Surrounding world changes rapidly and it does not seem to stop. This trend is visible especially in the technology world. Every day we are flooded with new information, technology changes, latest inventions etc. It is not easy to keep up with the pace and stay not overwhelmed. There are plenty of interesting things in this jungle of news, but it is demanding to find the right ones and stay sane.
Even if you want to try to read everything, your day will be too short. And after some time, you may feel exhausted.
Below a few tips on how to filter out and prioritize the information.
Concentrate on one thing
I recommend two good books which may help you to work on your focus:
- “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”, Greg McKeown.
- “The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results”, Gary Keller, Jay Papasan.
Stay up to date with news release from technology vendors
This is the core source of information, right at the root. Definitely the content you will read there, will be accurate to understand the mechanism or get more in-depth knowledge. However, it is not always quick to find exactly what you are looking for. This may require significant amount of time. What may be helpful is to subscribe to newsletters which on regular basis will send you the digests of essential updates.
Find experts in the field to stay up to date
Try to identify people who are experts in the field you are interested in. Those professionals often share their knowledge in different digital media channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube etc. You can follow these experts’ updates and publications to get brief news of topics of your interest. This is less interactive method in comparison to the next one.
Find a right community
Another possibility is a community. The community can help you get in touch with people who share the common interests. Such groups can meet on regular basis to exchange the information and to have more direct contact.
Find useful learning platform to stay up to date
There are plenty of e-learning platforms where you can find valuable content. Which does not necessarily mean that all the training materials will meet your expectations. Personally, I have used quite a few platforms, among all: A Cloud Guru, Pluralsight, Coursera, Udemy, Microsoft Learn. I must admit, that in all of them I found the interesting and helpful content. But this does not mean that every training was working for me. Sometimes, I needed to go to another training platform, as there the agenda, content or pace was more suited for my needs. Remember, to use your time wisely. Especially that this trainings require quite a time investments.
Do not waste time
Which brings us to do not waste time. Time is an essence in learning and staying up to date. None of us have unlimited time resources, and it should be managed smart. Therefore, if any content, information channel, group etc. do not work for you, or the value to time ratio is not satisfactory, just find a new way.
Be careful with clickbait
The last thing is to avoid eye-catching titles, which screams news, but often do not bring the quality content we are looking for. In most cases it is designed to feel the urge to click and go to website. But when you finally reach the destination, it does not have a lot to offer.
Good Luck
I love reading and learning new things, but with the current pace of changes, it is not possible keep up with. As you can see, there are plenty of possibilities. I have shared a few examples, where you can find information. Maybe some of the suggestions may be helpful for you, and will improve your knowledge processing. Of course, you do not have to use only one or all of them. You can figure out your own way. Just note, that what works for me, does not necessarily mean it will work for you. Each of you have to test and establish your own way.
