Strengthening My Signal.

Posted: December 24th, 2009 | Author: A.J. | Filed under: Career, Inspiration | Tags: Noise, prioritize, Signal, Signal-to-Noise | No Comments »

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Signal-t0-Noise.

I first heard the term defined by Seth Godin here, as radio operator phrase for, “[T]he amount of good stuff (the message) that comes through the static (the noise).”

Pretty straight forward.

In the context of Godin’s post, and the others (here and here ) I found, signal-to-noise refers to the collective din of blogs, tweets, and other media, vying for a piece of mental market share.  The problem becomes one of overload.  Who do you want to read or listen to?

They ALL want, need your immediate attention.

Turning inward, and in the same way, we each have our own personal signal-to-noise issues.  This is, all your goals, fears, and desires you have running through your mind; your Id, ego, and super-ego, all vying for you to listen.

Most important, how do you cut through the bullshit noise for the relevant signal(s)?

What do you do?

The short answer is prioritize (also knowing yourself helps).  The same way you might with Google Reader, or whatever blog aggregetor you use.

How exactly you accomplish this may vary.  Our paths are unique in some ways, and shared in others.  Prioritizing your life is old fashioned common sense, though.

I have my strong signal days, and days when it seems like nothing is getting through.  It can be tough sometimes, even when I know my priorities.

Anyways, it’s something to think about.

Merry Christmas (Happy Holidays)!

Update: Linda, thanks for catching those typos!

//A.J.

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