Steps To Maximize Efficiency

Jack Trout, Forbes | August 09, 2006

Good marketing strategy requires a clarity of thinking. And in today's
connected world, it is increasingly more difficult to think that way.

Consider what William James, a renowned psychologist and philosopher had

to say on the subject: "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what

to overlook." Since this is such an important subject, I will devote two

columns to it.

Business complexity is fed by the ever-increasing amount of information
that is being piped into the business world in as many ways as Silicon
Valley can invent. There's no escaping what David Shenk described in his

book, Data Smog, as the "noxious muck and druck of the information age."

Slideshow: 11 Steps To Maximize Efficiency
Slideshow: How To Motivate Bad Employees
Currently, information processing accounts for one-half of the gross
national product. A lot of it ends up on paper that someone has to read.

The following statistic might threaten you, but today's business
managers are expected to read one million words per week. (Can you
afford the time to read this much?)

11 ways to maximize efficiency

1
Mastering Mental Hurdles

2
Be Ruthless

3
What's Critical?

4
Belonging

5
Boiling It Down

6
Use Your Assistant

7
Be Economical

8
Synposize

9
What's Hot?

10
Challenge Each Paper

11
Summarize, Synthesize

The information age began with the first computer, which was about the
size of a living room. Today, we have more powerful machines that are
laptops, palm tops, finger tops--you name it. And they're all out there
spitting out information that we feel isn't helping matters.

The late management guru, Peter Drucker, agrees, "Computers may have
done more harm than good by making managers even more inwardly focused.
Executives are so enchanted by the internal data the computer
generates--and that's all it generates so far, by and large--that they
have neither the mind nor the time for the outside. Yet results are only

on the outside. I find more and more executives less and less well
informed (about the outside world)."

In support of Drucker's observation, a study out of Australia indicates
that the human mind can only process four variables at a time. Once this

number is exceeded, the mind goes into "tilt," and we have to begin
again. Today's modern high-technology communications tend to generate
more variables than we can handle.

It's no wonder that USA Today did an article entitled "Boomer Brain
Meltdown," which describes how this generation faces more frequent
memory lapses.

Some believe that it's not age that is the main cause of memory loss.
They argue it's a problem of information overload. Their premise is that

our minds are like the memory of a computer, and our disks are full.

Slideshow: How To Deal With a Stinky Employee
Slideshow: How To Handle The Office Dingbat
Consider the numbers. In years gone by, all you needed to remember were
your telephone number and address. Today, you need to keep track of
burglar alarm codes, a social security number, e-mail addresses, fax
numbers, calling card numbers and PINs for ATMs. The digits are crowding

out the words.

Some people even believe that information overload will become a medical

problem. Len Riggio, CEO of Barnes & Noble, predicts that in the 21st
century, people will be popping pills to help empty their minds. "Losing

thoughts and forgetting will be the equivalent of shedding pounds and
dieting," says Riggio.

But if you want your mind to operate at maximum efficiency and speed
right now, we have some less drastic suggestions to reduce information
overload.

There are at least 11 good steps to take in order to fight through the
fog while still trying to see what's happening in the world around you.

With more than 40 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Jack

Trout is the acclaimed author of many marketing classics, including
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Marketing Warfare, The 22
Immutable Laws of Marketing, Differentiate or Die, Big Brands, Big
Trouble, A Genie's Wisdom and his latest, Trout on Strategy.

He is president of marketing consultancy Trout & Partners and has
consulted for such companies as AT&T, IBM, Southwest Airlines, Merck,
Procter & Gamble and others. Recognized as one of the world's foremost
marketing strategists, Trout is the originator of "positioning" and
other important concepts in marketing strategy.