Information Overload Part 2

Judging by yesterday's responses, it seems as though many of you also have issues with easily accessing information you have read or filed. And, unless you have a photographic memory, it is important to organize a workable retrieval system for that information. I have been working on a system that is very time consuming, but will be an incredible resource once I am finished.

I have an extensive library of business, marketing, and persuasion books, as well as a file of relevant magazine and newspaper articles. I have always underlined key points and made notes in all of my books and I never sell a good book.

For the last year, I have spent hundreds of hours putting my notes in an electronic format using a couple of software programs; Stickies and Microsoft Word. Stickies is an electronic version of Post It Notes that exists on your computer desktop. I cut and paste relevant Internet information and put the source at the end of a numbered point. I also add my underlined book and magazine notes to the files. I then back up the files on an Internet storage site.

Once I finish summarizing the book points and my paper files, I will pay an assistant to break down the points even further into subcategories. I am doing this because I might have an idea under two or more categories. The beauty of this is that I will have my own easily accessible electronic files for articles, blogs, newsletters, books, etc.

You are fooling yourself if you think you can easily recall everything that you have learned in your reading and research. We are in a revolutionary period where an almost infinite amount of information is available with the press of a button. Those of us that can summarize valuable information and put it in an easy to use format will own an information goldmine. Combine this with excellent copy writing and solid business practices and you will be wealthy beyond your wildest dreams.

P.S Feel free to offer suggestions for simplifying my system. There are numerous people that responded that have a similar need to save valuable information. JC had a great idea to create a software program to help organize different categories of information. I really think a program like that can be a huge seller.