Information overload! It’s a term my hubby uses when he hears a message preached that has a ton of great points, but there are so many that he walks away not remembering any of them.
The same seems to be true on the information highway. There are a gajillion posts on Bible study, marriage, motherhood, ministry, family, special needs families, caregiving, prayer, praise, and purpose and the list goes on and on. They’re ALL GOOD THINGS!
But there are so many of them out there, there’s no way you can read them all, so it’s easy to get overwhelmed by them all and just tune out.
We weren’t built to be spread so thin. Not with our time and not with our reading material.
And then there is the whole branding issue.
Marketing classes want everyone to be branded. For quite some time, there were many who wanted to brand me as the girl who speaks on overcoming sexual abuse, or adoption, or tragedy to triumph kind of issues.
And I LOVE talking on those things, but the truth is, JESUS IS MY BRAND and I LOVE TEACHING THE WORD and reaching people for Christ! Those are my favorite things to do! I’m a word girl. I LOVE going back to the Hebrew and the Greek and discovering how wide and deep each word of the WORD is and then sharing that with others.
So, while I have a ministry that ministers to moms and is all about making mentoring missional, the reason I have that ministry is because God called me to it. He used some of my own back story and prompted me to reach moms and the next generation through the power of mentoring. WHY? Because He left us here with the call to reach people for Christ, and for me, I can’t imagine any better way to reach the NEXTgeneration of children then to reach THIS generation of moms!
So, those who are interested in growing in their walk as mothers, in living their lives on mission, on mentoring, on reaching moms for Christ, and on ministering to those who know Him…those are the ones who read The M.O.M. Initiative’s website. Those who aren’t won’t.
But they may be reading a ton of other blogs that speak to where they are. They only problem is there are so many.
SOOOO…how do you continue to grow by allowing yourself some time to read good, biblically solid blogs, yet not overwhelm yourself with information overload?
Here are 3 things you can do to minimize your inbox or your RSS feeder:
1. Weed through all the blogs you have signed up for. If you repeatedly delete them before every reading them, then give them one more shot. Remember, you subscribed for a reason. So, make yourself read all the way through the next post and even go to their website and check out the posts from the previous month. If it doesn’t speak to you where you are or where you know you’re headed, then unsubscribe. (Example: You may have subscribed for a blog that shares insights about expecting mothers. You did that when you were pregnant. But now your little one is in pre-k and you’re still getting that thing. It’s okay to let it go. Really! :-))
2. Set your timer and don’t allow yourself to read more than a specific amount of time. That way, you’ll find yourself going for the blogs that are pertinent and powerful, and after about 2 weeks or so, you’ll be able to tell which ones you really read and which ones are just cluttering up your inbox.
3. Don’t sign up for anymore unless you are absolutely…100% sure you are going to read them. Sometimes we read a post that we love and we automatically subscribe. But the problem is, they start clogging up your inbox or RSS feeder and you never get to read another one. If you liked what you read, make a note to read it for about 2 weeks. If it consistently ministers to you, then subscribe. Just don’t subscribe on a whim.
So…there you have it. Three things that can help you with your overflowing inbox.
How about you? Have you stopped reading blogs because it’s just information overload? Or maybe it’s for some other reason. Share with us WHY YOU HAVE STOPPED READING BLOGS?
Love this very REAL post, Stephanie, and I love your “brand” Jesus!
Thanks, Julie! You and I have the same brand. 😉
We have become so busy with everything but the most important thing, fishing.
The Parable of the Fishless Fishermen
Anonymous
Fellowship. They were surrounded by streams and lakes full of hungry fish. They met regularly to discuss the call to fish, the abundance of fish, and the thrill of catching fish. They got excited about fishing!
Someone suggested that they needed a philosophy of fishing, so they carefully defined and redefined fishing, and the purpose of fishing. They developed fishing strategies and tactics. Then they realized that they had been going at it backwards. They had approached fishing from the point of view of the fisherman, and not from the point of view of the fish. How do fish view the world? How does the fisherman appear to the fish? What do fish eat, and when? These are all good things to know. So hey began research studies, and attended conferences on fishing. Some traveled to faraway places to study different kinds of fish with different habits. Some got doctorates in fishology. But no one had yet gone fishing.
So a committee was formed to send out fishermen. As prospective fishing places outnumbered fishermen, the committee needed to determine priorities. A priority list of fishing places was posted on bulletin boards in all of the fellowship halls. But still, no one was fishing. A survey was launched to find out why. Most did not answer the survey, but from those who did, it was discovered that some felt called to study fish, a few to furnish fishing equipment, and several to go around encouraging the fishermen. What with meetings, conferences, and seminars, they just simply didn’t have time to fish.
Now, Jake was a newcomer to the Fisherman’s Fellowship. After one stirring meeting of the Fellowship, he went fishing and caught a large fish. At the next meeting, he told his story and was honored for his catch. He was told that he had a special “gift of fishing.” He was then scheduled to speak at all the Fellowship chapters and tell how he did it.
With all the speaking invitations and his election to the board of directors of the Fisherman’s Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go fishing. But soon he began to feel restless and empty. He longed to feel the tug on the line once again. So he cut the speaking, he resigned from the board, and he said to a friend, “Let’s go fishing.” They did, just the two of them, and they caught fish. The members of the Fisherman’s Fellowship were many, the fish were plentiful, but the fishers were few!
LOVE this analogy, Dave! LOVE IT! 🙂