Today we consume five times more information every day than we did in 1986, an incredible amount that’s equivalent to a 174 newspapers…a day. That probably includes a lot of Instagram posts, but it’s not only social media. The corporate e-learning space has grown by nine times over the last 16 years, such that almost 80% of U.S. companies offer online training for their employees, making more information accessible to them than ever before.
Today we consume more information than ever — but seem to retain less of it. To become a more productive learner, you can try four things. First, focus the majority of your information consumption on a single topic for several months. Instead of spreading your attention over a variety of topics, do a deep dive. Second, put what you’re learning into frameworks. Organizing what you’ve learned into a structure will help you understand it more deeply. Third, regularly synthesize what you have learned. When you finish reading something, for example, ask yourself, “What are the key takeaways here?” And last, cycle between information feasting and information fasting. It’s important that you have seasons when you limit your consumption of information, so you can review, consider, and apply what you’ve already consumed.