Comments on: Information Overload: When is it time to start DOING and stop THINKING?

By: Top 20 personal favorite Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2009 | Guerrilla Freelancing

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:03:18 +0000

[...] Information Overload: When is it time to start DOING and stop THINKING? [...]

By: Matt Ward

Matt Ward — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:50:44 +0000

Hey Mike.

Just picked up on this post via FreelanceSwitch. I totally understand what you mean. Hours just seem to evaporate some days with almost nothing getting accomplished.

Sometimes you just have to set everything else aside, roll up your sleeves (maybe throw on some headphones) and just get to work!

By: Herbert

Herbert — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:48:46 +0000

It’s a very valid point, but I feel that the main problem for me is not knowing when enough is enough; at the moment, I’m still trying to find the balance between learning and doing, but I feel that learning is more important at the moment because I’m still quite new to the world of freelancing.

I would more than just love to unplug myself though; sometimes, it’s even a bit overwhelming to learn about so much in so little time.

By: Chris from 'Freelance for Money'

Chris from 'Freelance for Money' — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:39:13 +0000

It’s probably worth a little time each day to read through some stuff to keep sharp. Maybe read about the area you are in, i.e design, writing, art etc… and then read or listen to some stuff that inspires you. Who are the leaders in your field? Who are the guys that you admire and would love to succeed like they have?

But as you rightly say, don’t suffer from ‘analysis paralysis’, just get on with it!!

By: Jason VanLue

Jason VanLue — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:00:08 +0000

Nice one Mike, very astute post. I agree with you and would add that I think those that are most successful aren’t those that come up with the best ideas…they are those who come up with a good idea and are disciplined enough to execute it.

I’ve attempted in recent weeks to be more disciplined, namely in setting aside full days for various responsibilities. So on project/client work days I don’t touch anything that would be distracting – research, tutorials, social media, etc. But it is important to build in time for those thing in your schedule otherwise you’ll get burned out.

Again, great post, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Jason

By: Toby Howell

Toby Howell — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:18:02 +0000

This so me. I’m constantly researching, but never seeming to accomplish anything. I love the internet and all it offers.The contacts,inspirations, how-tos,etc. I’m trying to learn this method that talk about, but it’s difficult.

By: CCDuarte

CCDuarte — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:46:27 +0000

Great post!
I totally see myself in this piece. I have a tone of bookmarked articles I would love to be able to read (I catch them in Twitter, Blogs, etc) in order to DO my work better. However, I can’t do it and when I can I feel I’m not being very productive….this is quite a closed cycle!
There is SO GOOD information going on that it’s quite hard to follow….I have created a blog just to see if I have time to organize my ideas
Thanks!

By: Manda Szewczyk

Manda Szewczyk — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:08:58 +0000

Sadly, I’m still trying to sort this all out. There are times that I just have to turn TweetDeck off and get some work done. But, believe it or not, I actually feel guilty when I do! As a freelance designer and consultant, I’m on-call 24-7 for all of my clients, so it’s hard to create a schedule.

What seems to be working for me is to have TweetDeck open on one computer while I work on another. As I glance at TweetDeck and spot interesting links, I open them glance at them, and if they look good, I bookmark them for later. Then, when I hit a lull (waiting for a scan or for a client to approve something) I take the time to read some of my saved articles and throw the good ones out in Tweets. I don’t think I’ll ever catch up, but I can honestly say that I’m never at a loss for something to read

I do get more when I shut out the fun stuff all-together, but I feel that being part of the design community through Twitter and blogs has helped renew my excitement about design, and I’m not ready to give it up yet!

By: Roy

Roy — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:27:30 +0000

As someone who suffers from this, I constantly have to remind myself to concentrate on doing one thing at a time, rather than trying to read 20 new blog posts, surf for the latest deals, check the FTSE.

I now use Google Reader, which I only allow myself to look at once on my breaks. By turning off distractions and not reading the latest tutorials, I can concentrate on the thing I am supposed to be doing. And at the end of the day, the tutorials will still be there where I have achieved the thing I set out to do.

Its all about using common sense really, but sometimes I have to remind myself to use it! Back to work…

By: Andy Hayes

Andy Hayes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:14:09 +0000

Well, I batch RSS reads for about twice a week (like now) and spend a couple of hours reading, making notes of anything that triggers an action.

As for tutorials, I book those in the calendar whenever suits.

But yeah – if you’re not DOING something, you’re no closer to getting some money. And unless you’re a charity, I suspect that’s your end goal.