The Information Warrior and Flow

TO thrive in the Internet Age, one must be an Info Warrior.

A lot of people think they are Info Warriors, but unless you’ve actually sat down and planned an info strategy then you’ve just been lucky up till now.

The key to being an Info Warrior is Flow.

Information flows, and you have to flow with it.

Here’s an example of not flowing with info.

Customer Service Rep: Yeah, we need you to print out form 12, sign it, and fax it to us.

Man: B-b-but I don’t have a fax machine!

So the man decides to go to the post office and get them to fax it for him. The post office charges $1.50 per page. They’re only allowed to try faxing 3 times. They try 3 times, the line is busy all three times. He’s outta luck.

He pays another $1.50 because it’s really important. After paying $12, he gets the form faxed.

Sure, I used the example of faxing, and most readers in North America are probably scoffing at the idea of faxes, but faxing is still a big part of doing business in Asia.

Info flows, and our man isn’t able to flow with that info.

(Personally, I’d print the document, sign it, scan it, and then use a service like efax.com which emails to fax, but that’s just me. Flow is a big deal for me. I hate it when I can’t get things done, because various technologies can’t communicate with one another.)

Here’s another example:

On a recent stopover to Korea, I had to make a phonecall to Canada, but didn’t have Won. Sure, I could have placed my credit card into the telephone, but they would’ve charged me close to $1 per minute for the call. If I went along with it, I would’ve had to rush the call and be all stressed out to not talk 5 minutes and 7 seconds and be charged $6.

Instead I walked over to the info counter at Incheon International Airport, gave them my boarding pass in exchange for a plug converter. Next I plugged in my laptop, took out my headset and placed a Skype call. Aside from the significant savings, I liked the fact that I did not allow physical reality to affect data reality.

Data Reality is how info flows given that the Internet is everywhere.

(In my next post, I’m going to outline a good info strategy for every Info Warrior)

Getting Things Done When You’re Getting Things Done

I have nothing against GTD; It’s a great system for getting organized.

Well I lied. I do have something against it. GTD is perfect if you’re already an organized person. In which case, you learn to become super-organized.

But if you’re like me, a superslob, then GTD fails because it doesn’t address the most important issue of being organized – Motivation. I’ve tried to follow GTD, as I’m confident you have too. But after one or two days, I’m back to being my old slob of a self.

I Could Be So Organized If I Were Organized

For the me the key to staying organized is seething to be organized. That’s not a typo. I did write “seething”.

Many people want to be organized.

Many people even need to be organized.

But few seethe to be organized.
“Seething to be organized” means hating how pathetic your life is because you’re unorganized. “Seething to be organized” stems from the belief that you could be so much more, if only you could get your act together.

To seethe, you really have to call upon that deep down envy of all the people you went to school with, who are now more successful than you are. Or you have to think about all the losers you’ve met who have:

1. more money than you
2. have a bigger house than you
3. have a nicer car than you
4. have everything better than you

and for the life of you, you can’t figure out why.

The most important thing however, is to ball up your anger and let it out slowly. Use it. Keep the rage bottled and let out just enough each day to allow you to stick with any organizational system you choose: GTD for example.

The more reasons you can find to be angry, the better you’ll do. And if you need a name for this method of motivation, call it GTDWYGTD – Getting Things Done When You’re Getting Things Done.