Notifications with recommended YouTube videos about newest and fanciest JavaScript libraries. Another Django or JavaScript courses tagged as "Hot" or "Highest Rated". New book about the framework or architecture pattern used by developers at FAANG. Yet another time management approach, ultra-productivity and ultimate-procrastination-preventing trick. Between courses endless stream from HackerNews and blog feeds. And of course don't forget to check newsletters you are subscribed to.
Being information junkie is strongly connected with many problems - mostly mental, like: Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), low self-esteem, impostor syndrome to just name a few. Finally we end up with doing what we should be doing and we feel burned-out from stress.
FOMO stands from the case where you feel that you get out of the information stream when you skip some of them. However Internet is almost infite about those streams. And every such stream is draining our energy. The final list of videos to watch or articles to read could be endless.
I have this problem too. I'm subscribed to too many YouTube channels about technology, to hundreds of courses on Udemy, I've started to watch countless YouTube playlists with courses; my Todoist is overloaded with articles to read. My night table is coevered with huge pile of books I can't read.
How often do you ask yourself: Do I really need it right now? Unfortunately I solely do, however I'm still on something. That's actually another topic - Just-In-Time vs Just-In-Case learning. My wrong habits and self-esteem constantly holds be back in this Just-In-Case learning, which - let's be honest - is time-wasting and procrastination.
I'm aware that by focusing on information and not action, I'm actually limiting my education and self-growth by ignoring the importance of getting hands-on experience and real world knowledge.
Public declaration: I decide, that from September 9, 2021 to March 20, 2024 I commit myself to make a new habit, that when I start to learn something new I will stick to no more than 3 learning resources to avoid information overload and keeping myself away from tutorial hell (and thereby from procrastination). I also put a Post-it note on my screen that will remind me about asking myself if things I'm on are not the Just-In-Case learning, so I'll only search for information when I hit some specific question or problem. Also I'll try to make a few minutes a week to reduce the number of Social Media sources I follow.
Why 3 is the limit? It's related with 3 from Nikola Tesla’s Secret Code - 369 thus I thought it may be a good idea :)