Engagement without overloading

One reader replied to my last email suggesting that maybe one option for dealing with information overload is to simply STOP engaging.

Here’s how to engage WITHOUT overloading:

1. Make engagement about presence, not content

Much of engagement is about being top of mind. Whether that’s newsletters, meeting up with local friends, text messages to old friends, stopping by someone’s desk, or having regular meetings — it’s often about presence. Creating the space for connection and dialogue.

We all have times where we text friends just to say “hi, thinking of you.” Nothing else needed. That in itself is more than enough.

2. Remind people of what you’ve said before

NEVER underestimate the power of reminding people of what they know. It is how we learn. We have to keep things in front of us that we want to adopt.

I would pay for a newsletter where someone reminds me of my values and the frameworks I use for making decisions — because I forget.

3. Make re-engaging like listening to your favourite song

If I asked you for your favourite song, book, movie or show, I bet you’ve engaged with it more than once.

This is engagement. It’s the joy of enjoying something we like, that we know we’re going to like, and that we have some degree of mastery with because we know all the bits and nuances and harmonies.