2007 May | Internet Business Mastery

May 2007

Information Diet, Part 3

by Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen)

Magazines:

On we go. I was never really a big magazine reader. Back in my Hollywood days I would read Entertainment Weekly and Premier Magazine. Now, there are only two that I actually read:

Information Diet, Part 2

by Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen)

2 Comments

Podcasting:

So, I just finished doing a bit of ‘spring cleaning’ in my iTunes podcast folder. I had 44 podcasts that I downloaded each week, now I have 12.

“44! How on earth did you listen to them all?!” You ask?

Business Week Reports that Email is Clinically Addictive

by Jay (Jason Van Orden)

3 Comments

Looks like I’m cutting the email leash not a moment too soon. Take a look at this stunning quote from a recent Business Week article:

Scrolling through e-mail and punching out text messages fire up the dopamine-reward system, unleashing a pleasure-inducing hit that for an estimated 6% of Internet users has become clinically addictive, says University of Michigan psychology professor David Meyer.

Hi, I’m Sterling and I’m an information addict. (HI STERLING). It’s been 3 years since I have watched a news program, 2 years since I’ve watched an entertainment gossip show, 1 year since I’ve had cable television and nearly two weeks since I have read over 50 blogs a week, listened to all of the 25+ podcasts I’m subscribed too, unsubscribed to the 30+ email newsletters, took 5 books back to the library that I was reading simultaneously (all non-fiction), and stopped consuming info like it was going out of style. I feel like a 50 pound monkey is off my back.

The cause for this info dump was ‘The 4 Hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferriss. That book has been the second most influential book I have ever read. I have been an info addict my whole life. When I am into something I study it voraciously, to the point of obsession. I have never smoked, gotten drunk or done drugs, but I have been an info junkie nearly my entire life.

Cutting the Email Leash Part 2: Tips for Overcoming Compulsive Email Distraction

by Jay (Jason Van Orden)

11 Comments

Recently I wrote about my commitment to overcoming email addiction in order to be more productive and free up mental capacity for more important things. I wanted to give an update on how things are going.

My goal was to check only twice a day on weekdays and never first thing in the morning. Since writing that post I’ve not once checked my email first thing in the morning. This in of itself has been a great improvement. It was such a compulsive habit, but it really wasn’t a great start to the day. I find I get so much more momentum when I work on a solid business development task for the first hour or two of the day.