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Bill Jensen
Makes it easier to do great work. Hacks stupid work. Author. Speaker. Loves life, family, fun — everything that matters.

DIY Overload Workshop

Instant Ahas on Info and Choice Overload

For more than 20 years I have been conducting full-day and half-day workshops on how to deal with information and choice overload, and how to simplify communication in a world of ever-shortening attention spans.

Every workshop begins with a facilitated Aha section: I have found that few of us will change our info-sharing and sorting behaviors until we examine how much of the problem we, ourselves, create.

Over the years I’ve facilitated these Ahas by pulling on Jensen research from over a million people we’ve interviewed and surveyed. (Search for a Simpler Way.)

Five Quiz Questions, Five Ahas

Take the quiz, see what you discover…

Question 1

(Answer is in caption below image)

c) 2 hours… (for some, up to 4 hours)

Facilitating Your Ahas

Consider what those lost hours mean to your life, your productivity, stress, and happiness.

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Question 2

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c) 500 days, although that number keeps getting smaller every year

Facilitating Your Ahas

Consider what that info-increase means: No one — not you, not anyone — can get ahead of the information explosion using the latest/newest technologies while saddled with today’s behaviors. The ultimate solution lies in changing one’s beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors toward what matters and what doesn’t.

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Question 3

(Answer is in caption below image)

The number of minutes in a day. Time, energy, and passions are among your most precious and irreplaceable assets

Facilitating Your Ahas

No one gets 1441, or more, in a day. Info-explosions will forever increase. This number will never increase. We’ve got to change how we value and use this asset.

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Question 4

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a) and c) and e)

Facilitating Your Ahas

The top three timewasters and biggest sources of complexity in your day are all within your control. (If you choose to take a stand on these timewasters.) You, not your boss nor your company, need to be the one who stops these timewasters, through daily discipline and new personal choices.

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Question 5

(Answer is in caption below image)

e) All of the above

Facilitating Your Ahas

Social media are now one of the top drivers of our behaviors, learning, and successes/failures. For better and worse!

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Bringing It All Together

Sometimes this takes just a minute or two. Sometimes an hour or so. 
But after I’ve facilitated discussions around all five questions, I then ask everyone to add up their mini-Ahas to one big one. Universally, the conclusions are always the same—an insight provided by a cartoon character, Pogo…

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 — by Bill Jensen 
Who is the first to admit that he’s met the enemy and his name is Bill.
#NewWaytoWork #FutureOfWork
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Bill’s latest book, Future Strong, is about the five deeply personal choices each of us must make to be ready for all the disruptive tomorrows heading our way.