How to Manage Information Addiction
Written by in General Marketing, Making Money
Trying to remember statistics, facts, and the whole body of content is not only difficult, but at the end of the day, remembering those things won’t open big doors for your business.
Remembering all those factoids will only make you feel better because you learned something new and can sound smart when you talk to others. Unfortunately, feeling better and acting smart won’t make money for you. That’s why I recommend you avoid this strategy.
So, here’s exactly how to apply my 5-Point Information Retention & Application System – the system I personally use for all information consumption.
Point 1:
Decide whether or not you’ll even consider buying or studying the information. This is where you evaluate if you can consume the information with 30 days and apply it within 60.
Point 2:
When you get your new information, start with the table of contents and spend 5 to 15 minutes scanning the content from cover to cover to get a feel for the material.
Point 3:
Now you’re ready to dig into the material you’ve just bought. But that would be an amateur’s mistake. First, visualize what you want to get out of the information. For example, if it’s a time management book, BEFORE you read anything, you’ll want to understand what your biggest flaws are and how you want to fix them.
Okay, so now you’re ready to dig in. You’ve bought the information, you’ve made the mental decision to consume it, and you know you’ll be able to read the information in 30 days and apply it in 60 days. At this point you’ll need a highlighter (never consume information again without a highlighter at hand). As you read, use your highlighter to highlight information that is directly applicable to your business (or your clients’ businesses if you’re a consultant). I’ve found that, on average, you’ll use only about 2% - 5% of information in a course. Whether it’s a DVD, a book, a seminar, doesn’t matter – in any case, you’re left with 2% - 5% usable, actionable information.
Point 4:
Most people never make it past Point 3, so if you made it this far, you’re on your way to becoming a Top 2% Marketer. At this point you’ve finished your book and highlighted around 2% - 5% of it. This is where the men are separated from the boys. Now you need to pull up a Word document on your computer and type out all the information you’ve highlighted. So, for a 300-page book, you would have roughly 6-15 pages of notes. These notes are pure gold in your life and business, so treat them that way.
Point 5:
You’ve made it! Now, take all the typed pages of actionable, usable information from the information product you’ve purchased and print it out for easy access. I keep all of my information in 3 ring binders, filed by author. So if I’ve read all of Dan Kennedy’s books and went through his DVD, etc., I might have 97 pages of notes. I’ll put all of them in a 3 ring binder with Dan Kennedy’s name on it for future reference.
Following this process is critical if you want to be smarter and more savvy then other people in your market. Think about how powerful this is! You’ve just condensed 1,000 pages of material down to 40 or so pages of actionable, usable material. So now you can review the material in one day as opposed to the 12 days it took you to digest it. Can you see how this will compound in your life and make you a marketing beast?
