One of the most popular topics I discuss and have posted about is "Information Gluttony." Our Clutter Diet members and experts were recently chatting in our message boards about this as it relates to people-pleasing, and I thought this was an excellent point to expand upon.
Sometimes I have seen clients keep lots of magazine clippings, newsletters, and other types of information for the purpose of sharing it with others. Are you trying to be a Know-It-All with all of the information you're collecting?
Being a Know-It-All is another way of trying to be a "pleaser." (See our related post on "Overdoers Anonymous") You may want to play the role of always having the answers and being the Go-To-Guy or Gal. Is this role really serving you? Is it the best use of your time? Are there better ways you could help the people in your life?
Is this really something the people in your life want? Are you sending this stuff to them to try to reinforce a point or prove an argument you were having? (Example: "See, you should be eating less salt because of your high blood pressure. This article says so!") If so, this may be annoying and unwelcome.
Most of the time when I work with clients like this, they have never gotten around to sending out all of this helpful information to people anyway, so it's certainly not helpful if it's sitting there unsent. And often the information is outdated by the time they re-encounter it.
I highly encourage all of you who are saving these items in paper form to "go electronic" and at least try to send the info to others via e-mail with links they can pursue on their own. Less clutter for both of you.
Can you relate to being a "pleaser" with information? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Oh my goodness, you did hit a nerve with the article on “Information Gluttony” and “Overdoers Anonymous”. I plan to put your suggestions to use Today!
Thank you,
Wow! I knew that I was a people pleasing-info-maniac, but I never made the connection that you so wisely did. Ouch! My recycle bin will be filled this week! Keep on helping us stay on track. You are greatly appreciated.
When I saw the title of htis post, I had to come see. You have your kids info, your parents info, your business info, your hobby info…
And many times we collect it because “we may need it someday.”
While I do save things for people, it really is rare. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my own info gluttony!
Though I have never been the type to give articles to others, I do love to rip articles out of magazines so that I can at least toss the rest of the magazine within a day or two of it arriving in my home. I used to leave the articles in a small pail on the back of the toilet. About a month ago I changed my ways. I leave them by my treadmill & read while I walk. Now I enjoy a half hour of combined fitness and learning. I keep pace with the pile of articles and have added incentives (less clutter/great ideas) to go for that early morning walk.
I kept magazines for my own reference: decorating, recipes etc. I decided to go through all the decorating & landscaping magazines, cut out the pictures that I want and put them into a single binder. I have the “information bits” stored electronically now in a file on my computer. I’m still working through the recipes in bits in pieces, but this has sent a lot of clutter to the recycle bin.
Good post! Definitly something I have to be careful with in my life. Thanks for the clarity and inspiration!
To me, spending the day with 800 professional organizers sounds like a blast!
Have added ClutterDiet Blog to my own Blogroll. It will be live later today. I’ve come to depend on your entertaining and useful tips!
~Dane
http://www.BionicButler.com
“improving personal productivity at home”