Information comes to you in multiple formats. You’re listening to teleseminars, the audio replays, watching webinars, reading email, ebooks and articles. There is rarely a moment when you are not consuming some type of information. And all of this leads to information overload.
Information coming in is great when you are in a learning mode. All of us have had the experience of getting excited about a new topic – then consuming everything we can get our hands on to learn more about it. It may have been your new puppy, your new car or your new computer. Regardless of the topic, you recognize the symptoms – insatiable curiosity and appetite for information.
The problem with that behavior comes when you don’t step out of the learning mode into the action mode. You see the symptoms in every area of interest – someone becomes a Learner – but never seems to take action. Particularly in money-making endeavors like real-estate investing, business opportunities and making money online, this is a self-defeating pattern seen in a lot of “newbies.”
So what is the cause of this problem – that someone continues to learn but never earns? In fact, it seems that the longer they are in a topic, the less action they take.
Their information pipeline is full. And until they can clean it out and “reverse the flow” they are stuck.
Your information pipe is a predetermined size. When you first start learning a topic, new information is flowing in. But it doesn’t fill the pipe, so you still have some information flowing out in the form of action.
But when your actions don’t yield the results you want, you go looking for more information input. The cycle repeats until your pipeline is so full of incoming information – that there is no space for outgoing information.
The best thing you can do is stop the input! Stop reading emails, stop buying products, stop reading sales letters, stop listening to new ideas. You cannot move forward until you have stopped the influx of new information.
Once you have stopped the flow inward, start the outward flow. Write an article. Write a blog post. Post to a forum. Answer a question. Get into the habit of sharing *your* information with others. The information doesn’t have to be perfect – it just needs to be outgoing information.
When you begin to practice flowing information out, you will be amazed at the results. You’ll get more traffic to your website. You’ll generate more leads. You’ll find people who want to do business with you. You’ll start to make money.
The key to this process is to step out of your comfort zone. You are comfortable learning and absorbing information. You’ve been conditioned for years to be a good student. You’re in the zone of being a learner.
But no one pays you to learn. No one pays you for being a walking encyclopedia of knowledge on a topic. It’s only when you begin to share your knowledge that you get the recognition you deserve – and the money along with it.
Resolve today to “reverse the flow” of information in your life. You will see results almost immediately, both internally as your attitude improves. And externally as people and profits come your way.
Clean out your Information Pipeline and watch the profits flow.
Excellent advice, Jeanette. During my first year online lots of information flowed inward, and almost nothing flowed outward. Once I began creating my own content and becoming part of the conversation on my topic, that’s when my business truly took off.
I agree, Connie. No one even knows you’re online unless you are cranking out content. And you can’t do that if you’re spending all of your listening to other people. You are an excellent example of someone who continues to learn, but remains very visible, based on the amount of content you produce. Your pipeline is flowing!
Greetings Jeanette! You are a master and I’ve loved learning from you. (Remember me from way back when I was president of DSWA?) What I feel is essential in this era of “contnet overload” is the skill of engaging people to take action and then want more of what we offer. Only then can we turn exposure into new business. Your thoughts?
Of course, Jane – great to see you here! I agree – information overload is keeping from taking action. That’s why it’s so important for each of us to STOP the flow in – and turn the flow around back out.
When you think about how we learn to read, for example, we learn by reading aloud. We are sending the information back OUT to confirm our understanding. The same applies in any area. The only we or any of our teachers know that we know it is when we say it aloud, take a test – virtually turn it around and put it OUT. And the only way our audience knows that we know what we’re talking about is when we share the information we have. We can’t do that when we’re overwhelmed with so much coming in.
Hi Jeanette,
Thanks for this post which has given me much food for thought. This has been by problem for the past year or so. I take all this information in but don’t do anything with it. I’ve come to the point where I’m done taking it in and if I am ever going to suceed I must take action NOW!
Thanks for making things clearer, it’s why I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed.
It’s time to let the information out, take action and share with others all the great stuff I’ve learned.
Make it a Great Day!
Tina
Tina – it sounds like you are exactly the person I wrote this for! Naturally I share the same issue and when I find myself feeling overwhelmed, I stop and take stock. And 100% of the time it’s because I’ve just been taking in information – and not sharing anything back out. So it definitely works for me! Hope it works as well for you.
Hi, Jeanette,
I have recently found that I’m in almost the opposite state. I used to be the professional learner who read everything he could get his hands on, but did nothing. Lately, for most of this year, perhaps a bit longer, I’ve been doing a lot, which feels very good, but I have, in the last few days, realized that I’m not, as you might put it, “refiling the pipeline” and getting new information, new ways of thinking, new ideas from other people.
To remedy that, I’ve started back with an old habit of reading other people’s blogs. (And you wondered why I was all of a sudden all over the place!)
Thanks for a thought provoking article!
Geoff
Good to see you here, Geoff, regardless of the reason! Like you, I sometimes have to shake myself and remind myself that I don’t know it all – yet. 🙂 Back to school & this is the perfect time of the year to do it!
Thanks Jeanette,
This is the lesson I most needed to hear/read. Thanks for being so wise and sharing the wealth.
Time to finally graduate and go to work.
Thanks again,
Cecelia