospering in a World of Rapid Change." Jeff is Executive Director of the Breathing Space® Institute; a popular speaker; and the author of numerous books, including:

• The 60 Second Organizer (Adams Media)
• Breathing Space (MasterMedia)
• The Joy of Simple Living (Rodale)
• Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing Your Time (Alpha/Penguin)

To book Jeff for your next meeting call him directly at 800-735-1994.