Fighting for Mindshare

The more mindshare you occupy in a person’s brain, the more likely it is they’ll respond to whatever you ask them to do.

Naturally, mindshare is a very valuable thing.

Is this why some gurus will tell you to stop following so many people on Twitter… or to stop reading so many blogs… or to unsubscribe from the majority of the email lists you’re on?

Perhaps.

In some cases, I’m sure there’s an underlying (but unspoken) message: Stop listening to everybody else — except for me!

But I don’t think that’s a primary motivation.

Personally, I follow my own advice. I only read a small number of blogs on a regular basis. I continually analyze my email subscriptions and unsubscribe from those that are no longer worthwhile. And I recently stopped following 60+ people on Twitter.

Why?

Because too much information is bad for productivity.

It’s that simple.

The more information you consume, the less you will get done. Consume too much information, and you may experience “information constipation” — a condition where you have so much information you don’t know where to start.

So if I tell you to do the same — to go on a low-info diet, as Tim Ferriss might say — now you know my reasoning.

And if there is an unintended side-effect that I capture more mindshare in the process, so be it. But that’s not what’s driving my advice to unsubscribe. And for the majority of gurus who recommend you unsubscribe, I don’t think that’s what’s motivating them either.

Fact: Information overload lowers your IQ as much as a night without sleep.

I think this is why my productivity spikes after getting away from my computer. Going for a walk, going to the gym, or going on a bike ride clears my mind and gives my brain room to breathe.

I think  more clearly; I get more ideas; and I get more done. This is why I am personally always pruning the amount of information I’m taking in.

With regard to mindshare: If you want to capture more of it, I think the strategy is simple: be different, provide more value, and be entertaining. Everything else will take care of itself.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. Thanks to Keith Goodrum, Terry Dean, and Michel Fortin for helping spur some of these thoughts.